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Anne Siarnacki is a second year law student at Washington University in St. Louis, focusing on international law and litigation. She is a staff editor on Washington University’s Law Review, member of the Wiley Rutledge Moot Court Board, and recipient of the Dagen Legomsky Hague Fellowship and the Whitney Harris Scholar at Law Award. As a 2005-2006 Dutko Fellow, Anne split her year between the Republican Governors Association and the American Enterprise Institute. At the Republican Governors Association, Anne worked closely with the governors’ offices to plan major events and organized a team of 100 student volunteers in Virginia’s race for governor. At American Enterprise Institute, Anne worked as a researcher, focusing on Asia.
At Tufts, Anne majored in Political Science and Economics. She was the president of the Tufts Republicans and active in the Institute for Global Leadership.
When I accepted the Dutko Fellowship, I knew I was becoming a part of something special and terribly unique. The fellowship was often described to me as a “family,” but I didn’t realize how accurate of a description that was until I moved to D.C. Deb frequently invited us to her home for meals and holidays, as well as important family events. As different as we all are in politics and personalities, the bond we all share is a commitment to using politics and policy as vehicles for improving our nation—the ways in which to do this, however, make for lively dinnertime debates! When I came to D.C., the past fellows took lots of time to introduce me to the city, help me find housing, and impart valuable advice, and the fellows who still in DC get together at least once a month to catch up.
My work experience was particularly unique, as I split my fellowship between two organizations, the Republican Governors Association and the American Enterprise Institute. I worked at the Republican Governors Association from September through mid-January. My work there largely revolved around political research and event planning. Through my work there, I was able to travel to California and southern Virginia; meet most of the nation’s Republican governors (including my own, Governor Douglas of Vermont); and really get a feel for how the city of Washington works. In January, I was given the opportunity to move to the American Enterprise Institute and work in the Asian Studies Department in Foreign and Defense Policy Studies. While I learned a lot during my months at the Republican Governors Association, American Enterprise Institute offered an opportunity I could not turn down—the chance to perform cutting edge research that was to be utilized by the government to create and assess policy. In the Asian Studies Department, my work was focused primarily on China, Taiwan, and North Korea, and I worked daily with scholars like Dan Blumenthal and former ambassador James Lilley.
I also used my time in DC to get to know the city. Spending time at Dutko Worldwide gave me a chance to get to know the partners and pick their brains for career and educational advice. Additionally, I became involved in tutoring and a mentoring program at one of DC’s poorest middle schools and stayed involved with Tufts through the Tufts-Washington Alliance and alumni interviewing for the admissions office. Finally, the fellowship gave me the opportunity to experience all the city has to offer—I was able to attend the hearings for Justice Alito; hear Senators Brownback and McCain speak; tour the White House’s Christmas decorations; and hear Justice Scalia speak on international law.
The experience taught me so much about our political process that I could not have learned otherwise.
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