Eight students recently secured internships and will attend the Republican and Democratic National Conventions. Six of the interns will be placed with news outlets covering the events and two will be with the Democratic National Committee. The selection processes for the NMU students began with political science professors David Haynes and Steve Nelson. They started by asking various professors and administrators for potential students who may be qualified. The students who were mentioned were required to write an essay on how these internships would benefit them both academically and professionally. Haynes noted that the students serving the internships remained non-partisan. “They didn’t go as an advocate for a candidate but for the experience itself,” he said. Haynes also expressed hope that the internships would serve as stepping stones to bigger and better things for the students. “These media internships will hopefully lead to other elite internships . (and) lead to offers from other outlets this year and the following years,” Haynes said. At the Democratic Convention political science majors Anke Hildebrandt and Lauren Mattioli will intern with NBC News and Bloomberg News, respectively. Katie Cox, a media production and news technologies major, will work for Time Magazine and Time.com. Students who are serving with the Democratic National Committee are public administration major Danielle Stein and political science and pre-law major Chelsea Smit. The following political science majors have internships at the Republican National Convention: Darren Widder, Bloomberg News; Neil Passinault, NBC News; and Keith Voorheis, Time Magazine and Time.com. Jason Morgan, a political science major, is also a delegate to the Democratic convention after he was chosen as an alternate last spring.The Democratic National Convention runs from August 25-28 in Denver, while the Republican National Convention will be held in St. Paul, Minn. from Sept. 1-4.