The University of Massachusetts Amherst

Internship Boosted Havlin's Confidence--and Connections

Michael Havlin

Michael Havlin (MPPA ‘16) met lots of fantastic professional contacts through his summer internship. So many, in fact, that he was having a hard time keeping track of them all.

“I got so many business cards this summer that I finally broke down and bought a Rolodex,” he says.

Havlin spent the first part of the summer as policy and events consultant for Joe Baldacci, a city councilor in Bangor, Maine. Much of Havlin’s work centered around two separate efforts to raise the minimum wage: The Maine People’s Alliance is working to place on the 2016 ballot a question to raise the statewide minimum wage to $12 by 2020; and in Bangor Councilor Joe Baldacci would like to raise the city’s minimum wage starting in 2016 and tie future increases to the consumer price index. Baldacci has spearheaded the local ordinance in Bangor and played a supportive role for the ballot initiative, and Havlin’s work drummed up support for the campaigns.

“I essentially had full reign over organizing events related to Joe’s minimum wage campaigns,” Havlin says. “Joe gave me full discretion to come up with event ideas. I conducted research, engaged with local leaders and communities, and then organized the events, as well as publicity around them. It was a very entrepreneurial experience that allowed me to creatively combine my skills in business, economics and politics to build off past experiences and expand my professional network.”

In late July, Baldacci announced he’s running for the U.S. House of Representatives in Maine’s 2nd District. At that point Havlin picked up additional duties, consulting with advisors from Washington, D.C., to develop fundraising strategies and policy positions for the campaign. The local connections he developed earlier in the summer proved invaluable to the D.C. staff.

And the classes Havlin took during his first year at CPPA proved vital to him. From his policy analysis course, for instance, he learned how crucial brevity is in political writing.

“And Politics and the Policy Process helped me analyze political events and developments in a more nuanced and strategic manner,” he says. “I was able to see how seemingly small political maneuvers and positions actually fit much more broadly into the policy goals of the organizations I was working with.”

These classroom lessons, reinforced by his experiences in the field this summer, have given him the confidence — and the connections — he’ll need to land a great job.

“I combined my previous experiences and expanded my professional network,” Havlin says. “I worked with policy and political professionals that I would one day like to work for, like the Maine Center for Economic Policy, the Maine AFL-CIO and the Maine People’s Alliance. I feel like I’m in a good position to find a career after graduation.”

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