AROUND TOWN AND AROUND THE GLOBE

London
Walking past school groups and tourists, Hollie Walters ’24 flashed her pass and waltzed into the Houses of Parliament.

“It’s very grand to go into the House of Commons and watch debates and be behind the scenes of government processes,” she says. “It was surreal at times, and the best experience.”

A global management and political science double-major from Gibsonia, Pa., Walters spent her summer interning for Member of Parliament Tulip Siddiq of the Hampstead and Kilburn constituency in North London. Through Bucknell’s Office of Global & Off-campus Education, she identified a partner program through Arcadia University that allowed her to both participate in the internship and take a contemporary British politics class during her experience abroad.

The Work She Did
Alongside Siddiq and her office manager, Walters handled casework matters related to housing, passports and visas. Notably, much of her work supported Ukrainian refugees fleeing the conflict in their home country. “It was really rewarding to call them to say ‘We’ve got your visa,’ ” she says.

She also brought issues and policies important to constituents to Siddiq’s attention and took notes for Siddiq during formal debates.

“They gave me so much freedom and trusted my abilities,” she says. “With the strength of my political knowledge and the communication skills I’ve developed at Bucknell, I never felt intimidated; I felt prepared.”

Her Favorite Part
“The independence, for sure,” Walters says. “I was able to be really successful in a totally different place, in a different political system. It gives me a lot of confidence moving forward.”
— Katie Williard