Christa Levko ’12, Hicksville, N.Y., recently began a ten and a half week internship program at the Interfaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington’s Center for Advancing Justice in Washington, D.C. for the summer of 2011. A political science major and law and society and music minor, she is the recipient of an internship grant established earlier this year by Dr. E.H. Arnold H’87 and Dr. Jeanne Donlevy Arnold H’08.
“I love reading about the issues that the center has taken on in the past,” she says. “I’m excited to be a part of the monthly meeting where these issues are discussed. LVC has definitely given me the courage and the leadership skills to not be afraid. After our first staff meeting someone had to volunteer to lead the next one and I didn’t hesitate—I’m excited about it!”
Levko is hoping to be involved in activist work with either a non-profit organization or a law office. Her career aspiration is to work in the realm of equality legislation in Washington.
She is currently president of Freedom Rings – the LVC Gay-Straight Alliance, has been inducted into the social justice honor society – Pallas, and participates in the EDGE Leadership Program. Next spring she will serve as head director for LVC’s production of the Vagina Monologues. Dr. Philip Benesch, associate professor of political science, is her advisor and mentor for this internship experience.
The Arnold Grant funds have enabled Levko to have an even better experience in our nation’s capital. “To me, the grant means that I can live in the residential and academic facility owned by the Washington Center,” she says. “The building is in a great location—close to downtown and to the Metro.”
Levko is the daughter of Liane and Michael Levko and is a graduate of Hicksville High School.
To learn more about The Edward H. Arnold and Jeanne Donlevy Arnold Program for Experiential Education, visit the Arnold Grants Website.