Daphne Assimakopoulos ’17 is experiencing firsthand the multifaceted world of political advocacy this summer as an online outreach intern for the National Women’s Law Center in Washington, D.C. Her internship is supported through the Diversity and Social Justice Fund, managed through Hamilton’s Career and Life Outcomes Center.
Responsible for the writing of content for a variety of social media platforms including Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr, in addition to the NWLC’s website and blog, she has also had the opportunity to analyze data relating to the relative effectiveness of various forms of social media posts. “I spent a lot of time determining if there were any patterns that consistently contributed to higher click rates on the links we shared,” explained Assimakopoulos, “and came across some interesting trends.” She has also had the opportunity to create and develop her own graphic and web content series that is planned to be featured on the NWLC’s Facebook page later this summer.
Read more stories about students who are Assimakopoulos said that her work has been enormously rewarding, both as it relates to her own professional development, as well as the intrinsic satisfaction inherent in the job. “As a government major it has been incredible just being a part of the D.C. hustle and bustle. I had the opportunity to be present for history-making Supreme Court decisions, meet the people who I voted for, and learn so much on the job.”
However, to Assimakopoulos there is one very important prerequisite, without which a job experience would be incomplete: the opportunity to effect change. “I really do want to be doing something that helps other people,” she said, “and I have found that the work NWLC does accomplishes just that, and being a part of it has been thoroughly rewarding.”
Of particular value, according to Assimakopoulos, has been the chance to learn about the field of advocacy more broadly, and the ways in which the individual aspects of advocacy organizations all form a cohesive unit. This, she says, is one of the chief benefits of working at an organization with such a broad focus, that an individual can gain experience with an enormous number of issues and the laws surrounding them. “I took Constitutional Law last semester, and applying what we studied in that class to my internship has developed my understanding of the material to an even deeper level,” she claimed.
In the position of online outreach intern, Assimakopoulos’ previous experience with utilizing social media for organizing has proved invaluable, including her time as the manager of social media platforms for the Hamilton Rainbow Alliance during the 2014-15 academic year, as well as her creation of the Hamilton softball team’s official twitter account. Her time at the NWLC has only sharpened those skills, and she says that she cannot wait to begin implementing her new knowledge to projects on campus for the purposes of advocacy and education.
Though like many she is not completely sure of her plans post-graduation, Assimakopoulos says that her experience at the NWLC has opened up paths in her mind previously left unconsidered. “Being at the Law Center has definitely put law school on my radar, but I have also found my work in outreach to be highly rewarding and fast paced,” she claimed, concluding that “all the incredible people that I have met in my time here have been so dedicated to what they do, and I find it inspiring.”
