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When junior Brana Hill arrived on campus as a freshman, she was plagued by doubt concerning her future.
"I came here very lost," Hill said. "Where will my success be found?" she wondered.
But during the next three years, Hill would gain confidence through her communication major and many campus organizations.
Hill will now channel that confidence and those experiences into a prestigious summer internship with Leadership & the American Presidency offered by the Ronald Reagan Foundation. Hill hasn't been given her assignment yet, but the internship may include government agencies, congressional offices, policy groups, think tanks, media outlets or nonprofit organizations throughout the Washington, D.C., area.
She'll also take classes at George Mason University and live at George Washington University. The class credits also will transfer to Clarion for a leadership minor she's hoping to add this fall.
Hill will move there at the beginning of June and be done with the internship at the end of July. The cost to participate in this experience is expensive, but Hill received a $5,000 scholarship to be part of it and is also the recipient of the James D. Moore Scholarship, which she plans to use to cover costs. She said if she needs to take out a loan to cover any remaining costs, she will.
"To me, it's going to be a big opportunity."
Even though she's promised an internship through the program, she said the program encourages students to reach out to personal contacts for other internship and networking opportunities. Hill has reached out to a few Clarion University alumni in the area such as Angela Brown ('80) and Chris Myers ('12). She's also in touch with former state system chancellor John Cavanaugh, who now lives in the D.C. area.
"I'm very excited. I hope to meet President Obama," she said.
Hill first learned of the internship opportunity through her role as a student senator. Her application included two letters of recommendation and her resume which was chock-full of campus activities.
For starters, she is a mentor to other communication students as well as a mentor in the QUEENS organization she helped start, which stands for Queens Uniquely Empowering Every Notable Sister. She's also the president of the Black Student Union and the Lift Every Voice Gospel Choir, a member of Brothers and Sisters in Christ, and is the University Activities Board lecture chair.
"It's not to make me better. It's to make our campus better," Hill said of her campus involvement.
Those experiences also have made her realize that her future is somewhere in leadership. As a communication major with a concentration in digital media and a minor in music, she thought she'd be a reporter, but she has since realized that "my heart is more toward leadership."
She credits Clarion with helping her discover her true calling.
"I'm not a number here and people see me for who I am and that is just a blessing," she said. "At the end of the day, I think I made the right choice."