A Salina college student has been selected for a prestigious internship. Kansas Wesleyan senior Kelsey Ripperge has been selected for a Washington Center internship.

According to KWU, the internship will take place for EarthShare, an environmental non-profit in the Washington, D.C. region.

Ripperger (Hastings, Neb.) is a multi-year honor roll recipient, a letterwinner on the volleyball team, past president of the KWU Student Environmental Club and a member of the Alpha Chi honor society. She also was president of the KWU chapter of Phi Alpha Theta, a resident assistant, a member of student government and a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.

Although she is on-ground in the Arlington, Va. area, Ripperger will be working virtually during her internship. She will also take a course through the Washington Center entitled “Scandalous Washington: Presidents, Impeachments and Elections.”

“I am so grateful for this opportunity,” said Ripperger. “The chance to move to the D.C. area is a history lover’s dream! I have enjoyed exploring all the monuments and historical buildings. I hope to make connections, expand my network and better understand what it takes to make a non-profit function. I appreciate the support from KWU and its wonderful professors like Dr. Specht, who helped me get here.”

“Kelsey is a terrific student,” said Dr. Anita Specht, one of Ripperger’s main academic mentors at KWU. “I’m so glad that she is able to use the skills she learned as a history student and apply them to her love of the environment.”

The Washington Center is a non-profit, non-partisan educational organization located in Washington, D.C. that works with thousands of host organizations to provide once-in-a-lifetime internship opportunities. Universities around the country partner with the Center to provide opportunities for their students, but KWU is the only university in Kansas to serve as a partner of the Washington Center.