West Virginia State University political science student Richard Anderson has been awarded a prestigious Judith A. Herndon Fellowship for the 2013 session of the West Virginia Legislature.
The Herndon Fellowship is an internship sponsored by the Legislature to instruct full-time undergraduate students in the theory and operation of legislative bodies. Only 10 students are selected for fellowships each legislative session.
“I’m very excited by this opportunity,” Anderson said. “I get to see, in action, everything that I have read about and learned about in class, but with real world results and consequences.”
The 20-year-old Anderson will be assigned to a specific legislator for the duration of the 2013 legislative session. Following the conclusion of the session, Herndon Fellows are assigned to various legislative, judicial or executive positions for the duration of their 16-week appointments.
“I hope to develop a better understanding of how the legislative process works,” Anderson said of his upcoming time under the state capitol dome. “To see an issue identified, and then watch as legislators work on a solution that could benefit West Virginia.”
Herndon Fellows are selected through a competitive process. In order to be selected, Anderson had to complete an extensive application, and also be interviewed by a selection committee. Students from every public college and university in West Virginia, as well as students from all but one in-state private college, participate in the program.
To be eligible for the Fellowship program, a student must have completed at least 60 undergraduate semester hours and be in good academic standing. Each Fellow receives 12 semester hours of academic credit for their time at the Legislature.
A graduate of South Charleston High School, Anderson is currently a senior at West Virginia State University majoring in political science.
West Virginia State University is a public, land grant, historically black university, which has evolved into a fully accessible, racially integrated, and multi-generational institution, located in Institute, WV. As a “living laboratory of human relations,” the university is a community of students, staff, and faculty committed to academic growth, service, and preservation of the racial and cultural diversity of the institution. Its mission is to meet the higher education and economic development needs of the state and region through innovative teaching and applied research.
