NSU student puts his education to task with Washington, D.C.

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Northeastern State University graduate, Samuel Wilhite, was selected to serve as an intern for U.S. Senator Markwayne Mullin in Washington, D.C. during the summer of 2024. Wilhite, who recently earned his bachelor’s degree in corporate communication and a minor in management, completed his final graduation requirement through this internship.

After an initial attempt at higher education following high school, Wilhite worked in the insurance industry before deciding to return to NSU and complete his degree. His advisor suggested the internship to complete his study requirements.

“It was mostly Dr. Ross who came up with the idea of doing an internship for the summer,” Wilhite said. “It needed to be a leadership internship, because the credit I was trying to get was the leadership credit. So, I just kind of racked my brain of people that I knew in leadership, and I thought, you don't get much more leadership-wise than a United States Senator.”

Wilhite then reached out to Senator Mullin’s wife, Christie Mullin, who he had briefly met during his time in insurance. She put him in contact with Senator Mullin who suggested Wilhite apply through his website. Soon after submitting the application, Wilhite was on his first of several flights to Washington, D.C. to meet the senator and his staff and find a place to live.

“It was very straightforward,” Wilhite said. “It was in an interview, they told me that I got the position. I got everything together, flew out and started. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I had never been to D.C. prior to starting this internship.”

Wilhite said the first few weeks of his internship were full of ‘general intern duties,’ however, after a few weeks, his tasks started focusing more on what he was interested in.

“That was the best and coolest part of the whole experience,” Wilhite said. “They really considered what you wanted to do, and they did not force things that you maybe didn't want to do or didn't have interest in. They definitely took into account what options were out there.”

Wilhite said the senator’s office was broken up into three departments; communications, operations and legislative. He initially chose the communications department, but soon realized the skills and knowledge he had were better applied in the operations department.

“That was what I enjoyed the most,” Wilhite said. “That was where I landed. It is more facing and managing people and their communications and that was my strong point, that's what I enjoyed doing. So, I spent the majority of my last, probably six or seven weeks in that position, working closely with those people.”

Wilhite said his biggest take-away from this experience was figuring out areas where he could excel and which skill sets he was most confident in.

“I have really strong people skills,” Wilhite said. “I have very strong interpersonal interaction skills, and management is my strong suit. This internship has helped me rule out things that were not the best fit. I learned a lot and it was a wonderful experience.”

Wilhite said he is glad that he chose NSU when returning to complete his degree as a non-traditional student. He said the biggest thing that improved his experience was class sizes. Smaller class sizes not only made for a better experience academically, it also allowed deeper connections between him and faculty members.

“At NSU, you have such a small class size, most of them ranged from 15 to 18,” Wilhite said. “Twenty students was an average class size. With that, you get to know your professors really well. You get to know them on a professional level and on a teaching level, but you also get more face-to-face time where you get to know them on a personal level. I learned from them, not just the things they teach, but how they carry themselves.”

For more information about the communication studies program at NSU, visit https://academics.nsuok.edu/communicationstudies. 

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