Virtual internships in the federal government

Fed Access

Virtual internships in the federal government

Nora Dempsey, senior advisor for Innovation at the US Department of State, joins host Derrick Dortch on this week's Fed Access to talk about the Virtual Student...

May 29, 2020 7:28 am

< a min read

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This week on Fed Access, Nora Dempsey, senior advisor for Innovation at the State Department, joins host Derrick Dortch to talk about the Virtual Student Federal Service (VSFS) program.

VSFS is an eight-month virtual internship program for college level students that is managed by the office of eDiplomacy in the Department’s Bureau of Information Resource Management. VSFS logo

The interns work on unclassified government projects remotely from home or school, and communicate by phone, email or video chat with their mentors in various federal agencies.

Dempsey explains how the program works and says students can begin applying for the eInternships beginning July 1. Applications are available on USAJOBS.gov.

Host Derrick Dortch also speaks with two students who recently participated in the program. University of Maryland graduate Chloe Bates and Erick Boone, who recently graduated from Howard University in Washington. D.C., talk about some of the projects they worked on during their internships, and their experiences in working remotely with federal employees.