UW–Madison Scholar Interns at Wisconsin State Legislature

Alexa Iraheta, a University of Wisconsin–Madison junior and Posse Scholar, spent her fall semester interning at the Wisconsin State Legislature. She served as the sole intern in the office of Rep. Lee Snodgrass.

Iraheta is pursuing a political science degree with certificates in public policy and education policy.

“I’ve always been interested in the government,” she says. “There need to be more people in the government who are advocating for marginalized communities. Growing up in communities where I’ve seen struggles is constantly on my mind, and I always want to bring it up and advocate for issues.”

As part of her internship, Iraheta presented a policy proposal to Snodgrass’s staff, which plans to encourage the representative to review the proposal during this legislative session. Her proposal focused on multilingual language access, outlining ways state and local governments in Wisconsin could improve translation services for English language learners.

“She brought a thoughtful, inquisitive approach to every task and consistently demonstrated both initiative and follow-through,” shared a representative from Rep. Snodgrass’ office. “Alexa has the intellect, drive, and collaborative spirit to be a powerful leader in policy.”

On campus, Iraheta serves on the executive board of the Latine Student Union. She is currently studying abroad in Barcelona during the spring semester, where she can practice Spanish, her first language.

Iraheta said the Posse office on campus is an important source of support and community. “Each time I’m feeling stressed out, down, or just want to talk to people and forget about school, I go to the Posse office,” she said. “It just feels like a family away from home.”