Finding her own way forward

Campbell Valline (’26 political science) has always loved learning and would be happy if she could earn a degree in everything. While history and social studies were her favorite subjects in elementary school, she found her way to political science through the classic eighth grade trip to Washington, D.C.

Valline’s class visited the Smithsonian Museums and the usual monuments, but it was the visit to the Capitol that brought political science to life.
“It was really cool,” Valline said. “Direct political participation, it was right there with me.”

A wealth of possibilities

Through an accelerated course of study, Valline will graduate with a bachelor’s degree this spring, her junior year. Because Iowa State’s political science program allows students to apply up to six credit hours of undergraduate coursework toward their graduate degree, Valline plans to complete the work for her master’s degree in one year and graduate in 2027.
What comes after graduation is still a work in progress.

“I don’t have my mind set on something. I think through the experiences I’ve had at Iowa State and through the countless opportunities … those are the times where I get to find out,” she said.

Valline is not sure if she wants to work with corporate policy or public policy, but she believes studying political science has given her a wealth of possibilities to choose from and afforded her experiences from both of those spheres.

“It is a small department with a big-school opportunity, which has been so wonderful for me,” she said.

Internships and opportunities

Those opportunities included three internships. The first was on campus at the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women in Politics as a voter engagement intern during the 2024 presidential election cycle. Valline is passionate about voter engagement, plus she enjoyed the hands-on experience.

For her next internship, Valline worked for the LS2 Group, a bipartisan lobbying and public affairs group in Des Moines.

“That was really great because they had so many different clients,” Valline said. “I was exposed to every side of the aisle and so many different issues, which was really, really cool. I loved that.”

Valline has a full plate this summer. She’ll be working at Blue Cross Blue Shield as a health networks and government program intern. This will give her the chance to work with corporate policy. She was also named a finalist in the Washington Media Scholars Case Competition, which means she will go back to Washington, D.C., in June and learn from industry professionals regarding political communications.

But Valline’s experiential learning opportunities weren’t all internships. Last February, she and another student participated in the Memorial Student Center Student Conference on National Affairs (MSC Scona) 70. This student-run conference has been held at Texas A&M University since 1955. Working with a group of nine military cadets and students from a variety of universities, they were tasked with crafting and presenting a policy memo on government transparency.

For three days, it was a deep dive into public policy work.

“It was such a great experience and just so eye opening,” Valline said.

What lies ahead

While Valline isn’t sure what direction her career will take her, she is certain that her degree, and what she has learned and experienced as a political science student, has given her a variety of paths to choose from.

“You can do so much with a political science degree. You can find yourself working on policy, you can run for office, you can work for nonprofits, or [non-governmental organizations],” Valline said. “There’s so much wealth there within this degree.”