From here to far, 11 Stephenson Institute students spent the summer of 2024 outside Wabash classrooms. Now in its third class of internships, these placements deepened their practical application of classical liberal themes—while simultaneously broadening their career horizons and global perspectives.
When Kale Helms ’25 arrived in London in late May, he was a bit taken aback by the sheer size of the UK megalopolis. “Coming from small-town Indiana, the huge city was something that I found both daunting and intriguing, but I would not trade the experience for anything.” Kale worked at the Adam Smith Institute (ASI), just a short walk from the Houses of Parliament, conducting research on policy questions and markets; his particular focus was on education, culminating in his work featured on the ASI’s blog.
Across the channel in continental Europe, Preston Art ’26 lived for over two months in Vienna. Based at the Austrian Economics Center, he interned at a think tank that draws on the liberal tradition in analyzing public policy—with a particular focus on promoting prosperity in Europe. The relatively small office meant that interns hit the ground running, becoming a key part of the center’s research agenda. Preston explains that after studying questions such as the Paris Climate Agreement, “the AEC incorporated my findings into academic articles and presentations.” Preston was also joined by Lucas Carpenter ’26 in Vienna, also found that the entrepreneurial environment of AEC was unmatched: “Having the chance to do research directly for the Vice Chancellor of the Austrian Central Bank was not a task I expected, but is one that I will forever be grateful for.”
Also in Europe, Ethan Gozales ’26, based at the American College of Greece in Athens, was awarded a grant to investigate Ancient Greek conåcepts, including citizenship and honor, relating them to contemporary theories of individual liberty, rationality, and personal responsibility. In this more academic placement, Ethan’s time abroad was nonetheless transformative. “The ancient agora is still in wonderful condition,” said Ethan, providing an unmatched opportunity to connect the past with lessons of today. Tobey Condon ’26 similarly spent part of his summer studying foundational ideas at “Capitaf,” the former Vermont country home of Milton Friedman, a legendary economist. Taking place on over 90 acres of New England forest, participants study in “the environment of a country lodge and [the] spectacular view puts one in the mood to speculate about the … the constant effort to improve the lives of all individuals.”
Back closer to home in the U.S., Gavinn Alstott ’25 found his passion engaging with “religious liberty, sanctity of life, marriage & family, parental rights, and free speech” at the Alliance for Defending Freedom. Based at their Atlanta-area office, Gavin worked with his new colleagues to “open the door for viewpoint diversity in the marketplace and for all workplaces… the truth of the matter is that major companies and businesses have sidelined these civil liberties.”
Preston Reynolds ’25, working primarily from home, focused on historical research at The Remnant Trust in Indianapolis. To enhance his goal of going to graduate school, he helped steward a collection of manuscripts, first editions, and early works on individual liberty and human dignity. “Working with material from as far back as the 15th century was amazing,” Preston said. “You wouldn’t expect to be able to have that kind of experience in the Midwest.”
Finally, right here on campus, four in-house Stephenson Institute interns spent part of their summer providing critical support for our undergraduate Summer Seminar in Classical Liberalism, which is co-sponsored with the American Institute for Economic Research (AIER). Albert Bernhardt ’26, Arman Luthra ’26, Nishant Humagain ’27, and Biswajeet Kumar ’25 were also able to participate in all the lectures, discussions, and socials with dozens of other bright students interested in classical liberal themes—which ranged from the origins of the liberal tradition to spontaneous order and public choice theory.
