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20th anniversary: This August in FIRE history

FIRE's 2018 summer intern class.

FIRE is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2019! 

We’ll soon have more details on how you can celebrate with us, including information on registration and sponsorship for our October gala at the Mandarin Oriental, New York  — featuring a keynote address by Salman Rushdie

Until then, we’re keeping the party going all year long here on Newsdesk, with a monthly walk down memory lane to highlight notable moments in FIRE history that are still relevant today.


For this month in FIRE’s history, we’d like to pay tribute to the people who make FIRE’s future possible. FIRE interns — who typically leave us every August — have been around almost as long as FIRE has, and ever since our first intern class in 2000, our interns have been an essential part of protecting civil liberties on campuses nationwide.

Whether they’re writing blogs, giving interviews on national TV, getting their work published in major outlets, or fighting for student rights on their own campuses, our interns not only help us, but earn valuable hands-on experience. Sometimes FIRE interns even gain the ear of Congress, as in 2017, when former FIRE intern (and plaintiff) Isaac Smith testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in a hearing on freedom of speech on college campuses. 

We’re also pretty sure FIRE interns like working here. How can we tell?  Because so many have come back to work for us! Current staffers who used to be interns include Program Officer Zach Greenberg, Foundation Relations Officer Zoe Kuenstler, Senior Program Officer Laura Beltz, and Senior Program Officer Mary Zoeller. Even FIRE’s Senior Vice President of Legal and Public Advocacy Will Creeley started out as a FIRE legal intern.

Here’s to our awesome interns throughout the years! To learn more about FIRE’s internship program and how you can apply, visit our Internship Page today. Questions and inquiries about FIRE’s Summer Internship program can be submitted to internship@thefire.org.

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