Student wins prestigious city management internship

Bryan Gadow, a student in the La Follette School of Public Affairs, is off to Kansas City as an intern with the L.P. Cookingham Management Internship Program with the city manager’s office.

“This is one of the oldest, most competitive city government internships,” says La Follette Professor Dennis Dresang. “Bryan competed with a diverse group of finalists from some of the largest public affairs schools in the country.”

The range of experiences the 12-month internship offers excites Gadow, who graduates in May with a master’s degree in public affairs. He enrolled in La Follette through the Accelerated Program, through which undergraduates can complete their master’s in a fifth year of study.

The Cookingham program rotates interns through the offices for the city manager, capital improvements, budget and public works. In each of these offices, interns work closely with staff on projects ranging from researching hospitalization insurance, analyzing intersection collisions and working with media.

While working in the rotations, Gadow and the other interns will select and design a yearlong project that will significantly affect Kansas City government. This project provides interns with an opportunity to work together on projects of specific interest.

Gadow, of Kaukauna, has been working for the Office of the President of the University of Wisconsin System, where he is involved in government relations and communications activities. He serves as chair of the Morgridge Center for Public Service Committee of Civic Participation, a university working group that examines strategies to incorporate civic learning into the UW–Madison curriculum.

“My training at La Follette has provided me with skills that I need to succeed in this position,” Gadow says. “The Cookingham interview committee was really impressed with the broad array of policy fields that I had experience with. But I think that my La Follette internship experience, working at UW System on ‘Brain Gain’ strategies for attracting young professionals to the state, was what sealed the deal.”