Hannah Waterman Activities Since Graduation
The 4.5 years since my graduation from Meridian have been filled with amazing opportunities,
lessons, and amazing experiences. In Fall of 2018, I started my college education at Seattle
Pacific University.
During my sophomore year, I was on my dorm’s Hall Council and served on the Student
Senate. A major focus of this leadership was establishing Strike Out Hunger on campus. This
program aims to help students facing food insecurity by providing meal grants at the campus
dining hall. I worked alongside campus dining, University communications, the Dean of Students
for Community Life, and individual student organizers. Students, staff, faculty, parents, and
community members can recommend a student for the grant. In its several months, the program
provided more than 200 meals for students in need. I also sat on the Student Budget Committee
and brought student priorities to the University’s budget-writing process–focusing on increased
campus accessibility.
Covid-19 cut my sophomore year short, but I was able to spend time with family in Whatcom
County. I also had the opportunity to intern on then State Representative Sharon Shewmake’s
reelection campaign. I learned the tenants of voter outreach, the importance of honest
communication, and what I want from a future political career. This continued through
November 2020, when Dr. Shewmake won reelection.
During this time, I was elected Executive Vice President of the Associated Students of Seattle
Pacific, SPU’s student government, for the 2020-2021 academic year. My junior year consisted
of chairing the student senate, working alongside other student executives to reckon with SPU’s
complex history and its present, and of course, my normal classes. I started my Honors
Research Project, in which I focused on barriers marginalized students face when seeking out
internships and how unpaid internships often create an undue burden for low-income students.
Ever since my senior year at Meridian, I knew that I wanted to intern at either the State
Legislature or Congress. In the summer of 2021, I interviewed with several offices in both
Washington State and Washington, D.C. and was offered a position in each. Ultimately, I
accepted an internship in Senator Maria Cantwell’s Washington, D.C. office. So instead of
starting my senior year of college with classes, it started with a flight.
I was in D.C. from September to December of 2021. In Senator Cantwell’s office I answered
constituent calls and mail, conducted research projects for the office, prepared press clips, and
completed any other errands needed. I got to deliver bill amendments to the Senate floor, tour
the Capitol while it was closed to visitors, attend the White House Christmas tree lighting, visit
museums I had only dreamed about visiting, and become uniquely familiar with how Congress
and the federal government work. I realized that the passion I first discovered in history and
civics classes translated to the real world.
In January I started again at SPU. I worked on my Honors Research Project, took classes I had
waited years for, and served as a student senator for the School of Business, Government, and
Economics.
In late spring I started working part-time at a public relations firm in Seattle in their market
research division, presented my final Honors Research Project, took my last finals, and
prepared for life after graduation. I am proud to have graduated Cum Laude with degrees in
both Political Science with a concentration in Public Policy and Law and Honors Liberal Arts
with a Classical Studies minor. Since graduation, I’ve been working as a political research
analyst full-time and discovering what life after school is like. I am excited for what the future
holds, and so thankful for my time at both Meridian and SPU.