Class of 2020 First-Year Fellow: Nicole Beckman ’20

Nicole Beckman ’20 is from Pelham, New York and graduated from Riverdale Country School. At Riverdale, Nicole was captain of the Mock Trial team which, under her leadership, ranked among the top 16 schools in New York City. She was also involved with Social Science Research, the Riverdale Admissions Office, and Student Government.

At Dartmouth, Nicole plans to pursue a major in Government and a minor in Public Policy. She is a member of the Dartmouth Mock Trial Team and Dartmouth College Democrats. Additionally, she is involved in outreach to prospective students as a Tour Guide with the Dartmouth Admissions Office and a member of Dimensions.

As a First-Year Fellow, Nicole interned at the Office of U.S. Congresswoman Anne McLane Kuster ’78. During her fellowship, Nicole was tasked with compiling news articles that mentioned Congresswoman Kuster, writing short summaries of each of the articles, and emailing the summaries to the D.C. and district office staff as well as the Congresswoman. Additionally, Nicole was able to communicate directly with Congresswoman Kuster’s constituents when they called into the office and logged their concerns into a database for the Congresswoman to see. Nicole's responsibilities also extended to the legislative realm. She attended briefings over new legislation that the Congresswoman or her staff could not attend and sent them memos about the discussion.

According to Nicole, her favorite part of the fellowship experience was exploring the breadth of different policy areas and turning her research into reports. “I loved learning the nuances of so many different policy areas with which I had little interaction before this internship, and felt that the responsibility that came with choosing the right sources for data in my argument—even when it involved pouring through many documents—was extremely rewarding. Some of the legislative projects I completed had to do with extremely important issues affecting New Hampshire, such as the opioid crisis, and in writing these reports I discovered that I really enjoyed exploring the mechanics of crafting policy language and the opportunity to put what legal knowledge I have from four years of Mock Trial to use.”

After graduation, Nicole plans to attend law school and pursue a career focused on public policy and politics.