NRA Welcomes Freedom Defender

The Second Amendment – “A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed” – has been under great scrutiny the past few weeks.

Since her May 2012 graduation from Northern Michigan University, Sarah Morrison has been busy. She’s been a summer camp head lifeguard, a fall 2012 field representative for the Leadership Institute, and since January, she’s been the special assistant to the National Rifle Association (NRA) President David Keene.

“The NRA is playing a large role in the public policy debate over the 23 new executive orders, along with Sen. Feinstein's new gun ban,” Sarah said.

Sarah helps the NRA president with his many scheduling requests and briefs him on particular issues. Additionally, her responsibilities include processing mail, fielding emails, and filing expense reports.

Sarah first learned of the Leadership Institute from her former employer—Mrs. Donna Wiesner Keene—for whom she interned at BrainTrain in the summer of 2011. She quickly enrolled in LI’s Conservative Intern Workshop with 122 other conservative DC summer interns from more than 58 congressional offices, government agencies, and organizations.

Interns at LI's workshop learned how to network effectively, survive DC housing and meal costs, format their resumes, and strategically plan their careers.

Sarah was president of the College Republicans chapter at Northern Michigan University her junior and senior years, where she organized Presidential Candidate Rick Santorum’s Marquette, MI event, among other things.

Her senior year, Sarah came back to the DC area for the Conservative Political Action Conference in February, where she and 524 others participated in the CPAC Job & Internship Fair, hosted by the Leadership Institute’s ConservativeJobs.com. There Sarah learned of the job opportunities LI offered like becoming a field representative.

After graduation, Sarah took LI’s Youth Leadership School, Field Representative Training, and On-Camera TV Workshop in August before jetting to Wisconsin and upper Michigan as an LI Field Rep to recruit and train conservative college students to create groups on their campuses.

“In my LI training, I learned that nothing is impossible. I also learned many organizing, grassroots, and planning strategies,” Sarah shared.

“LI provided me with my first legitimate job in my field after graduation from college,” Sarah said. “The Leadership Institute is a useful resource for young, developing conservatives and libertarians.”

Check out LI’s 2013 training schedule here.

Interested in being a 2013 LI Field Representative? Contact Mike Armstrong.

Please welcome Sarah Morrison as the LI’s Graduate of the Week.

To nominate a Leadership Institute graduate or faculty member to be featured as LI's spotlight of the week, please contact LI's External Affairs Officer Lauren Day, formerly Lauren Hart, at Lauren@LeadershipInstitute.org.