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December 6, 2024 | By Hannah Loomis

In the summer of 2024, the Santa Fe city government welcomed interns from a new source: St. John’s College. This collaboration, made possible by a generous gift from former board chair Ron Fielding (A70) and his wife, Susan Rumore (A70), offered undergraduate Johnnies paid internships across various city departments, providing them with hands-on experience in practical governance. 

Mayor Alan Webber was enthusiastic about the program from the get-go: “We’re excited to partner with St. John’s College to provide paid internships for students to work in City departments,” he said. “These students are both learners and doers, and having them as part of the City team will both expand their educations and bolster our operations. It’s a terrific partnership where everyone benefits.”

Johnnies Ronan McKague (SF26) and Travis Skabo (SF25) leaped at the chance to pursue their vocational interests and apply their knowledge to real-world challenges. McKague is considering applying to law school, and so he was placed in the Office of Legislation and Policy Innovation. He spent his summer learning the intricacies of legal writing and the legislative process through drafting bills and resolutions and attending governing body meetings.

The precise language and format required for legal documents “is similar to scientific writing—extremely factual with no analysis and opinion-input,” McKague says. “It has to be extremely thorough and detail-orientated, which strengthened my close-reading skills.”

With a front-row seat to the inner workings of city government, McKague also gained a “strong understanding of the legislative process and what it takes to for a bill or a resolution to be passed,” he says. “I got to watch the birth of much of the city’s legislation this summer and follow it through the entire process until it was either adopted or rejected by the governing body.”

Skabo, who loves economics and plans on pursuing a career in consulting, chose an internship with the Office of Economic Development. Skabo wore many hats in his position, performing data analysis and contributing to strategies for boosting Santa Fe’s outdoor recreation industry. In addition, Skabo participated in early stages of a new economic development plan and helped to select the consultant ultimately hired to oversee that project.

“Throughout all this work, I felt very grateful for the impact St. John’s has had on my thinking,” he says. “The jump from St. John’s to economic development might seem like a strange one, but I actually think that Johnnies are uniquely suited to this work. Government offices like the Office of Economic Development …need out-of-the-box thinking, but this creativity must be tempered by rigor and research. Moreover, this work requires an understanding of human society and a strong mathematical underpinning, all filtered through good ethics. Nowhere produces this combination of traits as well as St. John’s.”

McKague and Skabo were among the first Johnnie interns to work with the City of Santa Fe, and they won’t be the last, according to Piér Quintana, director of the Office of Personal and Professional Development at St. John’s College, who highlighted the initiative’s long-term potential. “This partnership gives our students the opportunity to engage meaningfully and contribute to the work that is happening in the City of Santa Fe,” she says. “By creating pathways to careers in New Mexico, we are helping the community retain local talent and supporting the economic growth and development of the area.”

As for Skabo, he successfully parleyed his seasonal position into a year-round internship with the Office of Economic Development, and McKague was asked to return next summer to the Office of Legislation and Policy Innovation. He is currently considering applying to the University of New Mexico School of Law in Albuquerque, thanks in no small part to the networking he engaged in last summer with local attorneys.

“Overall,” McKague says, “this internship was a great learning experience, and I am extremely grateful to be able to participate in municipal politics here in Santa Fe.”