The questions Madeline Shantz, SPA/BA ’27, is helping answer are big ones. 

How can Washington, DC, expand access to solar energy? How can the District reduce its energy costs? And how can it pursue ambitious sustainability goals while making sure the people who live here benefit, too? 

Shantz may still be a student, but this semester, she is gaining a firsthand role in exploring those questions.

As an intern with the DC Department of Energy and Environment (DOEE), Shantz works with the Solar for All team, helping research policies and programs that connect DC residents with solar and energy-saving opportunities. She also researches how other governments have used energy-saving performance contracts and explores approaches the District could consider as it works toward its sustainability goals. 

For Shantz, the experience has been a chance to see what environmental policy looks like when it leaves the classroom and enters the real world. 

And she is discovering that the work is about more than the environment itself. 

“I want to help the planet,” she says. “But we kind of need to help the people, too. I think the two are intertwined.” 

That mindset has helped shape a college journey defined by exploration. 

When Shantz first visited American University as a high school student, she wandered into a graduate class on counterterrorism. Students were working on issues connected to government, and the experience offered her an early glimpse of the kind of hands-on learning she could find in Washington, DC. 

She chose AU and eventually found her academic home in the School of Public Affairs’ CLEG program, where communications, legal studies, economics, and government intersect. She added a minor in data science, too, giving her another way to investigate the questions that interest her. 

And not every interest has stuck. Like many college students, Shantz has worked her way through a series of possibilities, including economics, law, and consulting. During her study abroad experience in Brussels, she explored sustainability through an internship at a consultancy. The experience helped her realize she wanted to approach environmental work from a different lens. 

“I kind of wanted to take a peek at what DC government was like,” she says. 

That peek has turned into an experience that is reshaping how she sees her future. 

At DOEE, Shantz is one of the youngest people in her workplace. As an intern, she has learned how to communicate with colleagues across different roles, translate research into concise policy writing, and contribute ideas in a professional setting. 

The skills themselves are familiar. AU has taught her how to write policy memos and one-page briefs. The difference is what happens when someone actually needs the work. 

“When you’re applying [these skills] for a job, it makes it easier to learn than if you’re applying it for a grade,” she says. 

Then there is the confidence that comes from realizing people are listening. 

“Even though I’m an intern, people at my internship still want to hear what I have to say,” Shantz says. 

That confidence is one reason the opportunity matters. Another is the financial support that helped make it possible. 

Through the William K. Reilly Fund for Environmental Governance and Leadership, Shantz is receiving funding for her internship, allowing her to gain professional experience in the environmental field while still an undergraduate. The fund supports students pursuing careers in environmental, energy, and sustainability policy and reflects the leadership legacy of William K. Reilly, former administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency. 

For Shantz, the support has been both practical and personal. It has given her the opportunity to gain experience, but it has also given her a tangible reminder that the career she is imagining for herself is within reach. 

“After all my time at American, I feel like I can do this,” she says. “It’s achievable.” 

She is beginning to see what “this” might look like. 

Shantz now knows she wants environmental work to be part of her future. She is considering graduate study in sustainability or environmental management, perhaps at AU or abroad, and she is curious about where her interests in data science might fit within the field. 

She may not know exactly where those interests will lead her yet. But her internship has given her something valuable: a clearer sense of what she wants to pursue and the confidence to pursue it. 

For Shantz, that is the power of getting out of the classroom and into the work itself.