The Bryce Harlow Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based program that annually supports graduate students hoping to pursue careers in government relations and lobbying, awarded eight Georgetown graduate students its fellowship for the 2023-24 academic year.

The foundation gives eligible students a $9,000 award that goes directly towards their tuition. To be eligible, students must be pursuing graduate degrees part-time, work full-time and meet the foundation’s standards of integrity and mentorship.

The foundation selected Patrick Wohl from the Georgetown University Law Center; Omair Mirza from the McDonough School of Business; Mika Alvarez, Ferdous Dehqan, Katherine Palm and Sarah Sapirstein from the McCourt School of Public Policy; and Elborz Mazanderan and Iván Thirion from the School of Foreign Service. The program had 28 recipients overall.

Wohl (LAW ’23), who works full-time as a senior political representative for the National Association of Realtors, said he was excited to be named a fellow and have a community of people with similar passions.

“I was elated and honored to be a part of this network of people,” Wohl told The Hoya. “The people who are my fellows now come from such diverse work backgrounds and all settings and different things, so it’s nice to be able to be a part of that group and work with people who are working kind of adjacent to what I do.”

Second-year fellow Mirza (GRD ’23), vice president of federal government relations with JPMorgan Chase, said the foundation helped him squash stereotypes about lobbyists.

“I think there’s a real negative connotation around the country about the role that lobbyists play,” Mirza told The Hoya. “I think this organization does a really good job of embedding high ethical values into you. It also shows you that lobbying is about government advocacy, and it’s our First Amendment right to redress our government and to engage with the government.”

Mirza added that because there is a lack of diversity in government relations, the Bryce Harlow Foundation tries to give people from all backgrounds a place to network and make a name for themselves.

“I think part of what Bryce Harlow has done a really good job of is making sure that there are equitable voices across the table, that they’re building a pipeline for those types of people in government relations,” Mirza said.

An important part of the foundation’s work is to provide the fellows with mentors. Thirion (GRD ’24), who is entering his second year as a fellow and is a program analyst for the Open Society Foundation’s U.S. foreign policy advocacy team, said that the mentorship program has been very beneficial to his work.

“I was essentially paired up with experienced professionals that have regular meetings and conversations with me, and they gave me advice on how to become a better advocate and how to be effective at lobbying the issues that I’m trying to advance and effective ways to influence legislation or regulation in an ethical manner with integrity and transparency,” Thirion told The Hoya.

The Bryce Harlow Foundation hopes to leave its fellows with the tools for successful individual careers centered around equitable representation and responsible engagement with the U.S. government. Mirza said the program helps empower his work as a lobbyist while he pursues his graduate degree.

“I think the most important thing of getting out of this is that you should take pride in your industry,” Mirza said.