Opportunity at Library of Congress 'feels perfect' for hardworking student

(Editor's Note: This is the third in a series of stories about students in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications completing summer internships in 2026.)

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — As summer internship sites go, Paige Rishel knows hers is special. It comes with more than 225 years of history and attracts a million visitors a year. It also provides an almost perfect location for her varied interests as she works toward a double major at Penn State, with one bachelor’s degree in advertising/public relations and another in history.

Plus, Rishel has abundant internship experience (she’s completed a half dozen during her Penn State career already) so she knows working at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., does more than add a line to her resume or check another box for experience.

“It’s amazing to come to work every day, and it feels perfect for me,” Rishel said. “I really do love research, the unknown, asking hard questions nobody has asked before.”

As a Library of Congress Kluge Intern, Rishel is working with two different research groups — one focused on creating a database of Revolutionary War oaths (acts of loyalty during a divided time for the county) and the other on the experience of Russian soldiers in the 19th century. She works five days a week and alternates days between the projects. Because the focus of the efforts is so different, Rishel said she feels more productive giving her undivided attention to just one each day.

For the determined, hard-working rising senior from Philipsburg, Pennsylvania, everything she attempts — and there has been a lot since she first stepped on campus — gets that level of focus. It all usually ends well, too.

That’s good news for her research supervisors and for Rishel as she works to determine what will come after she graduates from Penn State next spring. Honestly, she said, she's always known where it was going because her innate curiosity and love of research have made a doctoral degree a logical pursuit for years.

This summer’s internship just adds another level of preparation, Rishel said.

Rishel credits her parents, Ann and Jason, with instilling and modeling the work ethic that defines much of what she does. They were each first-generation college students in their families, and Rishel’s brother, Will, graduated from Penn State in 2022. He has since been commissioned as a pilot in the Air Force.

It’s a driven family, Rishel said.

“My parents provided a good example, and there has always been good, fun competition with my brother,” Rishel said. “At the same time, there has been so much support to take on challenges and try different things.”

Rishel, a Paterno Fellow and Schreyer Scholar, has embraced that foundational mindset and made the most of her time at Penn State. She was able to transfer about 30 advanced-placement credits from high school to college, and that offered the opportunity to explore a variety of interests.

She’s appreciative for what has happened, she said, while acknowledging the work necessary to succeed.

“It’s kind of a family thing. We can’t sit still, we’re always looking for something exciting and new to keep us going,” Rishel said. “I worked my butt off, because there was a little bit of an imposter syndrome coming from a small high school. I guess I thought people were underestimating me and I wanted to prove I belonged.”

Belonged indeed. Rishel has done more than survive — she has thrived at Penn State.

“She’s a standout as a student, represents the Bellisario College well and is a super person,” said Del Schwab, the Bellisario College adviser who works with Schreyer Scholars. “If you ask for a volunteer, Paige will step up and do a wonderful job. She’s a genuinely good person, and just so curious about the world.”

Along with those bachelor’s degrees, Rishel added a minor in digital media trends and analytics (“Because those seemed like necessary skills," she said) and a minor in American Sign Language (“because it sounded interesting”).

She’s proud of her home and family but said that summers have typically been reserved for away-from-home internships. Before the nation’s capital, Rishel previously completed internships in Pittsburgh, at Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute-AI Division, and in Memphis, Tennessee, with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Each of those fed her curiosity and focus on research.

While she’s enjoying this summer’s opportunity with the Library of Congress — because it’s part confirmation and part culmination — the time in Memphis was important and personal, Rishel said.

“The experience at St. Jude has probably shaped me the most,” Rishel said. “Even if I don’t have a firm sense of my future career-wise, I know that my work needs to be service driven and needs to make the world a better place.”

With her well-rounded experiences, the pragmatic undergraduate has a decent sense of the world. Rishel has completed on-campus internships with the College of Agricultural Sciences as a lab associate, with the College of Arts and Architecture as a marketing intern and with the Schreyer Honors College as a social media and marketing intern.

Just as she decided to try the sign language minor because it sounded interesting, Rishel picked up photography during her Schreyer internship. She learned, practiced, watched tutorials and found the strength of photography in terms of storytelling, she explained. During a study abroad experience, she took two photos that ended up in an art gallery.

That success led to more of an investment in photography and Rishel now runs her own photography business, with everything from campus units as clients, to senior photos.

It’s just another layer of her ever-growing skillset. For example, she explained, while her inner nerd loves all the research at the Library of Congress this summer during the internship that runs through the end of July, her communications and storytelling skills help her summarize that work.

“I’m more of a to-the-point writer, able to boil things down,” Rishel said. “I think that helps translate history and research.”