Allen grad lands competitive Commerce Department internship in Washington

An Allen High School graduate is spending his summer in a Washington office that helps shape federal trade policy after winning one of just 13 spots in Texas A&M University’s Public Policy Internship Program. Alex Bastia, who graduated from Allen High in 2024 and is now a junior at Texas A&M, is interning with the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration in its Office of Southeast Asia.

Bastia’s work puts a Collin County student inside a national policy operation. His duties include monitoring legislation, attending hearings and briefings, preparing reports and researching policy issues for senior staff. Texas A&M says he is using the placement to deepen his understanding of business and regulatory policy, build a network in the policy world and contribute in a federal office far from North Texas.

The internship also reflects how Texas A&M has turned public-service placements into a long-running pipeline. The university says its Public Policy Internship Program was established in 1999 by then-President Dr. Ray Bowen, and roughly 1,300 Aggies have interned in Washington, D.C., and Austin since then. Texas A&M’s Division of Academic Affairs says the program now connects students to more than 200 offices, giving undergraduates a path into state and federal policymaking that starts in college and extends into full-time careers.

For Bastia, that path has been built on more than one campus credential. Texas A&M says he is a business honors and finance major with a minor in economics and a certificate in philosophy pre-law. He also serves as secretary of the Texas A&M Mock Trial team, a justice for the Student Government Judicial Court and a managing editor for the Undergraduate Journal of Law and Society. Texas A&M says he plans to pursue business law, specifically in the securities sector, after law school.

The university has also expanded the pipeline beyond a single program. In spring 2025, Texas A&M broadened its Public Policy Scholars Program to include the entire Texas A&M University System. Selected undergraduates can earn course credit while completing a semester in Washington, D.C., with six hours of in-person coursework at the Bush School DC Teaching Site, blocks from the White House, and internship credit alongside three days a week in a host office.

The Commerce Department’s International Trade Administration says its student internship program offers paid opportunities for current students to work in federal agencies and gain real-world experience while finishing their education. For Allen and other Collin County students, Bastia’s placement shows how a local public-school graduate can move from classroom leadership into federal public service without leaving Texas A&M’s network behind.