Four college students and recent graduates spent the summer in Washington, D.C., researching U.S. relations with Greece, Cyprus and Turkey through the American Hellenic Institute’s internship program.
Bram Rawlings, Nicholas Contos, Noe Kourtzidis and Spyridon Kass made up AHI’s 2026 summer cohort. Their projects covered congressional engagement with Greece and Cyprus, religious freedom in Turkey, U.S.-Greek-Turkish relations, the 3+1 partnership, and foreign contributions to American universities.
Rawlings recently graduated from Wheaton College in Illinois, where he studied Theology and Classical Languages. Before joining AHI, he worked as a National Security Research Intern at the Institute of World Politics, focusing on Iran’s ballistic missile program and nonproliferation strategy.
His work in Washington examined how U.S. relations with Greece and Turkey have changed from the Cold War to the present. He also researched religious freedom in Turkey and followed media coverage of the 3+1 framework among the United States, Greece, Cyprus, and Israel. Rawlings has since joined Look Ahead Strategies as a junior analyst.
Contos, a member of Tufts University’s Class of 2029, is studying International Relations. His internship focused on congressional engagement with Greece and Cyprus, along with outreach connected to those issues.
He also attended a hearing on Turkey before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, where lawmakers and witnesses addressed questions involving U.S.-Turkey relations and human rights. The experience gave Contos a firsthand view of how Eastern Mediterranean issues move through Congress as well as advocacy organizations in Washington.
Kourtzidis came to the program from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where he is a member of the Class of 2027. Originally from Thessaloniki, he is pursuing a degree in Global Studies with minors in Political Science and Religion, Culture & Society.
He is a founder and president of Lehigh’s Hellenic Student Association and serves in the university’s Student Senate. During his summer with AHI, Kourtzidis worked within the organization’s policy and advocacy network while learning more about how issues concerning Greece and Cyprus are handled in Washington and among Hellenic organizations in the United States.
Kass is a junior at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, studying Politics and International Relations. He has participated in Model United Nations and writes for his university newspaper, combining interests in diplomacy, public policy, and journalism.
His research at AHI included foreign contributions to American universities. Kass also participated in the American Hellenic Institute Foundation’s College Student Foreign Policy Trip to Greece and Cyprus, adding meetings and travel in the region to his summer work in Washington.
The four interns worked from AHI’s Hellenic House and took part in a program that combines research assignments with access to congressional hearings, think tank events and other policy discussions. AHI said in its August 14 announcement that more than 300 students have participated in its internship program over the past five decades.
The program is open to undergraduate and graduate students as well as recent graduates, with applications accepted on a rolling basis. Academic-year participants are expected to work at least 15 hours per week, while summer applicants who can work full-time receive preference. The internships are unpaid.