Sarah Longwell has no problem talking about the benefits of her Kenyon connections. "There are no two ways about it," she says. "I got my job because I was at Kenyon."

Longwell, who majored in political science, was writing for the Kenyon Observer, a student publication, when she met a representative of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI), a conservative think tank. That representative, himself a Kenyon alumnus, took an interest in Longwell's writing. Soon after her graduation, Longwell was working for ISI.

Her work at ISI flows straight from her Kenyon experience. "I took 'Quest for Justice' with (Professor of Political Science) Pamela Jensen, and it changed my entire life," she says. "Professor Jensen taught me to think and to discuss in a way I never had before." Longwell worked with Jensen in two independent-study courses that focused on the politicization of higher education. Now, as the director of public affairs at ISI, Longwell regularly writes and speaks on that very topic.

The institute works closely with colleges nationwide to develop programming that gives conservative students a voice, and Longwell regularly appears in the media to advance that mission. She has appeared on such broadcast outlets as C-SPAN, Fox News, the Armstrong Williams Show, and Family Radio News, as well as in many publications, including the Washington Times, Philadelphia Weekly, USA Today, and Time. And, Longwell is in charge of the publicity for It Takes a Family, an ISI-imprinted book by Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum.

In her spare time, Longwell is active in her local YMCA and is a youth basketball coach. She attributes her belief in civic responsibility to her Kenyon background. "The conservative role models that I had at Kenyon were unbelievably decent and good-hearted people," she says. "They showed me a vision of conservatism that I wanted to emulate-always wanting to give back and contribute."