Sage Yassa

Sage Yassa interned with RFI in the spring of 2022 while a student in the Baylor in Washington program. Sage is a University Scholar at Baylor with a political science major, French minor, and additional studies in great texts. “I was aware that much of RFI’s work was upstream from court cases - more on influencing actual policy, education, advocacy efforts before issues get to the courtroom, and I thought that would be a different perspective on this topic that I was really interested in.”

Working with Nathaniel Hurd on the North America Action Team, Sage was assigned to take notes at the House Values Action Team meetings led by U.S. Representative Vicky Hartzler. At these meetings, she got to interact not only with Rep. Hartzler and other members of Congress but also with key members of other Religious Freedom organizations. “Getting to attend these meetings with people who are actually doing the work of religious freedom was very impactful. And then to have my notes help RFI’s efforts to protect religious freedom was really gratifying.”

With plans to graduate in 2024, Sage notes that interning with RFI gave her the awareness and critical thinking skills to better understand today’s headlines. “I feel like I can speak more effectively on current news stories and be a good source of information for my peers because I got to work with an organization that works at the forefront of those issues.”