I'm Aisha Roscoe, and you're listening to The Sunday Story, where we go beyond the news to bring you one big story.

A few weeks before graduating from Duke Kunshan University, senior Liam Powell received a letter he'd been anticipating from the U.S. State Department.

Dear William and Powell, thank you for your interest in an internship with the U.S. Department of State.

Liam was a global health major, and he'd interned at the United States Agency for International Development, or USAID.

So when he saw there was an internship with the State Department, he applied, and he was chosen. But then came a

federal hiring freeze. We regret to inform you that the U.S. Department of State has canceled the

summer 2025 cycle of the student internship program. In accordance with the president's executive order

entitled Hiring Freeze and the Office of Management and Budget and Office of

Personnel Management's Joint Memorandum, the department hereby rescinds your tentative offer to

participate in the student internship program. We wish you success in your academic career.

The email came to me March 14th this year, so pretty far down the line after the hiring freeze.

A couple weeks ago, he walked across the stage at his graduation.

Liam Powell.

As the class of 2025 celebrate their achievements so far, many like Liam are grappling with the question of what next.

And that's the way it is with graduations, right?

No one knows what is to come.

Graduation season, it's a celebration.

It's a time of optimism.

And, you know, it makes me feel nostalgic for my own college graduation from Howard University.

You know, you're thinking, like, of all the people who have come come before you and you are now a part of this long line of alumni.

And so it's almost like you're being baptized into this new part of your life.

As a person, I was not ready to be on my own.

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