When Dulasi Tennakoon BA’25 earned a full scholarship to attend Willamette University as an international transfer student from Sri Lanka, she came with a passion for politics, and excitement for the opportunities ahead of her.
Tennakoon, who graduated in May 2025 with honors and a degree in Politics, Policy, Law, and Ethics (PPLE), spent her time at Willamette moving from the classrooms to Oregon’s State Capitol and Salem City Hall, guided by faculty who took her ambitions seriously. Tennakoon took those ambitions to Washington D.C., as an intern for California Congressman Ted Lieu.
It was Tennakoon’s Willamette professors who encouraged her to apply to the CAUSE Leadership Academy, a paid nine-week internship program designed for college students and recent graduates passionate about government and civic leadership. That kind of personal investment defined her time at Willamette.
With small class sizes and a strong academic community, it didn’t take long for Tennakoon to find her place at Willamette. An active member of the South Asian Student Union and Resident Advisor at Kaneko Commons, Tennakoon found community among fellow international students, students of color, and her PPLE peers.
Making political connections as a student
Tennakoon says she gained confidence in the small classrooms at Willamette.
“Learning in an environment where me and my classmates could express ideas openly helped me have the confidence to speak up during my congressional internship, knowing when to speak and how to phrase my sentences when I do. That’s something I definitely learned at Willamette,” said Tennakoon.
One class in particular from her time at Willamette stuck with her: a three-hour evening seminar with Hatfield Professor of Politics, Policy, Law, and Ethics Richard Ellis called, “What’s the Matter with American Politics?” The small student seminar cohort gathered not to absorb a lecture, but to engage with and wrestle with the question.
Ellis would go on to do more than teach Tennakoon. After Tennakoon told him she wanted to experience local politics firsthand, he connected her with former Salem Mayor and Willamette alum, Christopher Hoy BA’87, in whose office she interned in 2024.
“It was an honor to learn about city leadership working with the Mayor's office. I got that opportunity because of Willamette,” said Tennakoon.
During her last semester at Willamette, Tennakoon interned across the street from campus as a legislative aide for State Representative Paul Evans, and quickly learned that Willamette students are prized interns.
“Willamette students have a good reputation in the capitol; they prioritize us because they trust us,” said Tennakoon.
An unforgettable experience for international students
When Tennakoon’s parents flew from Sri Lanka to Salem for her commencement, they arrived to a daughter they had only seen on screen for almost a year. In the span of a few days, they shared in honoring Tennakoon and her fellow first-generation students. They listened to their daughter speak at the students of color affinity celebration. They witnessed her induction into Willamette’s chapter of Phi Beta Kappa. They watched her receive the Karen Wyckoff Award for Excellence from the PPLE department. And they watched a university community they trusted from the other side of the world care for and celebrate her.
“I had been on video calls with them every night showing them around, and to actually have them visit campus and see what I've been up to was really amazing,” said Tennakoon. “For them to be there and witness my achievements and the milestones that I've accomplished — it’s a day I definitely won’t forget.”
Tennakoon’s gratitude for Willamette, for the support she received as an international student, fuels her dreams of one day working in diplomacy – the world of international relationships, of countries learning to understand and trust each other across distance. And after everything she has experienced – the scholarship, the seminars, working in City Hall, at the State Capitol, and the nation’s Capitol, her goal feels less like a dream and more like a natural next step.
