Exploring Public Service at the Attorney General’s Office

Just two weeks after arriving in the United States, Mostafa Abdelmageed ’27 started volunteering at Neighborhood House in St. Paul, teaching English to refugees and immigrants. The Macalester student, who had recently emigrated to Minnesota with his own family from Egypt, had noticed a call for volunteers in his new Mac email inbox.

“I felt like I had to give something back to the community,” Abdelmageed said. “The people of Minnesota have already helped us a lot as immigrants, and I wanted to help more people in return.”

For Abdelmageed, the call to help others is hardly anything new. He’s spent many hours serving his community in hospitals and as a translator for a refugee company. But recently, he’s been motivated to explore what public service could look like on a larger scale.

That led him to the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office this fall, where he’s spent the past three months as an undergraduate intern. It’s an experience that has opened his eyes to new career paths and ways of giving back.

Inside the Attorney General’s Office

As a neuroscience major who previously studied computer science in Saudi Arabia, Abdelmageed came to the internship curious about how public service operates at the state level. What he found surprised him: an office of more than 500 employees working in roles behind the scenes to support the Attorney General.

The internship allowed him to explore a variety of departments within the office, from IT and cybersecurity to antitrust and healthcare licensing. He worked on expungement programs, helping clear criminal records for people with felonies and misdemeanors. And for his final project, he conducted a test of the Attorney General’s public website, scanning for security vulnerabilities that could be exploited by hackers.

But it was his work with the health and licensing division that proved most interesting. Abdelmageed had previously been considering medicine or law as potential career paths. The internship showed him he might be able to combine them.

“I didn’t know there was an intersectionality between healthcare and law,” Abdelmageed said. “This internship showed me that you can do both at the same time.”

The Rush of Making a Difference

High-impact practices, like internships, are an integral part of most students’ experience at Macalester. There are over 200 internship sites within eight miles of campus and a center to help students navigate the internship process. While internships allow students to develop new skills, most importantly, they open a window to the future.

As he nears the end of his internship, Abdelmageed has been inspired to research healthcare law as a potential path after graduation—although it’s just one of many he’s considering.

No matter where he ends up, what remains constant is his goal to serve others. It’s what gives this Scot a rush of satisfaction as he watches the impact of his work on people’s lives.

“When you see that you’re improving someone’s life in any way, it gives you a rush of dopamine,” Abdelmageed said. “That’s the one thing that keeps me going and keeps me volunteering. I feel like I’m doing something important, something that’s benefiting the community.”