ECON Junior Reflects on Receiving the First Mascott Family Endowed Student Support Scholarship

During the fall 2024 semester, Sam McGranahan, a junior economics major, was the first University of Maryland student to receive a Mascott Family Endowed Student Support Scholarship. The scholarship, established by Department of Government and Politics alumnus Jeff Mascott ’96, is designed to support undergraduate students in the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences who are pursuing Congressional internships in the U.S. Capitol.

McGranahan says the $1,000 he received through the scholarship “greatly eased” the financial burden of the internship that he participated in on Capitol Hill, as he had to spend around $20 per day while there.

McGranahan specifically worked as a legislative intern in Congressman Steny Hoyer's office, an opportunity that provided him with a deeper understanding of what it’s like to work in a fast-paced environment. He also said that the internship helped him form meaningful relationships with fellow interns, colleagues and staff, and to gain a new professional perspective. (McGranahan worked as a legislative intern with Manis Canning and Associates, a lobbying firm in Annapolis, prior to his Capitol Hill internship.)

“It provided me with a ton of tangible skills for seeing the process of how lobbying works … it’s different from the legislative side of things,” he said.

While still uncertain about his plans for after graduation, McGranahan is leaning towards attending law school, a possible path that he became inspired to potentially pursue following his participation in two other UMD programs. The first, which McGranahan  participated in during his sophomore year, is the Federal Fellows program, which seeks to prepare undergraduate students for “careers of influence and impact, especially in the public sector” via a fall seminar taught by industry experts, a spring internship in the D.C. area, and professional development opportunities. The second is the MLaw Program, UMD’s undergraduate law program through which students can explore various legal tracks and gain research and internship experience.

"I enjoy how interdisciplinary the MLaw program is, as it’s been great at allowing students to explore several aspects of law and there are several in-classroom opportunities to explore those topics you find most interesting," he said. “I’m getting credits through the program, allowing me to be in college while also gaining all of this professional experience, which is really important.”

The importance of gaining professional experiences—like those McGranahan acquired through his internship with Congressman Steny Hoyer, and other activities at UMD—wasn’t lost on Jeff Mascott. Mascott himself spent a summer interning on Capitol Hill as a UMD student, and went on to work in Congress for about six years after graduation.

Out of his House of Representatives communications strategist experience, Mascot created a constituent relationship management (CRM) company, Fireside21, in 2002, and then became the founder and CEO of Adfero, a full-service strategic communications and public affairs firm, a few years later, in which role he remained until his untimely passing in February 2023.

Today, Mascott’s legacy lives on through his wife, Jenn, his children, and through scholarship recipients like McGranahan.

To apply for support from the Mascott Family Endowed Student Support Fund click here. To learn more or support the Mascott Family Endowed Student Support Fund, click here.

This article was written by Sofia Appolonio, JOUR '26.

Published on Fri, Feb 7, 2025 - 9:44AM