How hairy Highland cows led this Northeastern student to the frontlines of Scottish politics
A conversation about Brexit on a farm outside Inverness sparked a Northeastern student’s co-op in the office of Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie.
LONDON – For Northeastern political science major Kayla Ruggiero, inspiration for her “dream” co-op placement arrived on a cattle farm in the Scottish Highlands.
The Boston-based student was visiting the British Isles with her mother and was determined to see the region’s charismatic, floppy haired Highland Cattle. But once she reached the farm, outside the city of Inverness, she found herself less engrossed by the famous “hairy coos” – as Scots know them – than the stories told by local farmers who had worked this land for six generations.
“I started talking to the farmers about Brexit,” and how local farms had suffered from a downturn in investment and trade since Britain’s 2016 decision to exit the European Union, she said.
Through Northeastern’s co-op program, Ruggiero she was able to pursue this interest in the office of Dame Jackie Baillie, deputy leader of the Scottish Labour Party and one of the country’s most prominent politicians.
During a five-month co-op placement in her office that ended in May, Ruggiero helped prepare questions for parliamentary debates and joined Baillie on the campaign trail as she sought reelection.
“Overall, my co-op was one of the most rewarding experiences of my college career, and is something that I am incredibly grateful for,” the third-year student told Northeastern Global News. “Contributing to the inner workings of the successful campaign is something I am especially proud of.”
A baptism of fire
From her first moments on the job, Ruggiero was called into action. Working in Dame Baillie’s office meant splitting her time between Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, and campaign events in Dumbarton, the constituency of coastal communities and working class towns that Baillie has represented for nearly three decades.
“I was kind of thrown into it,” she said. “The second day I was already at First Minister’s Questions,” the key forum for debate in the Scottish Parliament, where Members of Scottish Parliament (MSPs) like Baillie question the Scottish First Minister John Swinney.
The experience was not quite what Ruggiero anticipated.
“I expected more decorum, I guess!” she laughed. “I wasn’t expecting all the shouting. It was certainly a surprise.”
Ruggiero had gained experience in local politics in her home state of New Jersey, where she had volunteered on political campaigns for councilman and future Jersey City Mayor James Solomon, meeting with constituents and organizing outreach events. But Holyrood, as the Scottish Parliament is known, took some getting used to.
“Despite everyone in parliament always shouting at each other, it wasn’t hostile the way that American politics were,” she said.
Debates inside the parliamentary chamber were typically combative but she had the chance to see what goes on when the cameras stop rolling and the somewhat “theatrical” disagreement turned to something more cordial.
“At the end of the day, I would then see these MSPs in the hallways chatting and being friendly to each other afterwards,” she said.
A ringside seat
Beginning her co-op in January 2026 gave Ruggiero a front-row seat for a pivotal moment in politics in Scotland and throughout the UK. As deputy leader of Scottish Labour, Baillie was one of the party’s most prominent figures at a time when support for Labour’s then-leader, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, was slumping, leading to his resignation in June.
But Ruggiero was more than an observer. In Parliament she helped organize meetings and draft speeches, on topics such as healthcare policy, bringing her own experience from years working as a volunteer emergency medical technician.
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Ruggiero joined at a particularly challenging time in the run up to the Scottish Parliamentary election, said Julia Rampen, who served as head of office for Baillie. “On top of that, it was a dark and rainy January,” she added.
Each week, as the parliamentary session ended, Ruggiero relocated to West Dunbartonshire to join up with Baillie’s reelection campaign. This meant that “when Kayla was not researching briefing notes in an increasingly frantic Parliament, she was standing on windy coastal streets and knocking on people’s doors,” said Rampen.
Ruggiero was “dreading” canvassing for votes, describing herself as “super introverted”.
When she had applied for the co-op placement, “the last thing that my interviewer for the job asked me was, ‘If you get this position, you’re going to be doing a lot of door knocking. Are you okay with it?’ And I lied and said yes, because I really wanted the job,” she said.
But, thrown in at the deep end, she quickly gained confidence.
“Kayla rose to the occasion admirably and with good humour,” said Rampen. “And while I was very grateful for her briefing notes, it was her ability to speak to strangers that was invaluable.”
Ruggiero said she learned a lot through her experience – not least the intensity of being a politician. Supporters mobbed Baillie in her home constituency every time the team sat down for lunch, she said.
“I don’t think I’d be able to handle that – and that’s the positive side of it!,” she added.
Ruggiero concluded that political life is for her.
“I definitely do not want to be a politician – I know that much,” she said.
But the co-op experience has made her aware of how policy and research inform how a country is run, and she’s now eager to explore similar roles in healthcare or social justice.
“One of the most exciting parts of the role was watching First Minister’s Questions every Thursday and seeing a question or statement that I had helped write used in Parliament,” she said. “It was incredibly rewarding to know that my work contributed directly to the parliamentary process.”
