DC Internship
DC Internship
DC Internship
My main goals throughout this internship were to learn more about the
political process and to do whatever was asked of me to the best of my
abilities. I definitely believe I left with a greater understanding of how the
government functions and did the best job I could, but I quickly learned that I
would be in charge of finding my own projects. The Congresswoman had only
begun her term this past January, so the duties for the interns were very
unclear. The disorganization and confusion we experienced during the first
couple weeks inspired my biggest project of the summer; completely
revamping the Intern Handbook.
and find the status of the bill in the House. We turned in the drafts to the
staffer who was assigned to the Legislative issue we were responding to and
sent them off after approval. We had to read over the example letters to
learn the type of wording and style of writing to use, and many times we
didnt know the Congresswomans stances on issues. There were many
constituents who wrote in crazy emails! Some were very rude, but none were
threatening-- except those who threatened not to vote for her if she did not
vote the way they wanted her to.
The most efficient way I found of working quickly through the emails
was to search for duplicates. Constituents often sent form letters from
organizations that asked them to send the letters to their Congress person. I
would find the duplicates and put them in a folder. I would then draft a letter
in response and send the same one to all of them. Normally, we like to send
a personal response to each constituent, but the way one of the staffers
described it to me was that if they didnt take the time to write a personal
letter to us then we didnt owe it to them.
with the other inters to see how they did it and to practice a little. It was
interesting to see the different things that the interns pointed out and
thought were important to mention. I learned a lot from watching the others
give yours, and studied online as well. There is a website full of just about
everything there is to know about the Capitol. It even gives you a virtual tour
of the capitol! I studied really hard and learned as much as I could. I figured
that for most people, visiting the Capitol is a once in a lifetime opportunity,
so I wanted to make sure their experience was the best it could be.
The tours started off in the Crypt. George Washington was originally
supposed to be buried under the center of the crypt, but because his Will
stated that he would like to be buried at Mt. Vernon (his childhood home), he
was buried there. The center of the Crypt is actually the center of the entire
District of Columbia; It is a star, as you can see in the pictures above, that
lays out the streets of the District. There are thirteen statues in the crypt and
they represent the thirteen original colonies! Each state has two statues in
the Capitol, so those thirteen are one of those states statues. Utahs statues
are Philo T. Farnsworth (The Father of Television) and Brigham Young. Philo is
located in the Capitol Visitors Center, and Brigham Young is in Statuary Hall.
In the Crypt there is also a replica of the Magna Carta. It is an elaborate goldplated piece of artwork given to us by British Parliament in 1976 for the
Bicentennial. Fun Fact: 2015 is the 800th birthday of the Magna Carta!
The next room is the Old Supreme Court. There are three original
chairs that were used by the original chief justices, but everything else is
replicated. Even the lighting is artificial; they have fake windows where the
real windows used to be, but since the Capitol had been expanded on, it is
really just a wall. The staircase I take my tours up is actually the staircase
that the Presidents walk up on inauguration day right before they become
President of the United States of America. The staircase leads to the
Rotunda, which is the main attraction. It is a huge room that sits right under
the dome. There is tons of artwork including a the Frieze, Apotheosis of
George Washington, and huge paintings all around the room. Constantino
Brumidi is known as the artist of the capitol and most of his artwork is in the
Rotunda. The center of this room is where many important people have laid
in state including Rosa Parks, John F. Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln, and two
Capitol Officers who were killed on duty. The most notable statues in the
Rotunda are Martin Luther King Jr. and Ronald Reagan. Martin Luther King jr.s
statue was placed there the first year his birthday was celebrated as a
national holiday, and Ronald Reagans statue has pieces of the Berlin Wall in
it!
I worked with the other four interns on writing an Op-ed that will be
published in the Deseret News! It was about Mias bill the Know Before You
Go act. Basically the bill would make schools give information like
graduation rates, loan payback, students earnings after graduation, etc. to
the public. This is currently not a requirement for schools to divulge that
information. We wrote about our current situations and how this bill would
have helped us when going to college. It was a really tough project that we
worked very hard on. Working in such a large group on one paper proved
difficult because we had to try to write with one voice and make smooth
transitions between stories. We were very proud of our final product and are
excited to see it published!
Now that Ive talked a lot about the internship, I want to talk about all
of the fun stuff I did while I was out there! One of the first nights I was out
there we walked the monuments at night. Thats definitely the best way to
experience the monuments! Its not so hot and theres usually less people
around. On the weekends I would go on long runs around the monuments
from Mt. Vernon trail. That trail was absolutely gorgeous. My roommate Sara
and I walked there too many times to count! It went from our apartment
straight to the Jefferson Monument. On the way we pass by Ronald Reagan
International Airport and the planes fly right over our heads! That was
definitely my favorite part. It never got old, I took my parents there and my
friends there and still never got tired of seeing those beautiful monuments.
Sara and I had Thursdays off so that was our day to explore the
city! We did so many things together on those Thursdays, it was a blast! We
did the Paddle Boats in the Tidal Basin by the Jefferson Monument, Natural
History Museum, Holocaust Museum, shopping at Pentagon City Mall, the
Eastern Market, and went to eat at some great places. My favorite thing we
did was taking the elevator to the top of the Washington Monument! When
we got there that morning we were at the back of the line and thought we
wouldnt be able to get tickets, but a young girl came up to us and offered us
some extra tickets they had! We were able to go right up within thirty
minutes! The view was absolutely breathtaking. I hadnt been able to fully
appreciate the beauty of DC until that moment. There was so much to see
and so little time, so we were very grateful for our days off. Being volunteer
interns, as opposed to our other roommates (one of which is one of the
highest paid interns on the Hill), caused us to look for ways to save money,
so we often walked our trail to avoud the two dollar Metro cost. Although it
would be nice to get paid, we decided that having Thursdays off was
completely worth it.
While my parents were here I feel like we did almost everything you
can do in DC and we fit it all into three and a half days! I took them on our
trail to see the monuments at night and we were able to see a gorgeous
sunset as we crossed the bridge. We went to the Newseum (which had an
amazing FBI exhibit and a section of the Berlin Wall), Holocaust museum,
National Archives, Smithsonians (Natural History, Portrait Gallery, and
American History), The White House, and as I mentioned before I gave them
a tour of the Capitol.
from Lincoln
amazing! We walked our trail to the Jefferson monument and watched the
fireworks from there on the edge of the tidal basin. It was beautiful! There
were a bunch of geese in the water when the fireworks were going off and
they were freaking out! It was pretty funny to watch them swimming from
one side to the otherthey were also honking pretty loud! We wanted to
avoid crowded trails so we walked to the White House to hang out for a bit.
We just sat on the curb and played music on our phones. It was a great
night!
was really exciting! Anthony is a Dodgers fan, but he was a good sport and
wore Nationals gear! We ate Philly cheese steak nachos and they were
awesome.
shirts!
grateful that he took me! We spent some time in the inner harbor and even
went on a brunch cruise! It was so beautiful there I never wanted to leave!
We got to walk past the Ravens football stadium which was so cool because
I absolutely love football and the Ravens are in the same conference as my
favorite team, the Cincinnati Bengals! We also went dancing one night and
had a blast.
the restaurant was gorgeous. I will never for the rest of my life forget the
S.O.S roll. Its long name is strawberries of summer and it was the best
sushi Ive ever had. Possibly even the best food Ive ever had; it was salmon,
strawberries, and what I believe was mint. Absolutely unreal! Good Stuff
Eatery had amazing burgers. I loved their different kinds of dipping sauce for
the fries! The mango and chipotle sauces were my favorite! We went many
other places, but the place I want to talk about most is Bonefish. We hadnt
heard about it at all, we were just craving seafood one night so we googled
seafood places near us. We were starving so we just chose Bonefish quickly
so we could eat fast. We got there and were immediately in love! Its a really
nice place and the waiters are the chefs! He got a Tuna Ahi bowl which is
premium sushi grade ahi tuna, sesame-seared rare, avocado, sweet chili
sauce, jasmine rice + passion fruit salsa. I got a Chicken Teriyaki bowl which
is Tender-marinated chicken, fried rice, fresh mango salsa, macadamia nuts,
lightly drizzled with signature Pan Asian sauce. Both were delicious! He could
tell I liked the tuna better, so he offered to switch me mealsI accepted. We
went back to Bonefish on my last night and had another awesome
experience with incredible food! It was the perfect way to end the internship.
(We also did an escape room and had the time of our lives! We had never
heard of those before but if youve never been to one I highly recommend it!)
To sum up, I had the best summer of my life in DC and would do it all
over again! I am forever changed for the better because of the experiences I
had there.