Josh Kaufman interned at the office of Senator Tammy Duckworth.

This semester I interned in the office of Senator Tammy Duckworth where I was the scheduling in intern. I spent the semester doing a multitude of tasks that allowed me to learn how the senate really works. This was a great experience that I am extremely grateful to have had. When I was in high school, I remember hearing an informational meeting about this IIW program, and since then I knew I wanted to do it. I began applying for internships in August of the fall prior to my internship. I found this to be both good and bad, because you spend a lot of time writing and sending all sorts of applications to then have to wait months on end to hear back. It was very stressful not knowing whether or not I would have an internship for such a long period of time, but in the end, it paid off applying early because I feel as though you get an advantage for being first. Once I got the position, I was finally able to be excited to enjoy D.C. There are lots of great restaurants in Washington and I have enjoyed exploring and trying new
places. It is nice living in a real big city for the first time and my experience was one I will definitely remember fondly. My favorite parts of this whole experience do have to just be the things I have seen at work. It was really cool to turn on the tv for the state of the union and see the chamber that I was sitting in earlier that day. Something about that is just very cool and the feeling of being in a place with such an important history was super cool and has made many memories I will never forget. I also enjoyed attending the field trips in class. Professor Mayer’s years of connections paid off for us as we got to see places like a big law firm, meet with a supreme court fellow, and get lunch with alumni. My favorite was getting to see D.C. superior court and watching arraignment hearings. I have seen these on T.V., so seeing in in real life was cool! I would recommend anyone who is interested in politics to participate in this program because I feel there is no better time to gain both experience and have an experience than
participating in this program in undergrad. It was super manageable to be both a student and work almost full time. I was also able to have fun with friends and try new things, visit cool places like all the museums and monuments, and enjoy the nice weather as it got warm here in March. This semester was an incredible experience, and I am definitely glad that I did it. I think it is important to apply to many places, take advantage of any and all opportunities, and make the most of the whole time, some things that I tried my best to do myself.