Category: Summer 2021

Claire Budin interned remotely with Illinois Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi in Summer 2021. While she struggled with the internship search process, she was able to develop skills as a self-started and learn about the importance of everyday work in a Congressional office.

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Over the summer of 2021, I’ve had the amazing opportunity to intern for the district office of Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, a Democrat from Illinois’ 8th district. At first, I was disappointed that, due to COVID and the incredibly high inflow of applications for far less open positions, I didn’t find an internship that was in Washington, D.C. I must have applied to at least 40 Congressional offices and political organizations over the month and a half before this summer semester, and it was getting to a point where I almost gave up hope on finding an internship at all. I couldn’t help but think, why do I keep getting passed up? Do I not have enough experience for someone my age? Am I bombing my interviews and not realizing it? Am I just not good enough? Now I know that these doubts swirling in my head are shared by practically everyone going through the demoralizing grind of internship applications, thanks to the advice and encouragement of the wonderful staff members I work with in Schaumburg. I couldn’t be happier now with the projects I am assigned to for the Congressman, whether it’s filtering question submissions for a virtual town hall, attending a conference and taking notes for the staff, writing outreach letters, or answering constituent calls.

In the early days of my internship, when it was entirely online and the interns and our supervisors would only convene through Zoom twice a week, it was important for me to learn to be a self-starter with my work. Based on my stated interests, I was assigned to a ‘pod’ or group of interns focused on creating an event centered around addressing the nationwide issue of vaccine hesitancy. Since joining the pod, I’ve gotten to have fascinating conversations with local medical professionals as well as community and religious leaders doing the hard work on the ground to encourage vaccinations among skeptical and stigmatized groups in the district. But besides the more substantive work and projects that come in, I have had to face the mundanities that often come with these internships at home and at the office. When that happens, I’ve tried to take the advice of our first readings in class and try to dive into the nuts and bolts of these tasks, what they mean about the district and the office, and why these little tasks are so important overall. For example, when taking constituent calls, I’ve noticed that a disproportionate number are related to immigration and green cards. When digging into the demographics of the 8th district, these calls reflect the diversity and high number of first and second-generation immigrants that reside here. While routine and sometimes frustrating, being able to help in any small way I can with someone’s passport application or their green card is very fulfilling and helps lift my spirits during days when I also have to deal with the occasional unstable caller directing some colorful language my way. Overall, my internship experience at Raja Krishnamoorthi has been fulfilling as well as enlightening for a hopeful student looking to pursue a career in Washington.

 

Ben Saxton interned with Illinois Congresswoman Mary Miller in Summer 2021. In addition to his internship work in the office, he had many opportunities to explore the capital and attend networking and professional events 

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This summer, I worked as an intern in the Washington D.C. office of Illinois Congresswoman Mary Miller. Something I have noticed about the intern experience on capitol hill is that the time outside the office is just as if not more important than the time inside the office. Inside the office, my tasks include compiling daily news clips for the Congresswoman, researching legislation, taking notes on hearings, answering constituent phone calls and sorting mail. This work has been beneficial by allowing me to develop my communication and research skills. However, while this work has been important, my time outside of the office not working, but experiencing, has been most memorable. Examples of these out-of-office experiences include observing press conferences, attending congressional intern lectures, and most of all, meeting people. These experiences have caused me to grow intellectually and socially by hearing different perspectives from our nation’s most prominent leaders as well as connecting and interacting with a driven group of interns from all over the country.One memorable lecture was one given by Representative Dan Crenshaw from Texas. As a former Navy Seal and Harvard graduate, Crenshaw had some interesting perspectives and inspiring messages. Crenshaw expressed that people in America have a tendency to be soft these days because we have it so good. Hardship does not necessarily equal injustice, which is why it is important for everyone to pursue “good hardship” in their life by voluntarily accepting a challenge. Another interesting perspective Crenshaw gave was when he explained how it frustrates him when people complain that congress does not just “get things done.” Crenshaw responds to this often-said complaint by retorting that it is supposed to be hard for congress to get things done because it should be hard to pass legislation at the highest level of government that affects the whole country. Some other lectures that I found interesting included Joe Manchin, Chris Murphy, and Rand Paul. It was interesting to hear from Republicans and Democrats about their vision for this country as well as their political philosophies.

As aforementioned, meeting interesting people has also been a major highlight of my DC experience. One interesting person I met was someone from Afghanistan who moved to Michigan at the age of 16 due to his music skills with the trumpet. We had a fascinating and eye-opening discussion regarding the current events in Afghanistan and he explained what it was like to live there. It was also great living with a total of 8 roommates over the course of the summer. My roommates were from Alabama, New Mexico, Michigan, Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Mississippi. We had such a fun time exploring the city together and making memories. It was also interesting to meet people of all different backgrounds and witness how our diverse backgrounds and experiences meshed well into a fun and educational environment.

Overall, my experience in DC is an experience that I will remember for the rest of my life. Even if I do not end up working in politics, this internship will still serve as a valuable experience that sharpened valuable skills and allowed me to form meaningful connections.