N.H. Students Share DC Internship Experiences
WASHINGTON – When Katy O’Meara was growing up in Alton, N.H., she dreamed of becoming either a professional skier or a doctor. She wanted to study pre-med at the University of Colorado at Boulder and hit the slopes in her free time.
She is doing neither.
Instead, O’Meara, 21, is a senior majoring in political science at George Washington University – in mountain-less Washington, D.C. She gave up the notion of skiing and doctoring after participating in political leadership programs in high school. Rather than making patients well, she hopes someday to make policy.
To succeed, O’Meara has chosen to do what has become the standard for college students looking to make connections and gain experience before entering the “real world”: become an intern.
Working in the office of Rep. Jeb Bradley (R-N.H.), O’Meara said she enjoys seeing first-hand the congressional debates and bill passages — things she used to read about in textbooks and newspapers.
With a wealth of politics, media and history, Washington has become home to thousands of interns each year.
MIXED REVIEWS
Roland Bowe, a University of New Hampshire student from Dover, N.H., decided to spend the semester in Washington to build up his rÚsumÚ. So he applied to The Washington Center, which places college students in internships working in Congress, for mass communications companies and in the criminal justice system.
In September, he began an internship in the office of Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.). Bowe said he found himself performing tasks a “high school dropout could do,” including lying to people on the phone about the whereabouts of his boss. Rohrabacher spokesman Aaron Lewis said staffers did not tell Bowe to mislead callers.
Although he was working on Capitol Hill, Bowe said he was unable to learn as much as he would have liked about the democratic process, particularly about how bills go through Congress.
“I had a general idea of what it was like, but I’ve just never seen the process for myself, and that’s why I wanted to work on the Hill,” he said.
“I wanted to actually do stuff besides shuffling papers around and grabbing ice for the office and making coffee,” said Bowe, 21.
Bowe said he was bored and looking for a challenge. So in October, he left Congress and started interning for lawyer David A. Branch. He now spends his days doing research on discrimination cases.
“I’m actually helping people,” Bowe said. “I actually read stuff and use my head.”.
The small office, with Bowe, two attorneys and an assistant, is close-knit, he said. Bowe still has the occasional minor duty to perform, but he is happy.
Branch said Bowe is “well on his way to a promising legal career.” Bowe, a junior, who has a double major in English and philosophy, plans to focus on criminal or international law. He will remain at UNH for a fifth year, to make up for credits he lost when he transferred from Boston University after his freshman year.
He advises other interns to “just research and know what you’re getting into.”
A DIFFERENT OFFICE, A DIFFERENT EXPERIENCE
O’Meara is the first person visitors to Bradley’s office see on Mondays and Fridays. She sits at the front desk and answers phones, opens letters from constituents and greets visitors.
“To intern here, it’s a great experience,” she said. “It’s a learning experience. It’s hands-on.”
She is quick to discount the stigma that has been attached to the title “intern” following the Monica Lewinsky scandal and the murder of federal intern Chandra Levy.
“The vast majority of interns go about their work, do their stuff, come in when they’re supposed to, leave and not a lot is said about that,” O’Meara said.
Interns are an important part of the dynamic of Bradley’s office, according to a spokesman, T.J. Crawford.
“They’re just an incredible resource for the staff, from small tasks to larger tasks, their input on everything is valued,” he said. “And we try to make it as much of a learning experience for them as possible, too, because that’s why they’re here.”
O’Meara said she applied to work for Bradley because he is from Wolfeboro, where O’Meara’s family moved when she left for college three years ago. She will continue to work for him throughout the school year.
“I liked the fact that, yes, Bradley is from my hometown,” O’Meara said. “And I also liked the fact that he was a freshman because that means that you’re kind of walking into an office á [where] they haven’t been here too long. They probably have a lot of energy, and I liked that idea.”
Before working in Bradley’s office, O’Meara had two other internships. During her junior year, she traveled to South Africa to teach first-grade students, many of whom were stricken with the HIV virus.
That internship made O’Meara realize she wanted to help set U.S. education policy. But first, she said, she needs to see what’s happening in the schools.
“Before you can even begin to try and influence things through policy, you need hands-on experience,” she said. “And I think the best way you can do that would be to teach for a while in our country, to get a grasp on what the education’s really like and then maybe go on and come back to the policy aspect of things.”
O’Meara also worked during the first semester of her sophomore year for Fianna F½il, Ireland’s largest political party, in Dublin. She said it was similar to working for Bradley, because both offices worked to maintain good relationships with constituents.
A BALANCING ACT
Part of being an intern is balancing time. Besides going to his internship four-and-a-half days a week, Bowe is expected to attend a weekly three-hour class in peace studies, to participate in embassy visits and to attend lectures.
O’Meara spends about nine-and-a-half hours a week at her internship, 15 hours in class and 12 hours working as a nanny for a family in nearby Virginia. She also volunteers on Saturdays for Our Place, a program to educate children whose parents are incarcerated.
“It’s very balanced,” she said. “I’ve always been someone who’s always very busy and always have a million different things going. I think that the structure of it works very well for me.”
NO PLACE LIKE HOME
Despite their busy schedules, both interns set aside time to enjoy the capital.
Bowe said he likes the nightlife. O’Meara likes to explore the museums of the Smithsonian Institution and to sip coffee in Georgetown, which bustles with students, shoppers and tourists.
Having been in the capital for three years now, O’Meara has become adjusted to city life. When she returns home, she is reminded how special New Hampshire is to her.
And what is one of the things O’Meara misses most? The slopes.
“If I miss one thing about being in D.C. and not having gone to a school either in Colorado or New Hampshire or up north somewhere, I miss skiing,” she said.
