Office of Representative Ron DeSantis, Washington, DC
At the beginning of my internship, I was a bit overwhelmed by the prospect of being in a work environment where the world views of those around did not align with my own. Especially given the contexts of today’s political climate I was unsure as to how I would “fit in” with the rest of my office. I was pleased by the fact that as long as I displayed a willingness to work and learn from those around me, my effort would in turn be reciprocated by staffers who put in the effort to further teach me about the complexities of their own legislative work. I received valuable feedback and advice on how to approach work I had never done before. This ultimately lent itself to more responsibility on research projects and more opportunities to sit in on committee hearings.
On a typical day in the office, I ran errands to everywhere from the dry-cleaner to the cloakroom for co-sponsorship letters, drafted letters to constituents, answered phones, conducted legislative research, and performed other administrative tasks as necessary. While answering phones may seem like a more menial task, it taught me more about people and gave me a broadened perspective of the relevance of many issues that Americans all throughout the country face. It gave me insight to the impact of legislation and to the broad spectrum of relevant legislation that I personally have never crossed paths with. Throughout my research, I learned from the guidance of legislative staffers, including assistants and directors, about the process of creating and contributing to new and working pieces of legislation. There was great flexibility to which I could express my interest in a particular issue and in response, have the opportunity to work on projects for similar pieces of legislation. Research projects that I worked on were on areas such as immigration, welfare, and more specifically on legislation such as the Farm Bill. I was also given opportunities to contribute towards projects from the offices communications director and witness the vital role that media correspondence plays in everyday operations of the office and of the nature of working relationships within media correspondence.
This experience has solidified what I believe in through challenging my political beliefs. This likely would not have had as much of an impression on me had I not been challenged by the beliefs of others around me. It has pushed me to engage in the broader perspective of complex issues such as welfare and immigration reform and to truly understand the virtues and reasoning that support my own beliefs, but more importantly the beliefs of others. As polarized as Capitol Hill is today, I found great value in working for a member whose political leanings did not mirror my own. I learned the most from those I disagreed with and although I never challenged the political positioning on a particular piece of legislation, I am now able to more deeply understand the varying stances of different forms of conservatism.
It was especially interesting being exposed to the dynamics of Capitol Hill and the inner workings of government with this year’s midterm elections being right around the corner. Being able to observe the importance of party representation first hand was far different from following campaigns through social media and news outlets. In addition, leaders from both liberal and conservative parties gave lectures throughout each week on contemporary issues that ranged from taxation and its impact on foreign affairs to the environmental crises that exist all throughout the United States and abroad. By being able to attend these lectures, I was exposed to issues both political and non-political, but of great importance to maintain both political and social welfare in the United States.
This internship has validated my aspirations to continue my work in public service and to further pursue a career in Washington. It being the first time that I have had exposure to the real world work force, I grew in many ways professionally and also found new avenues of inspiration to follow along as I continue my academics at Williams. As an economics major and leadership studies concentrator, being on Capitol Hill and having firsthand witness to the process of compromise and relationship building has provided context towards many of the case studies I have analyzed in my LEADs courses. In particular, I learned more than I expected to from the Chief of Staff and his work overseeing his staff, running the office, and the legislative goals of Congressman DeSantis. His display of leadership taught me more about effective communication, leading by example, and maintaining relationships and growing new ones with both friend and foe.
As an economics major, conducting research on tax reform has allowed me to delve deeper into an issue area that I was not as passionate about before starting this internship. It is definitely a topic that I hope to continue learning about as I move forward with within the major and in choosing elective courses to take outside of the major requirements. This exposure has also encouraged me to explore options professionally in sectors relating to think tanks and policy research. Before starting this internship my perspective on this was much more limited and I hadn’t quite seriously considered these sectors of Washington to be of as much interest to me. From this, I hope to pursue a future internship that will grant me more policy exposure and individualized research on economic policy.
Though these are difficult times to be working in politics, this internship experience has further validated my passion to create change through my work. My work on Capitol Hill left me with strong friendships, given me the opportunity to connect with alumni in related fields of interest, and to build relationships with individuals across Capitol Hill that I otherwise would have never crossed paths with. I am now more passionate than ever to contribute towards the change that I hope to see politics make as it continues to take its shape in the future. The United States is in midst of one of its greatest political stand stills, yet I have faith in the democratic process and my eyes have been opened to the power of grassroots organizations and even to the impact of a few constituent calls.
I can’t overstate how grateful I have been for this opportunity. In all the challenges that I have faced throughout my internship, I do not think that I have ever grow as much as I did from my time on Capitol Hill. Learning from those above and alongside me has taught me tremendously about myself and the importance of being able to identify myself apart from my work and has ultimately helped to better shape me both professionally and personally. Without the incredible generosity of alumni funding and the tremendous effort of the ’68 Center for Career Exploration staff, programs like ASIP would not be available. The experiences of the last few months have been invaluable and I am incredibly fortunate to have support from both the alumni here in Washington and those contributing towards the ASIP program.