Capitol Hill Diaries

The road to the “real world” is paved with internships. Meetings, deadlines, and working lunches make today’s internships resemble full-time jobs in almost every way—but most are still unpaid, and, because of incidental expenses like parking, sometimes actually take money out of interns’ pockets.

Carnegie Mellon trustee Cynthia Friedman wanted to change that—so she endowed the Milton and Cynthia Friedman Fellowship to help students defray the costs of a summer public policy internship in Washington, DC.

Created to honor the memory of her late husband, alumnus Milton Friedman (E’47,’49), the fellowship program was designed to complement students’ academic work and assist them as they make career and graduate education decisions.

So, what’s it like to intern on Capitol Hill? Read highlights from the experiences of three of this year’s Friedman Fellows.

Karl Sjogren
Hometown: Freemont, CA
Major: Decision Science and Human Computer Interaction
Internship: Democratic Governor’s Association (DGA)

Readers’ Note: The DGA was founded in 1983 and serves as the united voice for leading Democratic officials in U.S. state governments, while also supporting the candidacies of Democratic gubernatorial nominees and incumbents across the nation.

Thursday, July 18, 2006

9:45 Arrive at work. Start pulling daily media clips that track candidates and incumbents in all Democratic battlegrounds. For the longest time, I had a really romantic view of politics and Washington. Now that I’ve been here a while, I’m even more interested in running for office and being involved in state-level politics. I think they're fascinating!

11:30 Meet with supervisor to discuss upcoming educational initiative press conference with Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Senator Tom Carper (D-DE), Governor Tom Vilsack (D-IA) and Governor Mike Easley (D-NC). Prepare PR materials and coordinate research efforts for the week.

2:20 Press conference announcing new educational initiatives. Meet Senators Clinton and Carper, Governors Vilsack and Easley. This is incredible. You see these people in the media all the time, but to actually stand next to them, to shake their hands and talk to them about the program they're revealing feels pretty inspiring. It really motivates me to want to fill one of their roles in the future—to be the type of person who could have this type of positive impact on such a large number of people.

Jonathan Perry
Hometown: New Orleans, LA
Major: Decision Science
Internship: The Futures Group

Readers’ Note: Constella Futures specializes in the design and implementation of public health and social programs for developing countries. Since its founding as Futures Group in 1971, Constella Futures has worked on projects in more than 100 countries.

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

9:30 Arrive at the office, having just caught the bus. Check my email.

10:00 AIDS Relief Project meeting. The goal of the project is to increase HIV/AIDS retroviral therapy to people affected in nine at-risk countries throughout Africa and the Caribbean. I am very excited to work with such a dedicated staff. I feel as though I am an active contributor and that the other members respect me as an intern.

1:30 Return from lunch and frantically work on an events calendar for an AIDS conference being held in Toronto in August. Though I don’t have a deadline, I want to finish the binder before I leave for the day.

2:00 Head to the metro, checking out all the activity. Washington is one of those places where everyone is rushing to get somewhere fast.

3:00 Tour of the State Department with other Friedman Fellows. Get to see the diplomatic rooms used by the Secretary of State, among others, to entertain international guests. The rooms are beautiful.

9:00 At the theater to see the play Caroline, or Change. Lights dim and the curtains rise. The play is set in the 1960s and is about racism in the south and the importance of embracing change. Focuses on the relationship between two main characters: a young Jewish boy and the family’s elderly black maid.

11:00 Walking home, I realize I’m starting to feel more cultured and at home in DC. I know my favorite chili place and even where to go to get the best sushi. This summer has had a large impact on my future. I had the chance to meet with many different people and talk to them about future career plans. I learned graduate school is not the only option open to me. I can get a job, or even go into the Peace Corps.

Staci Steinberger
Hometown: Akron, OH
Major: Material and Visual Culture
Internship: Archives of American Art

Readers’ Note: The mission of the Archives of American Art is to illuminate the history of art in America through collecting, preserving, and making available for study the documentation of this country's rich artistic legacy.

Thursday, July 20, 2006

9:30 Dash across the hall to the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery Library to research information on Philip Evergood, a social realist painter from the mid-20th century. Hoping to find information on Evergood’s studio to go with the photo we found of Evergood. My summer project is to help Liza Kirwin, curator of manuscripts, with her upcoming book, Artists in Their Studios.

10:30 Meet with Liza to present research on artists Howard Pyle, N.C. Wyeth, Kenyon Cox, Enrique Riveron, William Zorach, and Evergood for the book. It’s just amazing what an important resource these archives are for researchers. This exposure and experience will be very useful in graduate school and my future career.

2:30 Head to National Public Radio for a tour with other Friedman Fellowship interns. Get to see some of the recording studios and learn about the structure of public radio. Our tour guide really seems to like his job; he’s been there for 20 years and is still excited and amused about everything going on. I call my mother on the walk back to work to tell her all about it. She’s a huge NPR fan.

5:00 Stop next door at the Donald J. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture to see an exhibit on children in 20th century art.

6:00 Dinner with family friends–one is a Carnegie Mellon design alum–whose kids are also interning and working in D.C. for the summer. We talk about my goal to attend graduate school for a degree in American Studies, and to work in the history museum field. It’s really important to help make people more aware of what their everyday surroundings can tell them about themselves and their history.

The students featured in this article are all back in Pittsburgh attending their senior classes.

Capitol Hill Diaries

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