Majors: Sociology and Political Science

Internships: Office of Congressman Mike Thompson and Political Violence Lab

Participated: Summer 2024

Tell us about your internship - what kind of work did you do? Have your career goals changed as a result of your internship?

Interning in the office of Congressman Mike Thompson was a normal House internship. I managed phones, attended briefings, wrote letters to constituents and helped out with any other office tasks I was asked to do. I think the most rewarding part was knowing that work that I was doing was coming into direct contact with our constituents. This internship helped me decide that I think I want a career on the Hill. 

Tell us about an exciting memory from your internship!

Mike Thompson is the chair of the Wine Caucus and while I was there, our office had an event celebrating vineyard workers from Sonoma. The event itself was incredibly interesting and it was fun to see how that sort of thing was carried out on the Hill but the most exciting part was how many other Members came to support it, the most exciting of those being Nancy Pelosi who I was able to get a picture with. 

Share a story about something special you did in Washington!

I was able to get both a Whitehouse and Pentagon tour while I was here and seeing the places where such important stuff gets done in this country was very exciting. 

How has living in the nation's capital for a quarter changed you?

I have never lived in a big city before so it was a big change but I like how easy it was to get to whatever you needed to get to and how to interact with many different types of people. 

What advice would you like to share with future UCDC participants?

Make sure to apply to a ton of stuff. DC is so competitive. When you are here, go to everything you can. There are so many things that you don't realize you will experience before you go to things.