Reflections on Internship

My internship experience with Congressman Tiberi was incredible. It really helped me to advance my career both in who I met and because through working with the Congressman and other staffers I began to realize what I wanted to do with my life post-graduation. The office itself was very entertaining, there were the occasional slow days but during those days everyone in the office would get lunch together and sit around and chat. I always felt like I was a part of the team. The fact that everyone in the office is from central Ohio made me feel much more comfortable, it also meant the office was very connected and responsive to what was going on back in the district. I know of several other offices where some staffers and/or interns were not from the district so I felt his office was unique in that regard. From an academic standpoint I learned a great deal about the mechanisms of the office and Congress in general but I also learned a great deal about interactions between the Congressman, constituents and interested parties. It was so amazing to be able to sit in on meetings between the Congressman and other people. I feel like I now know so much more about how Capitol Hill operates than I did before, I found even the most “boring” hearings to be very entertaining because I have never seen anything like it before. I would highly recommend interning on Capitol Hill in general and specifically one of the House offices, I may be a little biased but in a House office there are fewer people so you forge a relationship with each staffer and get to meet the Congressman much more often than one would in the Senate. This experience will definitely stay with me forever; hopefully I will be able to utilize some of what I have learned and who I have met in the future, I plan on working on Congressman Tiberi’s campaign once I return to Ohio so hopefully I can continue to build the relationships that I have begun here in D.C.

Zach Prouty