Background
When I first thought about prospective projects, I envisioned research work and hours of endless boredom. After talking to my parents and teachers, I decided that I should pursue something that I’m truly interested in. It seems like an obvious decision now, but at the time I was struggling to find something appealing to my teachers, parents, as well as my authentic personality. Throughout my high school journey, history classes have been an essential part of my life. In 9th and 10th grade I lived for the 65 minutes a day I was able to completely immerse myself in a different time period, invigorated by the incredible achievements, disastrous wars, and political triumphs. In 11th and 12th grade I was able to narrow down my interests to international relations and various studies of China, the Middle East, and U.S policymaking. These classes were my favorite part of high school, by far. Tom and Ann helped me dream of one day putting myself in a position to make these important decisions. Yet, even after hours a week dedicated to studying politics, both geo and domestic, the political system was a mystery to me. I would read headlines like, “Congress passes funding for COVID Stimulus package,” completely understanding it while simultaneously struggling to imagine how our government actually did this. Sure, I understood the separation of powers, what each body of government was able to do, and how they did it. However, I wanted to go behind the scenes and really get a sense of how progress was made in our government. Ultimately, this was the foundation for my essential question: What do policymakers do on a daily basis to improve the lives of constituents?
Project Overview
After extensive research, networking, interviewing, and resume drafting, I was able to secure an internship with Congressman Jamie Raskin. Raskin is a true constitutional scholar. Loved by nearly all democrats I’ve talked to, he is an essential part of the January 6th Committee. Along with his participation and leadership in other committees, he is generally a very busy guy. No summary I can write is adequate to describe his incredibly impactful work on preserving our democracy. If you want to learn more about him, I suggest you visit his website or simply google his name. In any case, this internship was a huge acquisition. I would be living in Washington for 5 weeks, working on Capitol Hill from 9-5 each day, and doing impactful work. So far, I’ve completed my first full week and experienced the hardest work I’ve ever been asked to do. When I return from Washington, I plan on completing an online course on American Government. This project in its totality accomplishes experiential learning, service, and research. After calling over 75 constituents so far, I truly help them share their grievances, get in touch with services that can help whatever situation they are in, and empower them to continue using their voice to influence public offices. This to me, is the ultimate form of service. I’ve also researched and helped my superiors draft a bill that would expand voting rights for deployed army officers. In terms of experiential learning and research, those seem obvious buckets as I am doing an internship and then taking a course.
Measure of Success
The only outcome I need to measure my success is my knowledge of our government. I feel that if I simply complete this project, there is absolutely no way I will fail in my goal.