WASHINGTON – The stereotype of coffee-grabbing, gofer interns in the nation’s capital has been proven incorrect by Colorado college students this summer.
Take Alaina Stechmesser, 22, for example. The fifth-year Colorado State University student majoring in social work describes an average day that include webinars, conference calls, document editing, project management and research. She spends time on Capitol Hill attending briefings and talking to members of Congress about budget cuts to domestic violence programs.
Stechmesser is interning with the National Network to End Domestic Violence, a nonprofit group that helps local coalitions that are trying to end domestic violence.
All that work can create a bumpy transition from the classroom to the 9-to-5 world of interns.
“Going from school, which is a few hours a day, to a full-time job was difficult at first, but I’ve worked full-time jobs before so I knew what to expect,” she said.
Hundreds, maybe thousands – no one knows for sure – of interns descend on Washington during the summer earning experience if not money. They draw praise and sometime scorn. The Colorado students say they are learning from their summer in D.C.
Ben Bellman, 20, is a senior geography and English student at the University of Colorado and an intern at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.
“It’s been interesting,” he said. “The office is a very different place than the classroom. I’m used to getting through my day in short bursts and having time where I can do what I need or work late at night. That’s not the case in the office.”
Interns on the Hill have some of the busiest jobs in the city.
“On a day-to-day basis I attend seminars and take notes for staff members, attend committee meetings, manage the phone, coordinate data entry into an online database, address constituent concerns and give tours of the Capitol building,” Eileen Sherman, 20, said.
She’s an intern with Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Colo., and a junior philosophy major at CU.
Sherman is also part of a program called CU in D.C. that offers semester-long classes and internships in Washington.
This summer the program has 11 students in internships who work in congressional offices, nonprofits and media relation firms, Program Manager Serena Leland said.
Working for free
Interns in the nation’s capital may be hard working, but they often go without pay. Many do not see a problem with that.
Annika Erickson-Pearson, 20, an international affairs student at CU interned for Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., for seven weeks. She was a press and legislative intern with many responsibilities, including tracking bills and informing Bennet about education news.
She was not paid and said she didn’t mind.
I think that it’s a really fantastic experience, and I consider myself fortunate to have had the opportunity to see the things that I saw“ I think that it’s a really fantastic experience, and I consider myself fortunate to have had the opportunity to see the things that I saw,” Erickson-Pearson said. “As an intern, you are really treated as part of the team, part of the family, and that’s kind of worth not getting paid.”
Erickson-Pearson said that she lived with a family friend in Washington, which helped her save money.
“When I was first offered the internship, I contacted this family friend to let her know I’d be in the city and she offered a spare room,” Erickson-Pearson said. “Given the choice between renting and staying with a friend, I’d stay with the friend because D.C. real estate is traditionally pretty expensive.”
On the other side of the spectrum, Bellman said that he is paid and housed for the summer through theJoint Program in Survey Methodology, which places students from around the county in government agencies that deal with statistics.
He said that he’s extremely lucky to have a paid internship with free housing in a city where many others do not.
Recently, the legality of unpaid internships has been in the news. Gawker Media LLC, Fox Searchlight Pictures Inc. and the Hearst Corporation were sued by former unpaid interns. In late 2012, talk show hostCharlie Rose agreed to pay 190 former interns about $1,000 each. Nonprofit investigative news organization Pro Publica has been investigating internships and is currently collecting data from interns. Federal rules allow the government and nonprofits to have unpaid internships, but profit-making companies are restricted by federal labor law.
Whether or not an internship is paid, Isaiah Rifkin, 21, said said students can make the most of it by networking.
A senior international affairs major at CU, Rifkin said that connecting with professionals in Washington can lead to another internship or a job after graduation for those who make the effort.
Tips
For students seeking to work in D.C. next summer, here are some pointers from those who are here now:
* Erickson-Pearson: “This internship required more energy from me than school tends to, and I found myself quite tired at the end of the day. It took me a while to understand that sometimes I just needed to go home and relax instead of making it to every event, museum and monument.”
* Stechmesser: “You have to learn about the environment ahead of time. Students definitely need to save money and plan a budget because D.C. is very expensive.”
* Bellman: “If you’re with a program, definitely get to know the other interns that you’re with. I’d be completely lost without a community here. And getting to know your coworkers is important, too.”
* Sherman: “Seize every opportunity you are given as an intern and maintain positive relationships with everyone you meet. Be open to new things and work hard.”
* Rifkin: “You have to be able to have a strong support network from your family in order to live in a different city, work for the summer and not make any money.”
With that said, my advice: Internships are what you make of them; work hard and set challenging, but realistic goals.
Reach reporter Robert R. Denton at robert.denton@shns.com or 202-326-9871. SHFWire stories are free to any news organization that gives the reporter a byline and credits the SHFWire.