OUT ON THE HILL is the official blog of the Victory Congressional Interns. Views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of LGBTQ+ Victory Institute. Learn more about the internship at victoryinstitute.org/vci.
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One of my favorite things about interning on the Hill is my commute. All of us Metro passengers ride in quiet solidarity from one stop or another to our various destinations. My morning train ride isn’t long–about 15 minutes–but those fifteen minutes are perfect for people-watching. Sitting on the train, I scan the faces of each person in the car. One person, wearing teal scrubs, stands right by the doors tapping their foot anxiously and checking their watch every so often. Another leans back in their seat, reading a romance novel and occasionally glancing up to ensure they haven’t missed their stop.
Through this daily ritual, I have come to realize that summer interns are some of the easiest people to pick out in a crowd. As we head towards the Capitol, the train cars flood with 20-somethings in suits, ID badges clipped to our hips, and headphones over our ears. Watching these people coming on and off the train, it’s easy to let my mind wander and imagine the divergent paths that each of us has ahead. The train unites us, but the similarities stop there. If there’s one thing I’ve learned since starting my internship, it is that every single intern on the Hill has a different experience working there. From office to office, rules and responsibilities for an intern vary greatly.
Among the 16 Victory Congressional Interns (VCIs), our respective day-to-day routines are almost entirely distinct. The 16 of us, all politically active and civically engaged, bring different skill sets and interests to the cohort. On top of that, each of us is interning with a different Representative or Caucus, and even among those of us interning with Representatives, the experiences are incomparable. It was once described to me like this: Each Representative’s Office in the House operates like its own business. Now I realize that statement could not be more true. It may seem obvious, but a Democratic Representative with a district in rural Kansas is not going to deal with the same issues that a Democratic Representative with an urban district in New York will.
Because of these differences, I have enjoyed learning from the other VCIs as we share about the time we spend in our offices. Often after work, we gather at the far end of the National Mall on a lawn with a perfect view of the Washington Monument. We chat and debrief, trading stories of assignments we were given, briefings we attended, people we saw in the halls, and news we heard throughout the day. We vent our frustrations and boast about our discoveries and successes until the twilight turns to dusk. Still, the times when I have felt closest to the rest of my cohort have been when we were able to bond over mistakes we’ve made on the job—one in particular sticks with me.
All of the Representatives offer tours to their constituents who come to visit D.C. As interns, it is our job to give these tours. We lead constituents through the office buildings and tunnels underneath the Capitol. Once we reach the Capitol building, we walk them through, reciting various historical information as we go. Having spent the past two years working as a tour guide, I felt uniquely prepared to excel at this. However, by the time of my first tour, I had received one short training and two booklets that outlined the tour route and the corresponding information I was required to know. Before the tour, I furiously flipped through my booklets trying to memorize as much information as possible, but when the constituents arrived, the knowledge I had crammed in had all but abandoned me. Throughout that tour, I had to ask for directions more times than I care to admit. The constituents, tentatively trailed behind me as I nearly got us all lost in the tunnels underneath the Capitol. In the end, we persevered and the constituents were able to enjoy the rest of their visit to D.C. giving overwhelmingly positive feedback despite everything.
When we visited our meeting spot that night, I shared my experience and was relieved to hear that a few of the other VCIs had similar experiences. I found comfort in the fact that my difficulty figuring out the tours was more universal than I had originally thought. Since then, we’ve been able to use each other as sounding boards to come up with strategies to be better prepared for tours and to overcome other hurdles at our internships.
Being thrown into an unfamiliar environment with unfamiliar people is tough, but our humanity connects us and our differences strengthen us. Every day we are growing, learning from, and connecting with one another. I do love my daily commute to the Hill, but even more than that, I love the people I am surrounded with here. There is so much that I can learn from the 15 other Victory Congressional Interns, and I am so glad to have the opportunity.
