Intern Jay Soley conducts tours of the Capitol as part of his duties in Rep. Marsha Blackburn’s office.

_{by Joan Brasher}

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The city is waking up. All over Washington, D.C., commuters clad in sensible suits, athletic shoes and official photo ID badges flood out of Metro trains, march up moving escalators and emerge into the muggy haze. Shoulder to shoulder they navigate the crowded sidewalks, past the White House and the gleaming memorials, walking briskly, with purpose, toward their places of work.

Among these commuters are 17 Vanderbilt students who have come to Washington as part of the VIEW (Vanderbilt Internship Experience in Washington) program. While there are many other Vanderbilt students working in the nation’s capital – along with many thousands more from across the country – these 17 students applied and were selected to participate in VIEW, a unique internship experience created by the Office of Active Citizenship and Service (OACS).

The experience doesn’t just include job placement and housing with fellow interns. There is an on-site adviser to provide coaching on everything from making small talk at an embassy reception to the definition of “business casual.”  There are also programmed events that provide ways for the group to continue their learning beyond the workplace, including one-on-one time with Capitol Hill staffers, lawmakers and Vanderbilt professors, networking activities with Vanderbilt alumni, and social gatherings.

The interns, who represent a wide range of areas of study, are placed not only in offices on Capitol Hill, but in companies and organizations such as CNN, Family Health International, the National Coalition for the Homeless and The Washington Times, where they are introduced to the worlds of politics, journalism, economics, history and global health issues. They share living space in corporate apartments in Pentagon City, in nearby Arlington, Va., where they return each evening to share and learn from each other.

Jay Soley, a rising junior from Tampa, Fla., was placed in the office of Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., at the Capitol. A political science major with his sights set on a life in public service, Soley plans to spend next year abroad, attending Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, before applying to law school and eventually returning to Washington.

“The VIEW program has really smoothed my transition to moving into and experiencing D.C.,” he said. “I have a newfound respect for both my parents and for my sister, who works full time and is finishing up school. I am exhausted when I get home from work – I can’t even imagine how they do it all.”

Soley performs a number of tasks for Blackburn’s office, such as giving tours of the Capitol for constituents. He points out tiny details in the paintings and sculptures, rattles off statistics and relates humorous anecdotes, all while negotiating the many layers of security, observing the quiet areas and sidestepping the throngs of high school students posing for photos.

“Analyzing policy, seeing differing sides of arguments and listening to different reps speak has helped me understand how to approach getting jobs in this sector,” he said.

When Soley returns to campus, he will write a 35-page paper on a piece of Blackburn’s legislation for political science professor John Geer. This independent study will provide college credit for his time in Washington.

Anne Malinee’s day starts before the sun comes up.

A rising senior from Leawood, Kan., she takes the Metro’s Yellow Line to the Chinatown stop, transfers to the Red Line, and gets off at Union Station. She then boards a shuttle van provided by her summer employer, The Washington Times. Malinee, a history and political science major, applied to 40 newspapers across the country in an effort to get a summer internship in journalism. She also put her name in for the VIEW program in hopes of getting one of the few spots at CNN. She was accepted into VIEW and was waiting to be placed when the Times called with an offer to work at its features desk.

“When I first started applying for internships, I was worried I would end up in a city where I didn’t know anyone and didn’t know my way around and didn’t have a decent place to live,” she said. “VIEW addressed all those concerns.”

Working at the Times has given her a better understanding of how newsrooms operate, and seeing her first byline in the publication made her more sure than ever that she wants to pursue journalism following graduation.

“I can see myself living here, doing news reporting in D.C.,” she said. “I love journalism. I really think this is what I want to do.”

Perched above the city in an office on the 11th floor of a high rise building on First Avenue, Meredith Toole, a rising junior and political science major, is far from Cape Girardeau, Mo., the town where she grew up.

As an intern for Vanderbilt’s Office of Federal Relations, Toole spends her mornings perusing newspapers and Web sites for articles pertaining to Vanderbilt, research and higher education and compiles them into a daily report. She then heads to Capitol Hill to attend Senate hearings, including those being addressed by Vanderbilt professors.

On June 21, she heard Carol Swain, Vanderbilt professor of political science and law, testify at a hearing regarding the reauthorization of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., chaired the hearing, with ranking Democrat Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts and several others in attendance. Toole took notes and spoke with Swain afterward, informing the professor that she will be taking one of her classes in the fall.

“I like working at the Office of Federal Relations because everyone is so nice and it’s a small group,” Toole said. “I can see myself in Washington after I graduate.”

Her days are so busy with work, she admitted she hasn’t had time to see any of the memorials or monuments but hopes to when her parents visit later in the summer.

“It is important to us that our interns are challenged and have the chance to engage in some substantive work for Vanderbilt’s Washington, D.C., office,” said Jeff Vincent, assistant vice chancellor for federal relations and executive director of the Washington office. “Meredith has fully embraced this opportunity and proven to be a very quick study. She has a real knack for seeing how major national policy issues might affect Vanderbilt. Combined with solid writing skills, this has enabled Meredith to provide excellent, in-person coverage of congressional hearings on some very complex topics.”

Once upon a time, a graduate student arrived in Washington, D.C., relying on a friend of a friend for job placement and housing. Unfortunately, things did not go as planned. The apartment she sublet was tiny and overpriced with a noisy wall-unit air conditioner and no laundry facilities. Even worse, the security clearances she needed were delayed, forcing her to scramble for a new internship at the last minute. That student was Britta Watters, formerly the assistant director of the Office of Active Citizenship and Service, now program manager of the Vanderbilt International Office. She created the VIEW program with Mark Dalhouse, director of OACS.

“All told, I ended up spending more money than I’d expected, had nothing to fall back on in terms of internships or housing, had to do all of my own networking, and wasted a lot of time – not to mention the general stress of doing it all on my own,” she said. “When (Dalhouse) and I started talking about creating a program to connect the dots among daily life, citizenship, social responsibility, policy, politics, advocacy and activism, I knew that we needed to create something that was affordable and that would take the unnecessary hassles out of the process for the students.”

“We’d eventually like for this to be a year-round, residentially based program in D.C.,” said Dalhouse, who also teaches in the history department and heads up a May-mester class connected to the VIEW program. “We have already made numerous contacts (to that end) … and I am working to build bridges between Student Life and the academic side of the university.”

Last year the program officially launched with 14 students. Although the program is technically not for course credit, all of the participating students have the option to work with professors to set up independent studies in the fall in order to gain credit.

Laura Delgado is one of the few VIEW interns not majoring in political science. Delgado, a Spanish/Latin American studies major, said that the opportunities the city has to offer are a major contribution to the VIEW program, among them a special screening of a Latin American film she attended. 

“There is so much to do here,” she said. “That is one of the best things about the program: You could be doing something every night of the week, and not just political events – cultural events too.”

Internships are powerful tools for networking, as well as a great way to test drive an occupation before making a long-term commitment. For many interns it solidifies what they want to do for the rest of their lives. Such is the case with Meredith Casey, a rising junior in the College of Arts and Science, who is interning with the CNN program “The Situation Room.”

“Through my VIEW internship with CNN, I have confirmed my plans to pursue a career in journalism, specifically as on-air talent,” said Casey. “I have been exposed to a variety of professions within the TV news industry and have been able to narrow down which jobs I find most appealing. In a short time, I have saved myself years of trying various journalism jobs in order to figure out which one I like.”

It is 7 p.m. and Mark Hand and Hunter Gilpin are joined by their fellow interns at Family Health International. Hand and Gilpin are interning at the AIDS service organization, and on a recent evening hosted all of the VIEW students for a frank discussion on HIV/AIDS. Afterward, the group headed to a Thai restaurant to continue the discourse.

“The first three weeks at FHI have been entirely about learning while doing,” said Hand. “Most significantly, I have learned about the world’s response to HIV/AIDS. This summer has already begun to prepare me for my next adventure – four months in Botswana. Because of this internship, I will arrive in Botswana with a firm grip on the issues facing that AIDS-ravaged country and will have a much richer and more fulfilling experience.”

Peabody College graduate student Christopher Long, a former Washington resident, said he has the best summer job of anyone he knows. He is the on-site group leader for the VIEW program. Besides coordinating the programmed events, he advises the students on professional development. He conducts mock phone interviews and helps them navigate the ins and outs of living and working in Washington. His course of study is higher education administration, and he is a graduate assistant in Leadership Development and Intercultural Affairs.

“In a program like this, I get to organize cultural events, leadership events and community service while watching the interns develop and grow,” he said. “I am constantly amazed by them. I couldn’t have asked for a better summer job.”

VIEW has received strong support from campus administrators, as illustrated by financial aid that was extended to several of this year’s participants. Two students were fully funded, while more than half received at least partial aid, Long said.

“We were thrilled with the financial support. We hope to increase that next year.”

For Corinne Cookson, a rising senior, just being in a professional environment for the first time has provided some powerful lessons.

“I’ve learned a lot about government and several of the different areas that need serious reform,” she said, “but the most important things that I’ve learned have to do with how to act in a workplace. I haven’t had a lot of real-world job experience, especially in an office setting. I’ve learned how to be professional … and keeping it up for eight hours a day is harder than I thought.”

Corey Ponder, a political science major who graduates next year, believes the VIEW program has been one of his most rewarding experiences since coming to Vanderbilt, and he can’t wait to see where the opportunity will take him.

“The one aspect which supercedes all benefits of the program is the boundless opportunities to network,” he said. “VIEW exposes me to so many people who come from a variety of experiences and who are very willing to help me in my quest for success.”

Plans are already under way for next year’s program. Agreements are being struck with several more congressmen, including Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas; Rep. Thomas Price, R-Ga.; and Rep. Ric Keller, R-Fla. Organizers hope to have the 2007 VIEW interns selected by winter break.

_{Posted 06/30/06}