Government

Fall 2018

Position: APD Forensic Science Division Intern
Student: Anthropology Junior

 Before actually starting, this internship requires a background check and going to the main station so that they can take the potential candidate’s fingerprints as well as signing some paperwork. The very first day was getting the opportunity to meet my supervisor and the student is required to take a buccal swab to eliminate any potential future DNA contamination of evidence. The student is assigned a specific supervisor according to their interest, since I chose crime scene, I spent most of my time here, other students may pick latent prints, ballistics etc. However, the internship coordinator and the supervisor are very lenient in allowing other opportunities for students to see other sections outside of their assigned one; for instance, I was able to spend a day in ballistics. As for assignments, there isn’t really anything the department needs for students to do. Crime scene is typically consists of ride outs with the PCs (Property Crime Technicians) and going with them when they answer calls. PCs only collect evidence for burglaries of residences, non-residences, auto-thefts and break-ins of cars. Specialists like CSUs handle evidence related to crimes against persons which can range from armed robbery, assault, homicide, and suicide. Depending on the supervisor, the intern may be able to accompany the CSUs since it can be dramatically different, and they emphasize the opportunity of being able to see everything. In terms of time, the department is very flexible with interns as to when they can come in, so scheduling is not an issue. Then, a student’s main responsibility will be to make sure the sufficient number of hours every week is met as well as turning in weekly journals the class assigns. In brief, I would say this was a unique opportunity that allowed me to be able to network with some professionals and getting information about their methodological processes, lab work, responsibilities and daily interactions not only with civilians but with other departmental employees like those of the medical examiner’s office and the police.

Spring 2018

Position: Planning Policy Intern
Student: Geography Senior

This semester, I had the opportunity to intern at Mayor Steve Adler’s office as a Planning Policy Intern. The experience has been immensely rewarding, and I cannot begin to describe all that I have learned throughout the semester. Working in a political office is something I did not anticipate doing, as I wanted to be more involved in the private sector. However, I am grateful I had this opportunity to learn more about city government and how it is run, and I recommend the position to anyone who is interested in local government or planning.

The Mayor’s office can seem a bit hectic at first, as there are so many things going on at once that it can be difficult to catch up with the pace. However, once I got into the swing of things, it was an exciting place to be. On a typical day, I could expect conversations about CodeNext in the air, and several citizens, businesspersons, and professionals in other offices filtering through for meetings. Despite the high-level of information coming to and leaving the office on any given day, the staff is incredibly friendly and willing to aid in any questions or interests the interns may have.

On any given day, I get into the office and immediately check my email. One of my biggest duties is to schedule meetings for my supervisor, who meets with several people a day. After I check my email and set up upcoming meetings, I check in with my supervisor to see if he needs immediate help with anything. Some projects and tasks he may ask help on is to research proposed zoning changes and upcoming agenda items in order to document possible reasons for public pushback. Because many of the items that come to Council and Commissions largely affect the residents of Austin, it is very important to understand why people may oppose such changes. When I am not doing such tasks assigned by my supervisor at the beginning of the day, I am working on several on-going projects which aid in determining a timeline on the adoption process of several small-area and long-range plans for the city. These help the office in keeping track of the many changes Austin wants to make in the next several decades. Overall, my duties have taught me a lot about how the city makes changes, and all the factors that go into plan implementation. I can easily say that I have gained a lot of knowledge and skills related to my field that I do not think I would have gained if I did not participate in this internship.

Fall 2016  

Position: Intern
Student: Government Senior 

Like any internship or job, what you get out of it is what you put into it.  As an intern with the Drug Enforcement Administration, I could easily have spent my days filling out documents, filing forms, and making copies.  This is because this is the type of environment where no one holds your hand and gives you step-by-step instructions.  To get the full experience of this internship, one must be a self-motivated individual that can take on a task and achieve the results.  This kind of mentality shows your supervisors and DEA employees that you are responsible and able to handle anything that they throw your way.  This internship is a tryout, meant to see if you should be considered for a career in an already elite field.  If you can handle all of this, then everyday they will give you more and more responsibility. 

A given week at the DEA the tasks of an intern can change drastically.  The one thing that remained constant for duties as an intern was doing social media analysis and deep dives of seized email accounts.   Often times, the only information we have is a first and last name, an address, a phone number, or an email address.  All of these, of course, are often fake aliases.  Taking this information, typically we are looking for photos, current whereabouts, true identities, of verification of all three.  Facebook is the main source of verification, and no matter how intelligent criminals are, there is always something to find on the web.  Another duty may include assisting with surveillance, which could include photos and drive-bys of suspected locations and even aerial surveillance in small Cessna airplanes or helicopters.  I had the opportunity to be the spotter (“eye”) in the Cessna twice, and it is cool experience.  Attending meetings with assistant attorney generals and generals in regards to continuing cases, processing evidence, and assisting with search warrants or a few more tasks that an intern will have the opportunity to help with.  The last, search warrants, are the exciting part of the job. This is when the team raids a criminal’s location to arrest them, then the search for evidence in a house or apartment begins.  This consists of going through every nook and cranny to find drugs, money, or weapons that are involved in illegal activity.

Summer 2016 

Position: Relations Intern
Student: IRG Senior

This summer of 2016 I interned for the Delegation of International Relations for the Mayor of Paris. The DGRI is a bureau of Paris City Hall that deals with international affairs at the municipal level. The DGRI is headed by Aurelien Lechavallier, the Diplomatic Advisor to the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo. Mayor Hidalgo is the first female Mayor of Paris in history, and it is an honor to work for her. Hotel de Ville is the building of the headquarters of the municipality. Located in central Paris, this building dates back to the 1300s, centuries older than our country of the United States itself. Working here is like working in a castle that emanates history and culture. This internship is a dream come true, not to mention that my colleagues are some of the nicest, most personable, fun, and intelligent people I have ever met.

Examples of the work that has been assigned to me as an intern of Monsieur Lechavallier’s are: doing translations, writing emails/memos/notes to/for/from Mayor Hidalgo, working on refugee projects, and yes…writing speeches for the Mayor. This summer, Mayor Hidalgo helped to host the Euro Cup 2016, ordered to build two refugee centers in the next months, hosted cultural events, and was elected the first female president of C40. I wrote Hidalgo’s speech that she gave in front of the Eiffel Tower to Irish soccer fans, greeted ambassadors at the entrance of cultural events, and even wrote emails to mayors all around the world on her behalf. All of this I did while interning a 9-5 job with flexible hours and over hour-long lunch breaks that included walks in beautiful parks.

The skills I have learned and bettered from this internship are priceless, and this experience has helped assure me that I want to work in international relations and European politics for the rest of my life. I am extremely motivated, excited, and confident about my future career, and I most certainly feel of value and competent. I was able to network, drastically improve my French (for all communication at work was in French), and understand professionalism and structure in the French workplace. I am so grateful for this experience and all of the suits and ties I got to wear because of it!

Spring 2018

Position: Health and Human Services Intern
Student: Government Senior

 I interned with the Texas Health and Human Services Commission in their Human Resources department. I did not have a typical day experience; I was always working on new projects or updating information from previous projects. I really enjoyed this internship and the one on one relationship I had with my supervisor. She was able to take time out of her busy day to give me career advice, and teach me about the Health and Human Services Commission. I was allowed to work on many important tasks such as the health fair that takes place every year. It is a fair for the Health and Human Services Commission employees to attend and receive information about benefits that are offered through their work and other health and wellness information. I was in charge of contacting different vendors to attend the fair and bring information about their services as well as some samples or brochures. I also helped write the guidelines for a contest between state employees, called the biggest loser weight loss challenge. I was invited to attend a health care summit at the LBJ School of public affairs and typed up notes for my supervisor. I also scanned documents, made copies, and mailed off important documents. Throughout the months at my internship I was helping my supervisor track other volunteer and interns working hours. I put together intern packets for the summer intern program, these packets had all the human resources paperwork that was needed of the new interns. Over all I learned so much from this internship about communication and workload management.

Spring 2015 

Position: Emergency Services and Repatriation Intern
Student: International Relations and Global Studies Junior

My internship at the Texas Health and Human Services Commission this semester has been great. I have learned so much about government relations and public health. My supervisor has allowed me build my relationship skills and my discipline by letting me work in groups and alone on several tasks. I worked at the Tuscany Way location which is in northeast Austin. It was kind of out of the way but I liked the quiet area my office was in. I had my own cubicle and there was about 5 state employees and 3 other interns working with me.

My role as an emergency services and repatriation intern allowed me to sit it on after action infectious disease meetings. I had the opportunity to attend an Ebola meeting and got to talk to people from D.C. as well as other parts of the US which I thought was pretty cool. As interns we also got sent to the Capital during open session and got to hear whatever changes were made to bills regarding the Texas health department. That was very fun as well.

If I could give a day in the life description of my typical day at my internship, it would be to show up at 8 am and say hi to everyone then sit at my cubicle and check Microsoft outlook. After reading my emails and seeing my tasks for the day from my supervisor, I would meet her at her office to talk about the messages and then I would get straight to work. On Mondays I could always expect an intern meeting with the other girls, Karla and Lauren. We would talk about our different assignments and then Laura would write it all down and email the whole office on an intern bulletin to give everyone an update and what tasks interns were doing that week.

Spring 2018

Position: Planning Policy Intern
Student: Geography Senior

This semester, I had the opportunity to intern at Mayor Steve Adler’s office as a Planning Policy Intern. The experience has been immensely rewarding, and I cannot begin to describe all that I have learned throughout the semester. Working in a political office is something I did not anticipate doing, as I wanted to be more involved in the private sector. However, I am grateful I had this opportunity to learn more about city government and how it is run, and I recommend the position to anyone who is interested in local government or planning.

The Mayor’s office can seem a bit hectic at first, as there are so many things going on at once that it can be difficult to catch up with the pace. However, once I got into the swing of things, it was an exciting place to be. On a typical day, I could expect conversations about CodeNext in the air, and several citizens, businesspersons, and professionals in other offices filtering through for meetings. Despite the high-level of information coming to and leaving the office on any given day, the staff is incredibly friendly and willing to aid in any questions or interests the interns may have.

On any given day, I get into the office and immediately check my email. One of my biggest duties is to schedule meetings for my supervisor, who meets with several people a day. After I check my email and set up upcoming meetings, I check in with my supervisor to see if he needs immediate help with anything. Some projects and tasks he may ask help on is to research proposed zoning changes and upcoming agenda items in order to document possible reasons for public pushback. Because many of the items that come to Council and Commissions largely affect the residents of Austin, it is very important to understand why people may oppose such changes. When I am not doing such tasks assigned by my supervisor at the beginning of the day, I am working on several on-going projects which aid in determining a timeline on the adoption process of several small-area and long-range plans for the city. These help the office in keeping track of the many changes Austin wants to make in the next several decades. Overall, my duties have taught me a lot about how the city makes changes, and all the factors that go into plan implementation. I can easily say that I have gained a lot of knowledge and skills related to my field that I do not think I would have gained if I did not participate in this internship.

Spring 2024

Position: Intern Support Technician
Student: Sociology Senior

I currently work with the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), which is a state government agency that works on the roadways in each city/county and is trying to improve all highway systems within the state of Texas. I first found an HR internship with TxDOT on Handshake for Summer of 2023, and was able to transfer to a different department and division as a year-round intern. Throughout both the Fall and Spring Semesters, I’ve worked exclusively with ensuring all contracts have correct information listed, checking that our websites with all our data on them are correct and showing all updated and accurate information, and even assisting with creating a new website for our team to present data better. Personally, this internship has given me not only fantastic experience, but has also been such an inviting experience and getting to work with an incredible team of women. They’re all so intelligent and willing to help at any moment, which allowed me to truly grow with all my skills and have allowed me to learn more than I ever would have thought possible.

Fall 2016  

Position: Intern
Student: Government Senior 

Like any internship or job, what you get out of it is what you put into it.  As an intern with the Drug Enforcement Administration, I could easily have spent my days filling out documents, filing forms, and making copies.  This is because this is the type of environment where no one holds your hand and gives you step-by-step instructions.  To get the full experience of this internship, one must be a self-motivated individual that can take on a task and achieve the results.  This kind of mentality shows your supervisors and DEA employees that you are responsible and able to handle anything that they throw your way.  This internship is a tryout, meant to see if you should be considered for a career in an already elite field.  If you can handle all of this, then everyday they will give you more and more responsibility. 

A given week at the DEA the tasks of an intern can change drastically.  The one thing that remained constant for duties as an intern was doing social media analysis and deep dives of seized email accounts.   Often times, the only information we have is a first and last name, an address, a phone number, or an email address.  All of these, of course, are often fake aliases.  Taking this information, typically we are looking for photos, current whereabouts, true identities, of verification of all three.  Facebook is the main source of verification, and no matter how intelligent criminals are, there is always something to find on the web.  Another duty may include assisting with surveillance, which could include photos and drive-bys of suspected locations and even aerial surveillance in small Cessna airplanes or helicopters.  I had the opportunity to be the spotter (“eye”) in the Cessna twice, and it is cool experience.  Attending meetings with assistant attorney generals and generals in regards to continuing cases, processing evidence, and assisting with search warrants or a few more tasks that an intern will have the opportunity to help with.  The last, search warrants, are the exciting part of the job. This is when the team raids a criminal’s location to arrest them, then the search for evidence in a house or apartment begins.  This consists of going through every nook and cranny to find drugs, money, or weapons that are involved in illegal activity.

Summer 2016 

Position: Relations Intern
Student: International Relations and Global Studies Senior

This summer of 2016 I interned for the Delegation of International Relations for the Mayor of Paris. The DGRI is a bureau of Paris City Hall that deals with international affairs at the municipal level. The DGRI is headed by Aurelien Lechavallier, the Diplomatic Advisor to the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo. Mayor Hidalgo is the first female Mayor of Paris in history, and it is an honor to work for her. Hotel de Ville is the building of the headquarters of the municipality. Located in central Paris, this building dates back to the 1300s, centuries older than our country of the United States itself. Working here is like working in a castle that emanates history and culture. This internship is a dream come true, not to mention that my colleagues are some of the nicest, most personable, fun, and intelligent people I have ever met.

Examples of the work that has been assigned to me as an intern of Monsieur Lechavallier’s are: doing translations, writing emails/memos/notes to/for/from Mayor Hidalgo, working on refugee projects, and yes…writing speeches for the Mayor. This summer, Mayor Hidalgo helped to host the Euro Cup 2016, ordered to build two refugee centers in the next months, hosted cultural events, and was elected the first female president of C40. I wrote Hidalgo’s speech that she gave in front of the Eiffel Tower to Irish soccer fans, greeted ambassadors at the entrance of cultural events, and even wrote emails to mayors all around the world on her behalf. All of this I did while interning a 9-5 job with flexible hours and over hour-long lunch breaks that included walks in beautiful parks.

The skills I have learned and bettered from this internship are priceless, and this experience has helped assure me that I want to work in international relations and European politics for the rest of my life. I am extremely motivated, excited, and confident about my future career, and I most certainly feel of value and competent. I was able to network, drastically improve my French (for all communication at work was in French), and understand professionalism and structure in the French workplace. I am so grateful for this experience and all of the suits and ties I got to wear because of it!

Spring 2018

Position: Health and Human Services Intern
Student: Government Senior

 I interned with the Texas Health and Human Services Commission in their Human Resources department. I did not have a typical day experience; I was always working on new projects or updating information from previous projects. I really enjoyed this internship and the one on one relationship I had with my supervisor. She was able to take time out of her busy day to give me career advice, and teach me about the Health and Human Services Commission. I was allowed to work on many important tasks such as the health fair that takes place every year. It is a fair for the Health and Human Services Commission employees to attend and receive information about benefits that are offered through their work and other health and wellness information. I was in charge of contacting different vendors to attend the fair and bring information about their services as well as some samples or brochures. I also helped write the guidelines for a contest between state employees, called the biggest loser weight loss challenge. I was invited to attend a health care summit at the LBJ School of Public Affairs and typed up notes for my supervisor. I also scanned documents, made copies, and mailed off important documents. Throughout the months at my internship I was helping my supervisor track other volunteer and interns working hours. I put together intern packets for the summer intern program, these packets had all the human resources paperwork that was needed of the new interns. Over all I learned so much from this internship about communication and workload management.

Spring 2015 

Position: Emergency Services and Repatriation Intern
Student: International Relations and Global Studies Junior

My internship at the Texas Health and Human Services Commission this semester has been great. I have learned so much about government relations and public health. My supervisor has allowed me build my relationship skills and my discipline by letting me work in groups and alone on several tasks. I worked at the Tuscany Way location which is in northeast Austin. It was kind of out of the way but I liked the quiet area my office was in. I had my own cubicle and there was about 5 state employees and 3 other interns working with me.

My role as an emergency services and repatriation intern allowed me to sit it on after action infectious disease meetings. I had the opportunity to attend an Ebola meeting and got to talk to people from D.C. as well as other parts of the US which I thought was pretty cool. As interns we also got sent to the Capital during open session and got to hear whatever changes were made to bills regarding the Texas health department. That was very fun as well.

If I could give a day in the life description of my typical day at my internship, it would be to show up at 8 am and say hi to everyone then sit at my cubicle and check Microsoft outlook. After reading my emails and seeing my tasks for the day from my supervisor, I would meet her at her office to talk about the messages and then I would get straight to work. On Mondays I could always expect an intern meeting with the other girls, Karla and Lauren. We would talk about our different assignments and then Laura would write it all down and email the whole office on an intern bulletin to give everyone an update and what tasks interns were doing that week.

Spring 2016

Position: Legislative Intern, Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence
Student: French Senior

One of the most important lessons learned while interning at a legislative office is becoming a self-starter. Certainly, a newcomer to the Capitol will be given some supervision and instruction, but for the most part, students are expected to develop some level of independence in the workplace. The best place to start each day is in one’s email inbox. An intern should always check his or her email before even asking what to do on a given day. Additionally, it is important for an intern to have some intellectual curiosity and start each day reading the latest news, particularly as it relates to the given area of the state that the legislator represents.

Reading local news is important because while a legislator’s primary responsibility may be lawmaking, an elected official would have a difficult time remaining in office without directly connecting with constituents. Keeping the legislator, or more likely the chief-of-staff, abreast of local events that directly affect the legislator’s constituents will be noted. Furthermore, a large part of an intern’s responsibilities involves constituent services, whereby the staffers in the office act as liaisons between constituents and state agencies. Interns will write many draft letters to constituents, enhancing their writing skills.

Another key task of a legislative intern is research. Not only will an intern be required to conduct research on a number of topics, but he or she will also have to learn how to condense the information to make it easily intelligible. Working at the Capitol can be very exciting, especially when the Legislature is in session, but the job does not come without certain tasks that may not seem so exciting. Answering phones, assembling binders, filing and getting the mail are things most all interns have to do. An intern who takes the initiative, however, to use each moment as either a skill-developing or networking opportunity will get the most of out the internship.

Spring 2015

Position: Committee Correspondent, Texas Legislative Service
Student: Economics Senior

The Texas Legislative Service was a great company to intern for and presented me with a lot of opportunities to better myself and strengthen my skills.  I was assigned to different tasks each day depending on what was needed and depending on what kind of schedule I needed for the day.  My supervisor was very understanding of my schedule and was able to assign me to tasks that would fit my schedule for that week.  

Some days I would come to the office to sign in and then I would head to the capitol to sit in on a committee meeting.  I would bring a laptop into the meeting with me and report on what was happening during the committee and any bill actions that occurred.  As soon as the committee would end, I would go up to the committee clerk and gather any substitutes if there were any and then I would return them to the office so that they could get uploaded to the system.  I would then revise and edit my report making sure that the names of any witnesses presenting testimony were spelled correctly and that I had written their job title and company correctly.  Committee meetings are unpredictable.  At the beginning of session, each committee meeting would last about an hour.  As session progresses, the committee meetings get longer.  They can also deviate in time based on what bills or how many bills are being brought up.

I was usually assigned to do bill linking.  On those days, I would be given a list of about 150-200 news articles that I would have to read through and research which bills the articles were referring to.  Sometimes bills would be written out in the articles, but most of the time I would have to go into the system and search for them based on the information that the article provided such as the author, a key word, the date that an action occurred or what vote it was passed by. After finding the bills that corresponded with each article, I would get into the system and link the bills to the articles by connecting the article reference number to the bill that it corresponded to.  On a normal day, this would take about 4-5 hours.  There were some days that I was able to finish bill linking in 2 hours and other days that it would take me 8 hours.  It all depends on the articles that were posted that day.

Spring 2021

Position: Policy Analyst, Committee on Veteran Affairs & Border Security
Major: Government & Philosophy 

It was truly and honor to get to work with the Senate Committee on Veteran Affairs & Border Security during the 87th Texas legislative session. As a veteran, I often visit the Student Veteran Services Office, and that is where I heard of the internship opportunity. I then did further research online and applied. An interview was conducted, in which they went over my resume and interests, discussed my expectations from the internship and hours of availability. 

We work out of the Sam Houston State Office Building which is on the capital grounds. As an intern I was entrusted with multiple duties, the most notable of which was conducting research, preparing one page summaries of legislation, creating binders for the senators and staff within the committee, tracking bills as they pass through the house and senate, and making/taking phone calls. My favorite aspect of this internship was getting to do research on a project which has become a piece of legislation. A close second is getting to network with different staffers, catching coffee here and there and discussing the different projects we were working on.

Spring 2017

Position: Intern, Committee on Veteran Affairs & Military Installations
Major: Spanish Linguistics Senior

As an intern for the Senate Committee on Veteran Affairs and Border Security, you will be directly involved with the day to day affairs regarding policy issues and policy making. This committee is located on the third floor of the Sam Houston Building, on the northeast corner of the Texas Capitol grounds. The committee chairwoman for the 85th Legislative Session is Texas Senator Donna Campbell, while the committee director is USMC Major James Crabtree. This committee is comprised of a committee director, a committee clerk, Carrie Smith, and as many interns as they can recruit. It is a very flexible and understanding entity when it comes to working with students. For this particular session, all the interns are military veterans; however, that is not a requirement to be involved with this committee.

This committee is only created once every odd year for legislative session, yet there are similar opportunities with various offices within the capitol. That clarified, as an intern for the Senate Committee on Veteran Affairs and Border Security, first, you will be required to dress professionally on a regular basis. The men in this committee typically wear a suit to work due to the rules of the capitol. The capitol decrees that for any male to be on the floor or in a hearing, it is necessary for them to wear a coat and tie. Women do not have any specific requirements other than business attire.

From the moment you start with this committee, you will be required to learn a great deal. You will need to become proficient with various programs pertaining to the senate and the committee such as Texas Legislative Online, Podio, TLIS, CapWep, CapCentral, and BASE. Then you will have to learn to read bills. This sounds to be a pretty simple task; however, there is a particular type of jargon and language used in writing bills. It is nothing too difficult to understand once you have gone over them several times and get the hang of it. The third thing you will be expected to do is to research topics appropriately and thoroughly. You will have to compare your research to make sure you are finding unbiased information. Ultimately, you will sit with your committee clerk and director and discuss your findings in depth so that the information discovered will be passed on to the chairwoman and eventually the committee.

Position: Intern, Committee on Veteran Affairs & Military Installations
Major: Sociology Senior 

The internship I participated in was the Veteran Affairs and Border Security Committee, which is established under the Texas Senate. I immediately report to the Committee Clerk, and the Committee Director resides above both of us within our committee office. I interned here for ten hours each week, and I split those hours up into two-hour shifts each weekday. When I would come in the mornings for Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, I would start my day by reading the Senate agenda for that day, and checking whether our committee had bills that had been filed, referred to, or being heard. My next task was to skim the newspaper that is delivered by one of the messengers, and read the articles that pertain to issues involving veterans or border security. Once I’ve accomplished this, I input the Senate and House bills that sound like they may be directed to our committee using a website called, “Podio.” I track who the author of the bill is, if it has a companion bill, and analyze what the filed bill intends to amend. I’m usually only able to add approximately five to ten bills to the consolidation website before I leave to attend class for the day. On Tuesdays, I come in and immediately start helping the Committee Clerk organize the senator binders for the committee hearings that took place on Wednesdays. Thursdays, I would type up responses to people that gave testimonies during the hearings. Throughout each week there would be different things asked of me that helped me expand my overall knowledge of the daily operations of the Texas Senate. A few of the many perks of being an intern for the Texas government is the privilege of being given an identification badge that grants access to almost any office within the state capitol. Not to mention all the free food opportunities that are thrown at you by lobbyist groups. Overall, this internship was very insightful, and allowed myself to dive deeper into the understanding of the Texas government process.

Spring 2018

Position: Intern in the Appeals and Legal Counsel Section
Student: IRG Senior

This semester, I interned for the Office of the Attorney General of Texas, Crime Victim Services Division. I was specifically working in the Crime Victims Compensation (CVC) Program, Legal Section. The CVC Program allows victims of violent crime to apply for monetary compensation accrued in the process of a violent crime. Common forms of violent crime include assault, homicide, sexual assault, family violence, elder abuse, child abuse and sexual harassment of a minor. The CVC Program is divided into sections including Intake, Legal and Awards. The Intake Section reviews every application that is sent to the CVC Program and decides if the applicant truly is a victim of crime and can be compensated for the costs accumulated as a result of the crime. If they decide to approve the application, it is then sent to the Awards Section, where reviewers determine how the applicants can be compensated. This can include hospital bills, counseling bills, funeral expenses, relocation costs, loss of earnings, damage to property, and more. The Intake Section can also deny applications, and if this occurs, applicants are allowed to appeal the decision. If an appeal is made, the application is sent to the Legal Section, where I interned. The Legal Section is responsible for reviewing applications at a more extensive level, contacting detectives, hospitals, district attorney offices and victims to gain a complete understanding of the incident and to see if further law enforcement investigation has taken place.

My role as an intern in the Legal Section was reviewing sexual assault, aggravated assault and homicide applications that were appealed by the applicants. My day-to-day responsibilities included reading through victim applications, police reports, hospital bills, etc., and making calls to detectives and district attorney offices to determine if applicants were truly victims of crime. I worked closely with the investigator at the office, and she helped me grow in my critical analysis skills. I also drafted the legal documents that were sent to the victims once a decision was made, drawing from the Code of Criminal Procedure and Penal Code to adequately explain why they did or did not qualify as victims of crime. I sincerely enjoyed this internship as it grew my analysis, decision-making and writing skills, helped me develop a more cohesive understanding of where I want to go next, and deeply benefitted true victims of crime.

Fall 2016  

Position: Economic Analysis Intern, Consumer Protection Division, Antitrust Section
Student: Economics Senior

There really is no official title for the undergraduate intern position at the Office of the Attorney General (OAG). The official name of the office that houses the position is the Office of the Texas Attorney General, Consumer Protection Division, Antitrust Section. The antitrust aspect of it is what makes economics majors uniquely fit and qualified for it. Antitrust law and enforcement draws on all aspects of what students learn as economics majors. This is why all of the experts and expert witnesses in the field are Ph.D. economists. Below are some classes I strongly recommend having completed before pursuing the internship, ranked from most important to more optional:

• Introduction to Econometrics (ECO 341K) (and Microeconomic Theory (ECO 420K))
• Antitrust Law and Economics (ECO 353K)
• Industrial Organization (ECO 328)
• Advanced Econometrics (ECO 348K)

The skills developed in these courses form the core of antitrust enforcement. Economics is so important to antitrust law that many firms (including the Texas OAG) have their own PhD economist on staff. This is the person with whom the economics intern interacts most, although interaction with everyone on staff is still quite frequent. The entire team at OAG is very friendly, and ready to meet new people. Indeed, they are very amicable and also great professionals, and are charged with the responsibility of ensuring the well-being of consumers across the State of Texas and suing companies who engage in anti-competitive behavior harmful to said consumers.

A typical day at OAG will include meeting with the staff economist to give and receive an update on work projects, looking for research papers on a pertinent topic, reading articles, and a lot of data work and analysis. Typically there will be a project meeting every week or two where all people working on a project will get together to discuss their progress. The position is not dry and secluded, though. There is much interaction to be had and relationships to be built. All-in-all it is a great position and opportunity for any economics major, and especially for those looking to go to law school or graduate school in economics with the intent to specialize in applied microeconomics.

Summer 2017

Position: Texas Governor's Fellowship Program
Student: Government Sophomore

This summer I was an intern at The Texas Office of the Governor as I was a part of the Governor’s Fellowship Program. My office was in the Texas State Insurance Building at The Capital in Austin. As a graduate from The University of Texas at Austin, our Governor Greg Abbott understands the importance of work experience for both academics and also for students’ resumes. I was among many interns at the Governor’s Office ranging from undergraduate level students to students that were in law school or already graduated. Many of the interns at the office shared some of the same duties but we were each assigned to the different divisions that make up the staff of the Governor. Just like the President has his cabinet members, the Governor has his own staff members that run offices that take care of many of his policy sections. I happened to be assigned to the Budget and Policy division under Director of Policy, Drew Deberry and Director of Budget, Steven Albright. My floor contained staff members who each had their own policy divisions such as water, healthcare, environment, and many more. My typical day started out with checking my email in the morning for different projects and tasks that could have been sent to me by these policy staffers. I would usually be asked to research the history that a policy held in Texas Legislature and how it was handled in years in the past. Based on how well or how poorly the policy passed in legislature would allow me to organize a clear overview for the policymakers of Greg Abbott’s staff to write their own policy and meet the needs of the Texas people.

As a Government major, I have always had aspirations of attending law school and becoming either an attorney or a serviceman for our state or national legislature. But after interning at capital I now truly know that government is something I could enjoy working in for the rest of my life. Working on a daily basis with some our state’s greatest legislature and working with policy makers that worked directly with Greg Abbott was an experience I couldn’t have even dreamed of getting anywhere else. This may come off as a redundant statement but before this internship I had no idea how truly “political” government was. By this I mean I had no idea about the extensive hoops that legislators and policy makers have to jump through to get what they want accomplished. Just from being in the office I could see just how many people across the state and even the nation the Governor would have to please in order to slightly get going in the right direction for a policy that he wanted and felt passionately about. The amount of effort and willpower it took to get the smallest thing done in politics made me so interested in how the rest of it all worked.

This job taught me that in government there will always be someone benefitting off of your gain and always someone getting the short end of the stick at the same time. Most people would be startled by this and find it overwhelming but I found it absolutely fascinating and it motivated me to learn more and more about the infrastructure of our state government and the brilliant people that hold it together. This internship taught me that I have the leadership as well as disputative qualities to be a member of the Texas Government and that my interests align perfectly with those that seek to make our state a better place through policymaking. My experience at the Texas Governor’s Office will stick with me as I continue my studies in Government and will drive me to pursue future internships and jobs for many different positions at the Texas Capital.

Spring 2017  

Position: Policy Internship
Student: Government Junior

My internship is with the Lieutenant Governor’s Policy Office. More specifically, I work under Julie Frank (Intergovernmental Relations Policy Advisor), Aaron Kocian (Transportation Policy Advisor), Jennifer Rabb (Tax Policy Advisor), and Joaquin Guadarrama (Deputy Budget Director). Our office is in the basement in the capital and is rather secluded from the regular on-goings of day-to-day life. This is particularly nice because unlike a regular legislator’s office, we do not have to deal with constituents walking in and demanding meeting with staff. This location also provides easy access to the Senate floor, as there is an elevator outside our office door, and to the exits.

Each morning, my fellow interns and I arrive around 8:30am. It is our job to ensure that all the printers are filled with paper and to make to coffee in the kitchen. Most of the time, we are beat to the coffee pot by the Education Policy Advisor, who arrives at 5:30am. After the printers are filled and the coffee is made, we read through the legislative clips and wait for our supervisors to arrive. If we are lucky, there is enough time to walk to the Capital Grill and grab some breakfast tacos. Once my supervisor has arrived, we start reading bills and setting up meetings with legislative staff. Depending on the day, however, once my supervisor has arrived, we may head to the IGR committee hearing room and wait for the committee to be gaveled in. During committee, I am there to serve as a resource to my supervisor about the bills being heard. Before committee, I am responsible for printing notes for the meeting and getting them to my supervisor. On days that committee does not meet, I am tasked with watching house committees where companions to bills in IGR have been sent. If I am not working with the IGR advisor, I am trying to prevent the Transportation Advisor from breaking the technology around the office. As session trudges toward the end, I am often finding that I am leaving later and later. There is no set time to leave from the office, during session. During the beginning of session, I was able to leave around 5:00pm, but as it has progressed I am leaving at 6:30-7:00pm. Although the hours have gotten seeming longer, there is never a shortage of work. If someone were going to intern in the Lieutenant Governor’s office, the best advice I could offer would be is to be prepared to work. 

Fall 2018

Position: Surface Mining & Reclamation Division Intern
Student: Geography Senior

A day in the life for an intern at the Railroad Commission of Texas involves critical thinking, hard work, and a great attitude. The Surface Mining and Reclamation Division specializes in regulatory and revisionary assessments for mines across Texas, a highly lucrative industry. No daily routine at the office is the same; rather tasks are assigned given what is most needed on any given day. In particular, my internship experience was well rounded, covering most aspects of office duties and providing assistance in a variety of ways. Shadowing engineering specialists is a large portion of the internship, which entails listening to there professional analysis and providing sound feedback. A typical day starts by reporting to my supervisor, where we cover current and future projects. Afterwards, I report to my cubical to begin my assigned work. Projects can range from hydrological analysis, infrastructure analysis, bond calculations, permit review, and more. Skills in AutoCAD, GIS, Google Earth, and watershed modeling software are required, but staff is more than willing to assist. I’ve found that attention to detail and asking questions is the best way to learn the environment at the surface mining division, as the process is unique from most other agencies.  Like any new job, a positive attitude goes a long way for yourself and others around you. Internships are crucial to career development and post-college success.  I would highly recommend an internship at the railroad commission, not only because of the friendly environment and interesting work, but also because of the skills you pick up and the passions that you develop for a future career.

Spring 2017  

Position: Intern
Student: Government Junior 

I am an intern with the Railroad Commission of Texas in the Oil and Gas Division’s Production Department. We are situated on the eleventh floor of the William B. Travis building on the north end of the Capitol complex. I complete a variety of office tasks and facilitate coordination between the departments on my floor. My role is similar to that of the position of Administrative Assistant within the department, as we both carry out simple tasks and facilitate coordination.

My day begins as soon as I enter the office. Often I walk in and the daily mail is there ready for me to sort and categorize. I divide the mail, which mostly consist of T-1 Forms that detail the monthly oil and gas production from every company extracting and transporting the fuels in the state of Texas. I remove the Page 2’s from the reports and count how many different wells are reporting changes in production. These separated forms are then batched by district, of which there are 13, and sent to their respective departments for further processing. The batches return where we put the forms back together for record keeping. After all the forms are whole again, I scan the forms into the digital database.

Besides primarily handling T-1 Forms, I also manage separate Production Reports, which are essentially T-1’s without extensive detail, and P-18 Forms, which details how much oil and water was received and skimmed for each lease. In addition, I was tasked this semester with digitizing the monthly production from each company reporting to the Commission for the last five years. This has consisted of transcribing the reported production from note cards to an Excel spreadsheet. Pound for pound, the Excel spreadsheet is the most time-consuming portion of my day because it consists of solely hardcoding.

My only daily requirement is that I handle and sort the mail, which can take anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour depending on how much mail there is. The rest of my day consists of either scanning forms for records, assisting in the additional form sorting, and/or working on my Excel spreadsheet, in addition to every state employee’s mandated fifteen minute break.

Spring 2023

Position: Legislative Aide, Rep. Carl Tepper
Student: Government and Plan II Freshman 

This Spring I have had the opportunity to work at the Texas State Capitol for the Texas State Government. Interning as a Legislative Aide, I conduct constituency correspondence, policy research, and bill briefings for Representative Tepper. I found this internship opening by navigating the University of Texas Government Department’s online list of available internship opportunities. From there, I went through a series of interviews with Representative Tepper’s Chief of Staff. While at the Texas State Capitol, I have had the opportunity to meet with multiple university presidents and discuss with lobbyists what higher education institutions should receive money through Article III of the Appropriations Committee. My favorite aspect of working at the Texas State Capitol is showing up excited each day knowing I will meet and interact with amazing individuals who are quite literally changing the world.

Position: Deputy Legislative Director/Intern, Rep. Ryan Guillen 
Student: Government and Rhetoric and Writing Sophomore

I found this internship on the Texas Politics Project website. I did a lot of legislative research as well as administrative work. I answered phone calls, responded to emails, and edited speeches the Rep would give in his bill hearings. My favorite thing about the internship was definitely the ability I had to gain valuable experience learning how the legislative process works. I witnessed firsthand what it takes to get reelected and also the entire bill process rather than just what happens publicly. I highly recommend this internship.

Position: Legislative Intern
Student: Health and Society Junior

This semester I had the opportunity to intern for one of our State Representatives at the Texas Capitol for the 88th Legislative session. I originally found this internship from a job opportunity group chat within my sorority. I reached out, interned with my office’s Chief of Staff, and then was fortunate enough to join the office. As my role as a legislative intern for one of our State Representatives in the 88th Legislative session, I am tasked to assist with daily office jobs such as data entry, logging incoming and outgoing correspondence, handling visitors, and answering phone calls/ emails. Along with this, I assist my team with research, memos, briefings, and building/ establishing policies. I prepare for committee meetings and in advance for meetings with constituents and visitors. Through my internship working for the Representative, I believe I have become very enriched with new information and interpersonal skills. I believe it has been very beneficial for my work world growth to work with a team in this setting. I think doing so has strengthened my communication and writing skills, as well as my work ethic and initiative. My favorite part about my internship is the networking within the building. There are never-ending opportunities to meet new people, as well as pick their brains. I think I learn more in a day in this building than I ever have before from individuals, and experts to their passions, that go from strangers to mentors within just minutes of meeting them. The community in the State Capitol is so strong, and it excites me every day to discover new solutions and explore different ways of thinking. I am very eager to learn more about our State Government, as well as see it in action through the rest of the Legislative Session. This internship has allowed me to learn, grow, and give back to the community.

Position: Legislative Intern
Student: International Relations and Global Studies Sophomore

The Texas House of Representatives is a very dynamic workplace that provides experience related to a wide variety of government issues. The House is organized by offices of each representative, and are typically made up of the Representative, Chief of Staff, Legislative Director, Legislative Aide, and Legislative Intern. I found this internship through family connections as I was recommended to explore this path by a family friend involved in lobbying and political consulting. My duties are largely based around managing constituent communications, which is a pretty broad role. Anytime a constituent from our district has concerns or questions about specific legislation I relay certain facts about the legislation or my Representative’s stance on issues. I also collect data on constituent opinion in order to organize it in order for it to be used in legislative decisions or presentations. In some instances, I have had to help with casework involving specific problems that need to be remedied by government agencies. My favorite thing about my internship is the variety of topics that I have been able to learn about, and the collaborative nature of the role. There are a lot of working parts that allow the legislative session to run smoothly, and I have really enjoyed getting to work with many different people that specialize in different areas that affect our government.

Fall 2022

Position: Legislative Assistant, Tom Craddick 
Student: Government Senior

 I have worked for the Texas House of Representatives for almost two years as a Legislative Director. I am exposed to constituent work, drafting legislation, and legislative research, and developed and executed strategies and communication campaigns to articulate the representative’s legislative budget and district priorities to the general public, growing overall social media presence by 190%. The projects I worked on strengthened my skills in writing and communication. My most recent projects have included drafting bill books and publishing our newsletter. My organizational skills have also been enhanced through assisting with managing our social media and political campaigns. I have learned the importance of being self-motivated and problem-solving.  The legislature is a fast pace environment and you must adapt to succeed here. This opportunity has provided me with so many connections and skills. It will help me succeed in law school and being an attorney.

Spring 2021

Position: Policy Intern, The Office of Speaker Dade Phelan
Major: History Junior

My internship was in Texas Speaker of the House Dade Phelan’s policy office. The goal of the policy office is too serve as a representation of the Speaker, and communicate his goals to committees as well as to aid the legislative process. I was able to discover this internship opportunity with the aid of friends and family, then completed the application and interview process on my own. My job has entailed a wide variety of assignments throughout it, which kept it interesting and challenging. I would conduct tasks similar as too interns at any company, such as stocking supplies, running errands, making copies and so on. I also had to serve duties as a sort of secretary assistant, answering phones, welcoming visitors and taking notes in meetings. Aside from all of that we would conduct data collection projects, bill analysis and communicate with constituents. With so much going on I was really forced to learn a lot, but that was my favorite part; I have so much more knowledge about government and politics, it really is reassuring as to how beneficial this internship was.

Fall 2019

Position: Legislative Intern, Representitive Mary Gonzalez
Major: International Relations and Global Studies Junior

I look forward to starting my days at the Texas State Capitol. Every day I approach the building and am in awe of not only the architecture but also the work that happens within the halls. There are people constantly working to draft legislation or hold meetings to create solutions to the issues that are facing Texans every day. Even in the interim, there is always a meeting to attend or work to be accomplished. My day to day in the office is always slightly different based on the needs of that day or the events that took place while I was away.

Typically, I will spend the first thirty minutes to an hour looking at the news and drafting social media posts on the important events or updates that have been reported. Then, I will send those posts to Caroline, the Chief of Staff, for approval and she will either send edits/additions or inform me they are good to send to Representative González for final approval. Next, I will prioritize the projects that need to be accomplished. Our office rule of thumb is that there is a two-week grace period to respond to constituent letters, so I will read over the new letters or those pending approval. If there is a new letter, I will usually draft a response to new letters and send them for approval, which is the same process as social media posts.

Next, after those daily tasks are completed, I will begin working on larger projects that span over multiple days and require communication with different organizations or offices. Recently, I have worked with the Texas Water Development Board to write a report on the Municipal Utility Districts in the El Paso area and the unique way they function. Additionally, I am currently researching information for a bill that would mimic a law being implemented in New Mexico during the coming years.

The needs of Representative González’s constituents are rapidly changing, and thus, my responsibilities and priorities are constantly shifting. I have learned a lot about how the government operates, the role of representatives, and the importance of flexibility and adaptability. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time in Representative González’s office and my day to day tasks. 

Position: Legislative Intern, Ryan Guillen
Major: Economics Senior

I am currently working as a legislative intern for State Representative Ryan Guillen. As a legislative intern, I am tasked with aiding and drafting legislation, researching casework, and corresponding with constituents. I work onsite with the Texas Legislature at the Texas Capitol Building in Austin, Texas.

As a legislative intern, I work four days each week for a total of 12-15 hours each week from September to December. I work alongside 7 other interns, our chief of staff, our administrative director, our legislative director, and the representative himself. Typically, my day begins at 8am. As I am the first person in the office each morning, I check our mailboxes upon arriving at the Capitol. After I return to our office, I check Correspondence Management System (the Texas Legislature standard correspondence program) to see my newly assigned casework. Casework is assigned by our administrative director, who receives it via communication from constituents. I then research the issue assigned to me and draft a proposal for how to remedy the situation. I submit the draft to our administrative director for approval, and then prepare a final draft of a response or legal action to take to resolve the situation. After completing casework, I am often assigned tasks such as bill review or research by our chief of staff. This frequently entails completing deep dive research on topics that our representative is trying to get legislation passed on. Additionally, as an intern, I am tasked with constituent correspondence. This can take the form of answering phone calls or letters from constituents who reach out to our office, managing our office’s social media accounts, or sending condolence letters to families in our district who have lost loved ones.

Overall, working as a legislative intern for Representative Guillen has been a valuable learning experience. I value the strong writing and research skills that I have acquired while working in our office and know that they will prepare me well for a future career in law.

Position: Senior Intern, Michael McCaul
Major: Government Senior

Since June, I have been interning in the Austin office of Congressman Michael McCaul who represents Texas’s 10th District. Rep.McCaul has been in congress for over 16 years and has served as the chairman of several committees including the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and the House Committee on Homeland Security.  The 10th congressional district covers sections of Austin, Houston and the majority of the area in between these two cities. Our district contains 4 congressional offices in Austin, Houston, Brenham and Tomball.

The Austin office is the flagship office of the congressman. As is such, it is imperative that staff dress appropriately in a suit attire on a daily basis. Throughout my internship, I would find myself seldom without a dress shirt and tie on. While we have a variety of tasks, our main duty is to facilitate communication between constituents and the representative. On a typical day, an intern in the Austin office will perform the following:

When I arrive into the office my first duty is to email out a district news summary. Our staff cares a great deal on what goes on in our district, therefore interns are tasked with researching articles from local news sources. My favorite sources include the Austin American Statesman, the Houston Chronicle and the Brenham Banner. The next daily task would be to process the voicemails and mail. Voicemails generally include comments left for the representative that are logged into a database. Mail will include various invitations, constituent comments and casework that is processed accordingly. When these three main tasks are completed, staff will then task interns with other pieces of work they need assistance with.

Generally, our staff is quite considerate to interns and allows us to do work of interest to us.

Spring 2018

Position: Legislative Aide Intern, Representitive Mary E. Gonzalez
Major: International Relations and Global Studies Junior

This semester I interned at the Texas House of Representatives with State Representative Mary E. Gonzalez; her office is located at the Texas Capitol. When looking to get an internship at the Texas Capitol or in Austin government agencies, there are literally hundreds of options available to interested college students. For instance, within the Texas Capitol, one could intern with an elected official at the Texas Senate, one of the 150 officials at Texas House of Representatives, a committee within either chamber of the legislature, a government agency ranging from the Texas Education Agency, to the Texas Health and Human Services, or a lobby group that advocates for legislation.

A typical day at my internship begins with finishing my courses for the day. After wrapping up my morning classes, I walk down Congress Avenue, past the Blanton and Bullock Museum and past 15th Street into the South Entrance of the Texas Capitol. After logging in to my computer and reviewing my email, I check in with my supervisor, who is the Chief of Staff for the office. Either the Chief of Staff or Legislative Director will have pending assignments for me to work on  or long term projects to complete. Depending on what project I am working on, I might schedule meetings with important stakeholders within that issue and later meet with them to learn and discuss potential solutions to our concerns. The vast majority of my work includes extensive research on issues that are important to Representative Gonzalez’s constituents and issues that are important to the people of Texas. For instance, given the current importance of immigration, Representative Gonzalez asks her staff to keep up to date on immigration issues and potential avenues for solutions or improvements. As part of a legislative office, we are often invited to hearings, legislative briefings and educational events; it is important that a representative from our office attends in order to stay up to date on the most recent developments. Lastly, I hold some responsibilities with creating posts for our office’s social media accounts and maintaining parts of the calendar, which is vital to any legislative office given the busy days. 

Spring 2024

Position: Legislative Intern, Senator Royce West
Student: International Relations and Global Studies Sophomore

I am a legislative intern for Senator West. I found this internship with Senator West on Handshake. My daily roles as an intern in the Capitol office of State Senator Royce West include assisting with daily administrative tasks, such as answering the phone and responding to emails. I also conduct legal research, review administrative codes and state and federal statutes, and present findings in an easily digestible format. Additionally, I am responsible for completing my internship project. This project entails picking a problem that needs to be solved, coming up with a solution, and drafting a bill outline for a potential bill that can resolve this problem. My favorite thing about my internship at the capital is attending “Lunch and Learns", a luncheon hosted by various organizations a few times a month, such as TAAHP or TALT, for the Texas legislators and other staff working at the Capitol. During these events, the host organization gives a presentation about a particular issue or program relevant to the Texas legislative body. These talks allow the legislators and their teams to learn more about specific topics from those leading these programs. I like these events because I can take advantage of this opportunity to further my knowledge in areas I may not know much about and share this information with the staff of the Senator’s office.

Spring 2023

Position: Legislative Intern, Senator Brandon Creighton
Student: Government and Economics Freshman

This semester, I had the privilege to be a legislative Intern for Texas Senator Brandon Creighton’s office. As a resident of the Senator’s district, I was able to reach out and go through the application process with a resident within the Senator’s district. I was able to obtain this internship by reaching out to his office and interviewing with the staff. My role as a legislative intern consists of commuting to the office on Tuesdays and Thursdays for around 7 hours per day, which allows me to balance my school and work life. 

My day-to-day duties vary greatly, as there are always new tasks daily, whether it was helping staff draft bills to ordering lunch for the office. At first, it can seem intimidating at first, but I was able to settle in comfortably by getting to know the staff on a more personal level and what the office environment was like. However, some consistent duties I had included recording constituent correspondence, whether it was through phone calls or emails, which would be logged into the Capitol correspondence management system (CMS). Since my Senator is the Chair of the Education Committee, his email gets flooded with many requests or oppositions, especially if the bills are controversial. As I staffed the front of the office, I was able to meet with a multitude of people, from lobbyists to activists to talk about specific legislation issues or concerns they had. I was able to attend staff briefings to look at the proposed legislation and meet with the Education Committee often to discuss bills. My favorite part about this internship was helping out the Communications Director, such as designing flyers to present our bills in an easy-to-understand manner and handling any marketing communications such as updating the website and newsletter. The day honestly goes by very quickly as most days, especially towards the end of the session are very hectic and busy, but are very rewarding. There are also opportunities for other staff or interns to network at receptions or happy hours, and they are a great way to get to know fellow staff members better as well! Overall, this internship has provided me with a rare insight into Texas legislation and has given me a memorable experience!       

Spring 2021

Position: Policy Analyst, Committee on Veteran Affairs & Border Security
Student: Government & Philosophy 

It was truly and honor to get to work with the Senate Committee on Veteran Affairs & Border Security during the 87th Texas legislative session. As a veteran, I often visit the Student Veteran Services Office, and that is where I heard of the internship opportunity. I then did further research online and applied. An interview was conducted, in which they went over my resume and interests, discussed my expectations from the internship and hours of availability. 

We work out of the Sam Houston State Office Building which is on the capital grounds. As an intern I was entrusted with multiple duties, the most notable of which was conducting research, preparing one page summaries of legislation, creating binders for the senators and staff within the committee, tracking bills as they pass through the house and senate, and making/taking phone calls. My favorite aspect of this internship was getting to do research on a project which has become a piece of legislation. A close second is getting to network with different staffers, catching coffee here and there and discussing the different projects we were working on.

Summer 2019

Position: Intern, Senator Jane Nelson
Student: Anthropology Senior

The Capitol has two different sides, one side is a bustling scene of lobbyists and interest groups delivering speeches advocating for a specific cause, phones that never stop ringing with concerned constituents asking questions and sharing their opinion, and staff running around trying to get the bills that they have worked on for months passed. The other side depicts a quiet office, the phones ringing less frequently, state officials returning to their home district, and staff feeling a sense of relief since session has concluded. Both sides have one thing in common, an intern at the desk answering phone calls from constituents, following bills, and helping staff members with whatever they need.

Working at Senator Nelson’s office means that you are working for the people of Senate District 12, and it is my role as an intern to help staff members organize legislation, communicate with constituents who call or visit the office, and relay to the Senator and staff what constituents are concerned about or need help with. If constituents call into the office with specific questions or seeking help, it is my job to research that specific topic and gather any relevant information that will answer the question at hand or will help lead the caller in the right direction to find help.

Throughout my time at the office, I have inputted correspondence into the computer management system, organized pieces of legislation and notes that are passed onto Senator Nelson while she is on the Senate floor or in a committee meeting, and I have also run errands to other state representatives’ offices to gather pertinent information. I have easily balanced my internship and school schedule, and the staff has been supportive of my studies and my future plans. Overall, I have found my internship at Senator Nelson’s office to be a worthwhile experience both during session and interim, and I would recommend this internship to my peers.

Spring 2018

Position: Intern in the Appeals and Legal Counsel Section
Student: International Relations and Global Stuides Senior

This semester, I interned for the Office of the Attorney General of Texas, Crime Victim Services Division. I was specifically working in the Crime Victims Compensation (CVC) Program, Legal Section. The CVC Program allows victims of violent crime to apply for monetary compensation accrued in the process of a violent crime. Common forms of violent crime include assault, homicide, sexual assault, family violence, elder abuse, child abuse and sexual harassment of a minor. The CVC Program is divided into sections including Intake, Legal and Awards. The Intake Section reviews every application that is sent to the CVC Program and decides if the applicant truly is a victim of crime and can be compensated for the costs accumulated as a result of the crime. If they decide to approve the application, it is then sent to the Awards Section, where reviewers determine how the applicants can be compensated. This can include hospital bills, counseling bills, funeral expenses, relocation costs, loss of earnings, damage to property, and more. The Intake Section can also deny applications, and if this occurs, applicants are allowed to appeal the decision. If an appeal is made, the application is sent to the Legal Section, where I interned. The Legal Section is responsible for reviewing applications at a more extensive level, contacting detectives, hospitals, district attorney offices and victims to gain a complete understanding of the incident and to see if further law enforcement investigation has taken place.

My role as an intern in the Legal Section was reviewing sexual assault, aggravated assault and homicide applications that were appealed by the applicants. My day-to-day responsibilities included reading through victim applications, police reports, hospital bills, etc., and making calls to detectives and district attorney offices to determine if applicants were truly victims of crime. I worked closely with the investigator at the office, and she helped me grow in my critical analysis skills. I also drafted the legal documents that were sent to the victims once a decision was made, drawing from the Code of Criminal Procedure and Penal Code to adequately explain why they did or did not qualify as victims of crime. I sincerely enjoyed this internship as it grew my analysis, decision-making and writing skills, helped me develop a more cohesive understanding of where I want to go next, and deeply benefitted true victims of crime.

Fall 2016  

Position: Economic Analysis Intern, Consumer Protection Division, Antitrust Section
Student: Economics Senior

There really is no official title for the undergraduate intern position at the Office of the Attorney General (OAG). The official name of the office that houses the position is the Office of the Texas Attorney General, Consumer Protection Division, Antitrust Section. The antitrust aspect of it is what makes economics majors uniquely fit and qualified for it. Antitrust law and enforcement draws on all aspects of what students learn as economics majors. This is why all of the experts and expert witnesses in the field are Ph.D. economists. Below are some classes I strongly recommend having completed before pursuing the internship, ranked from most important to more optional:

• Introduction to Econometrics (ECO 341K) (and Microeconomic Theory (ECO 420K))
• Antitrust Law and Economics (ECO 353K)
• Industrial Organization (ECO 328)
• Advanced Econometrics (ECO 348K)

The skills developed in these courses form the core of antitrust enforcement. Economics is so important to antitrust law that many firms (including the Texas OAG) have their own PhD economist on staff. This is the person with whom the economics intern interacts most, although interaction with everyone on staff is still quite frequent. The entire team at OAG is very friendly, and ready to meet new people. Indeed, they are very amicable and also great professionals, and are charged with the responsibility of ensuring the well-being of consumers across the State of Texas and suing companies who engage in anti-competitive behavior harmful to said consumers.

A typical day at OAG will include meeting with the staff economist to give and receive an update on work projects, looking for research papers on a pertinent topic, reading articles, and a lot of data work and analysis. Typically there will be a project meeting every week or two where all people working on a project will get together to discuss their progress. The position is not dry and secluded, though. There is much interaction to be had and relationships to be built. All-in-all it is a great position and opportunity for any economics major, and especially for those looking to go to law school or graduate school in economics with the intent to specialize in applied microeconomics.

Summer 2017

Position: Texas Governor's Fellowship Program
Student: Government Sophomore

This summer I was an intern at The Texas Office of the Governor as I was a part of the Governor’s Fellowship Program. My office was in the Texas State Insurance Building at The Capital in Austin. As a graduate from The University of Texas at Austin, our Governor Greg Abbott understands the importance of work experience for both academics and also for students’ resumes. I was among many interns at the Governor’s Office ranging from undergraduate level students to students that were in law school or already graduated. Many of the interns at the office shared some of the same duties but we were each assigned to the different divisions that make up the staff of the Governor. Just like the President has his cabinet members, the Governor has his own staff members that run offices that take care of many of his policy sections. I happened to be assigned to the Budget and Policy division under Director of Policy, Drew Deberry and Director of Budget, Steven Albright. My floor contained staff members who each had their own policy divisions such as water, healthcare, environment, and many more. My typical day started out with checking my email in the morning for different projects and tasks that could have been sent to me by these policy staffers. I would usually be asked to research the history that a policy held in Texas Legislature and how it was handled in years in the past. Based on how well or how poorly the policy passed in legislature would allow me to organize a clear overview for the policymakers of Greg Abbott’s staff to write their own policy and meet the needs of the Texas people.

As a Government major, I have always had aspirations of attending law school and becoming either an attorney or a serviceman for our state or national legislature. But after interning at capital I now truly know that government is something I could enjoy working in for the rest of my life. Working on a daily basis with some our state’s greatest legislature and working with policy makers that worked directly with Greg Abbott was an experience I couldn’t have even dreamed of getting anywhere else. This may come off as a redundant statement but before this internship I had no idea how truly “political” government was. By this I mean I had no idea about the extensive hoops that legislators and policy makers have to jump through to get what they want accomplished. Just from being in the office I could see just how many people across the state and even the nation the Governor would have to please in order to slightly get going in the right direction for a policy that he wanted and felt passionately about. The amount of effort and willpower it took to get the smallest thing done in politics made me so interested in how the rest of it all worked.

This job taught me that in government there will always be someone benefitting off of your gain and always someone getting the short end of the stick at the same time. Most people would be startled by this and find it overwhelming but I found it absolutely fascinating and it motivated me to learn more and more about the infrastructure of our state government and the brilliant people that hold it together. This internship taught me that I have the leadership as well as disputative qualities to be a member of the Texas Government and that my interests align perfectly with those that seek to make our state a better place through policymaking. My experience at the Texas Governor’s Office will stick with me as I continue my studies in Government and will drive me to pursue future internships and jobs for many different positions at the Texas Capital.

Spring 2017  

Position: Policy Internship
Student: Government Junior

My internship is with the Lieutenant Governor’s Policy Office. More specifically, I work under Julie Frank (Intergovernmental Relations Policy Advisor), Aaron Kocian (Transportation Policy Advisor), Jennifer Rabb (Tax Policy Advisor), and Joaquin Guadarrama (Deputy Budget Director). Our office is in the basement in the capital and is rather secluded from the regular on-goings of day-to-day life. This is particularly nice because unlike a regular legislator’s office, we do not have to deal with constituents walking in and demanding meeting with staff. This location also provides easy access to the Senate floor, as there is an elevator outside our office door, and to the exits.

Each morning, my fellow interns and I arrive around 8:30am. It is our job to ensure that all the printers are filled with paper and to make to coffee in the kitchen. Most of the time, we are beat to the coffee pot by the Education Policy Advisor, who arrives at 5:30am. After the printers are filled and the coffee is made, we read through the legislative clips and wait for our supervisors to arrive. If we are lucky, there is enough time to walk to the Capital Grill and grab some breakfast tacos. Once my supervisor has arrived, we start reading bills and setting up meetings with legislative staff. Depending on the day, however, once my supervisor has arrived, we may head to the IGR committee hearing room and wait for the committee to be gaveled in. During committee, I am there to serve as a resource to my supervisor about the bills being heard. Before committee, I am responsible for printing notes for the meeting and getting them to my supervisor. On days that committee does not meet, I am tasked with watching house committees where companions to bills in IGR have been sent.  As session trudges toward the end, I am often finding that I am leaving later and later. There is no set time to leave from the office, during session. During the beginning of session, I was able to leave around 5:00pm, but as it has progressed I am leaving at 6:30-7:00pm. Although the hours have gotten seeming longer, there is never a shortage of work. If someone were going to intern in the Lieutenant Governor’s office, the best advice I could offer would be is to be prepared to work. 

Fall 2018

Position: Surface Mining & Reclamation Division Intern
Student: Geography Senior

A day in the life for an intern at the Railroad Commission of Texas involves critical thinking, hard work, and a great attitude. The Surface Mining and Reclamation Division specializes in regulatory and revisionary assessments for mines across Texas, a highly lucrative industry. No daily routine at the office is the same; rather tasks are assigned given what is most needed on any given day. In particular, my internship experience was well rounded, covering most aspects of office duties and providing assistance in a variety of ways. Shadowing engineering specialists is a large portion of the internship, which entails listening to there professional analysis and providing sound feedback. A typical day starts by reporting to my supervisor, where we cover current and future projects. Afterwards, I report to my cubical to begin my assigned work. Projects can range from hydrological analysis, infrastructure analysis, bond calculations, permit review, and more. Skills in AutoCAD, GIS, Google Earth, and watershed modeling software are required, but staff is more than willing to assist. I’ve found that attention to detail and asking questions is the best way to learn the environment at the surface mining division, as the process is unique from most other agencies.  Like any new job, a positive attitude goes a long way for yourself and others around you. Internships are crucial to career development and post-college success.  I would highly recommend an internship at the railroad commission, not only because of the friendly environment and interesting work, but also because of the skills you pick up and the passions that you develop for a future career.

Spring 2017  

Position: Intern
Student: Government Junior 

I am an intern with the Railroad Commission of Texas in the Oil and Gas Division’s Production Department. We are situated on the eleventh floor of the William B. Travis building on the north end of the Capitol complex. I complete a variety of office tasks and facilitate coordination between the departments on my floor. My role is similar to that of the position of Administrative Assistant within the department, as we both carry out simple tasks and facilitate coordination.

My day begins as soon as I enter the office. Often I walk in and the daily mail is there ready for me to sort and categorize. I divide the mail, which mostly consist of T-1 Forms that detail the monthly oil and gas production from every company extracting and transporting the fuels in the state of Texas. I remove the Page 2’s from the reports and count how many different wells are reporting changes in production. These separated forms are then batched by district, of which there are 13, and sent to their respective departments for further processing. The batches return where we put the forms back together for record keeping. After all the forms are whole again, I scan the forms into the digital database.

Besides primarily handling T-1 Forms, I also manage separate Production Reports, which are essentially T-1’s without extensive detail, and P-18 Forms, which details how much oil and water was received and skimmed for each lease. In addition, I was tasked this semester with digitizing the monthly production from each company reporting to the Commission for the last five years. This has consisted of transcribing the reported production from note cards to an Excel spreadsheet. Pound for pound, the Excel spreadsheet is the most time-consuming portion of my day because it consists of solely hardcoding.

My only daily requirement is that I handle and sort the mail, which can take anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour depending on how much mail there is. The rest of my day consists of either scanning forms for records, assisting in the additional form sorting, and/or working on my Excel spreadsheet, in addition to every state employee’s mandated fifteen-minute break.

Spring 2017  

Position: Legislative Intern
Student: Government Junior

The Travis County Intergovernmental Relations Office (IGR) serves as a conduit of the five members of Travis County Commissioners Court and the various county departments (e.g. Health and Human Services, Emergency Services, County Auditor, Planning and Budget). Additionally, IGR works closely with state legislators (irrespective of political affiliation), staffers and essential stakeholders to ensure the county’s legislative agenda is communicated in an effective and professional manner. Moreover, under the general direction of the Commissioners Court, the IGR office facilitates and conducts uniformed county board appointments with the appropriate stakeholders and recommends guidance to the full court on best course of actions. Furthermore, the office serves a resource to county departments and provides high-level public policy analysis on behalf of the Commissioners Court.
My job duties as Legislative Associate include, but are not limited to: research and draft supporting documents for the IGR officer, work with county staff on legislative matters, conduct policy research to effectively enhance efficacy in policy decision-making, and to keep the IGR Officer abreast on news current events relevant to county governance. Additionally, the Legislative Associate is responsible for updating and maintaining IGR records, to include keeping supporting documents update. The day-to-day operations of the office is highly technical; as public servant for more than twenty years, the IGR Officer has extensive work experience in legislative and legal matters. Apart of the job requirements of the legislative associate is to provide the office with all necessary information in order to effectively weigh public policy decisions on behalf of the approximately 1.2 million residents of Travis County. 

Summer 2016 

Position: HSI Intern
Student: Government Junior

This summer I interned with the Department of Homeland Security specifically Homeland Security Investigations, which is the investigative arm of Homeland.   In the beginning of the internship I worked full time but I scaled back my hours later on.   My day would start at 9am at the federal building downtown.   Everyday my job was to shadow the special agents and help them out on whichever case they were working at the moment.  Special agents work on all types of cases such as financial crimes, gang activity, human rights violations, narcotics, etc.  Most days I was helping put together their case files and making sure everything was detailed.  Even though putting case files would be something I would do daily, other things also had to get done.  The ability to work as a team was something that was very important to all the agents because investigations cannot get done alone.  Some days I would work with agents researching and gathering evidence for fraud cases and other times we would meet with Ted Cruz’s staff to discuss immigration and the cases that dealt with it.  Not all days were hands on.  Some days were spent discussing current events that were going on in the news and other times I would spend hours reading on policy and rules that the special agents had to follow.  I think most people hold the concept that being a special agent is always exciting work but it is not always like that if you’re not working in a border city which is where all the action happens.  Most days were spent trying to build a case, which involves a lot of problem solving and critical thinking, and making sure that the case was strong enough for the Assistant U.S. Attorney.

Summer 2016 

Position: Student Legal Intern
Student: History Freshman

Intern with the U.S Department of Labor. Within that branch, I intern specifically with the agency known as the Office of Workers Compensation Programs (OWCP). What does my daily routine consist of? It depends on whether I’m upstairs working with the regional office or downstairs working with the district office. Anyway, no matter what floor I’m on for the week, usually have to be at my internship by 8-8:30 A.M. The internship itself lasts all day till about 4-4:30 P.M essentially 8 hours a day. I’m required to work three days of the week so, a grand total of around 24 hours each week. Most work about 95% of it is done on the computer. You walk in, say good morning to your supervisor, and turn your laptop on. First thing I do is check my work email to see if I got anything. A supervisor will then come and ask you to complete a project of some sort; it varies. Downstairs, it ranges from creating and implementing statistical data into PowerPoints (data reflects current goals for each quarter and expected goals by the end of the fiscal year) to more hands on work such as assisting the office secretary in setting up events. Though, most of your work downstairs is on the computer. Upstairs, work is mostly done on the computer as well. The works upstairs involves helping the Administrative Officer with requisitions, reconciliations, and simple acquisitions. Also help, the Program Manager by organizing and employee files for each district. You usually get an hour of for lunch. Then it’s back to work. All of the supervisors here are very understanding and flexible even if you aren’t finished with a project, and it’s time for you to leave, they will insist that you go home and pick up on it the following day. Very supportive work environment. Other co-workers are very nice and will not hesitate to help you even if it distracts them from their work for a few minutes. Overall a very great learning experience not only in office management, but in the field of federal government itself.

Fall 2018

Position: Student Intern
Student: Government Junior        

My internship this semester was in Washington, D.C, with the U.S State Department, Bureau of Legislative Affairs. The State Department is the oldest executive agency in the U.S, and is primarily focused on foreign affairs. The Bureau of Legislative Affairs if primarily focused on functioning as a liaison between the Secretary of State and members of Congress. As an intern, the typical day is 9-5, a full time job. Our business is almost entirely dependant on Congress. When they are in recess, we are rather bored on our end. When it’s lame-duck session after control in the House has shifted, we find ourselves rather busy. Most of the work we do is in the way of bill analysis/advising, researching bios and statements of members in congress and preparing witnesses for hearings as well as political appointees for confirmation hearings or meetings with senators. Most of the work we did involved listening in on hearings on the hill and reporting on them, looking for specific statements from members on topic areas so as to help the Secretary navigate the minefield of opinions held by the members of Congress. Often we’d have assignments sent to us out of the blue that require quick turnaround, while other times we’d find ourselves quizzing each other with Senate member flashcards. There’s always a hearing that could be gone to or tuned in to, or a foreign policy workshop that could be attended, so there’s plenty to do, but it’s not always urgent. Working in Legislative Affairs is interesting in that it has the same hierarchical structure of the executive branch, while working closely with and navigate the flat command structure of Congress.

Fall 2016  

Position: Department of State Intern
Student: History Senior

My internship placed me in the Consular Section of an American Embassy, one of four sections to be found at every embassy (the others being Political, Economic, and Public Affairs). The Consular Section is broken into four units: Non-Immigrant Visas (in charge of issuing visas for foreign nationals wishing to visit the United States), Immigrant Visas (in charge of issuing visas for foreign nationals seeking to emigrate to the United States) American Citizen Services (providing assistance to American citizens abroad) and my specific unit, Fraud Prevention Unit (FPU). FPU serves to seek-out, investigate, and anticipate instances of visa fraud.

Besides spending two hours a morning helping to process visa applicants by manning a window taking fingerprints, all of my work was located in FPU.  I work on two main long-term projects. I compare existing reports with new data concerning absconding migrant workers in order to uncover either visa fraud rings or American ranches who abuse the workers they petition to come from overseas to work for them. In addition, I am working on a study investigating patterns of abuse in Chinese nationals who apply through our post; I will compile my findings into a cable to be sent to all posts in the Western Hemisphere as well as American posts in China. In addition, I am writing another cable requesting the removal of a Peruvian citizen from a national terrorist watch list based on information recently made available to my post. In addition to these projects, I have a variety of tasks that amount to updating records and circulating the results of any one of FPU’s investigations. These responsibilities are parceled out into a normal nine-hour workday, with a full hour for lunch. However, most people choose to work from seven until four instead of the normal eight/nine to five so we can avoid the rush hour traffic.

Summer 2016 

Position: HSI Intern
Student: Government Junior

This summer I interned with the Department of Homeland Security specifically Homeland Security Investigations, which is the investigative arm of Homeland.   In the beginning of the internship I worked full time but I scaled back my hours later on.   My day would start at 9am at the federal building downtown.   Everyday my job was to shadow the special agents and help them out on whichever case they were working at the moment.  Special agents work on all types of cases such as financial crimes, gang activity, human rights violations, narcotics, etc.  Most days I was helping put together their case files and making sure everything was detailed.  Even though putting case files would be something I would do daily, other things also had to get done.  The ability to work as a team was something that was very important to all the agents because investigations cannot get done alone.  Some days I would work with agents researching and gathering evidence for fraud cases and other times we would meet with Ted Cruz’s staff to discuss immigration and the cases that dealt with it.  Not all days were hands on.  Some days were spent discussing current events that were going on in the news and other times I would spend hours reading on policy and rules that the special agents had to follow.  I think most people hold the concept that being a special agent is always exciting work but it is not always like that if you’re not working in a border city which is where all the action happens.  Most days were spent trying to build a case, which involves a lot of problem solving and critical thinking, and making sure that the case was strong enough for the Assistant U.S. Attorney.

Summer 2016 

Position: Student Legal Intern
Student: History Freshman

Intern with the U.S Department of Labor. Within that branch, I intern specifically with the agency known as the Office of Workers Compensation Programs (OWCP). What does my daily routine consist of? It depends on whether I’m upstairs working with the regional office or downstairs working with the district office. Anyway, no matter what floor I’m on for the week, usually have to be at my internship by 8-8:30 A.M. The internship itself lasts all day till about 4-4:30 P.M essentially 8 hours a day. I’m required to work three days of the week so, a grand total of around 24 hours each week. Most work about 95% of it is done on the computer. You walk in, say good morning to your supervisor, and turn your laptop on. First thing I do is check my work email to see if I got anything. A supervisor will then come and ask you to complete a project of some sort; it varies. Downstairs, it ranges from creating and implementing statistical data into PowerPoints (data reflects current goals for each quarter and expected goals by the end of the fiscal year) to more hands on work such as assisting the office secretary in setting up events. Though, most of your work downstairs is on the computer. Upstairs, work is mostly done on the computer as well. The works upstairs involves helping the Administrative Officer with requisitions, reconciliations, and simple acquisitions. Also help, the Program Manager by organizing and employee files for each district. You usually get an hour of for lunch. Then it’s back to work. All of the supervisors here are very understanding and flexible even if you aren’t finished with a project, and it’s time for you to leave, they will insist that you go home and pick up on it the following day. Very supportive work environment. Other co-workers are very nice and will not hesitate to help you even if it distracts them from their work for a few minutes. Overall a very great learning experience not only in office management, but in the field of federal government itself.

Spring 2024

Position: Military Preparedbess and Commission Intern
Student: Government Major, Chinese Minor

The organization I work for is the Texas Office of the Governor, under the Military and Preparedness Commission. The Texas Office of the Governor Fellowship provides fellows with many opportunities to be integrated with the Office of the Governor based on their interests. Personally, since I am in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps at the University of Texas at Austin, I felt the most beneficial office to work for would be in the Military and Preparedness Commission. I was fortunate to be introduced to the position by a good friend of mine, who has ties to the Governor’s office, and felt I would be a good fit. For the fellowship, I have mainly completed two major tasks. The first was compiling the office’s Annual Task Overview Sheet for the 2023-2024 year. Secondly, I completed the Biannual report for all military installations within the state of Texas. My favorite part about the internship has been the ability to meet others who have had long military careers and have given me advice as to how the most successful young officers operate with their platoons. 

Position: Division of Economic Development and Tourism Research Intern
Student: Economics First Year

I work in one of the many divisions of the Office of the Governor. My division’s goal is to help residents of the state of Texas in their economic pursuits and increase community development. I found this internship while I was searching for jobs in the government. My duties include reviewing leasing reports for the Governor’s Cup and researching companies buying property in Texas. I also help out with Economic data spreadsheets and compare Population, GDP, and Unemployment between Texas and other countries. My favorite thing about this internship is the lessons I learned about the inner workings of the government and about life in general. I have learned so much and will be sad after this internship is over. I have made great connections at the office of the governor.

Spring 2018

Position: Planning Policy Intern
Student: Geography Senior

This semester, I had the opportunity to intern at Mayor Steve Adler’s office as a Planning Policy Intern. The experience has been immensely rewarding, and I cannot begin to describe all that I have learned throughout the semester. Working in a political office is something I did not anticipate doing, as I wanted to be more involved in the private sector. However, I am grateful I had this opportunity to learn more about city government and how it is run, and I recommend the position to anyone who is interested in local government or planning.

The Mayor’s office can seem a bit hectic at first, as there are so many things going on at once that it can be difficult to catch up with the pace. However, once I got into the swing of things, it was an exciting place to be. On a typical day, I could expect conversations about CodeNext in the air, and several citizens, businesspersons, and professionals in other offices filtering through for meetings. Despite the high-level of information coming to and leaving the office on any given day, the staff is incredibly friendly and willing to aid in any questions or interests the interns may have.

On any given day, I get into the office and immediately check my email. One of my biggest duties is to schedule meetings for my supervisor, who meets with several people a day. After I check my email and set up upcoming meetings, I check in with my supervisor to see if he needs immediate help with anything. Some projects and tasks he may ask help on is to research proposed zoning changes and upcoming agenda items in order to document possible reasons for public pushback. Because many of the items that come to Council and Commissions largely affect the residents of Austin, it is very important to understand why people may oppose such changes. When I am not doing such tasks assigned by my supervisor at the beginning of the day, I am working on several on-going projects which aid in determining a timeline on the adoption process of several small-area and long-range plans for the city. These help the office in keeping track of the many changes Austin wants to make in the next several decades. Overall, my duties have taught me a lot about how the city makes changes, and all the factors that go into plan implementation. I can easily say that I have gained a lot of knowledge and skills related to my field that I do not think I would have gained if I did not participate in this internship.

Fall 2016  

Position: Intern
Student: Government Senior 

Like any internship or job, what you get out of it is what you put into it.  As an intern with the Drug Enforcement Administration, I could easily have spent my days filling out documents, filing forms, and making copies.  This is because this is the type of environment where no one holds your hand and gives you step-by-step instructions.  To get the full experience of this internship, one must be a self-motivated individual that can take on a task and achieve the results.  This kind of mentality shows your supervisors and DEA employees that you are responsible and able to handle anything that they throw your way.  This internship is a tryout, meant to see if you should be considered for a career in an already elite field.  If you can handle all of this, then everyday they will give you more and more responsibility. 

A given week at the DEA the tasks of an intern can change drastically.  The one thing that remained constant for duties as an intern was doing social media analysis and deep dives of seized email accounts.   Often times, the only information we have is a first and last name, an address, a phone number, or an email address.  All of these, of course, are often fake aliases.  Taking this information, typically we are looking for photos, current whereabouts, true identities, of verification of all three.  Facebook is the main source of verification, and no matter how intelligent criminals are, there is always something to find on the web.  Another duty may include assisting with surveillance, which could include photos and drive-bys of suspected locations and even aerial surveillance in small Cessna airplanes or helicopters.  I had the opportunity to be the spotter (“eye”) in the Cessna twice, and it is cool experience.  Attending meetings with assistant attorney generals and generals in regards to continuing cases, processing evidence, and assisting with search warrants or a few more tasks that an intern will have the opportunity to help with.  The last, search warrants, are the exciting part of the job. This is when the team raids a criminal’s location to arrest them, then the search for evidence in a house or apartment begins.  This consists of going through every nook and cranny to find drugs, money, or weapons that are involved in illegal activity.

Summer 2016 

Position: Relations Intern
Student: IRG Senior

This summer of 2016 I interned for the Delegation of International Relations for the Mayor of Paris. The DGRI is a bureau of Paris City Hall that deals with international affairs at the municipal level. The DGRI is headed by Aurelien Lechavallier, the Diplomatic Advisor to the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo. Mayor Hidalgo is the first female Mayor of Paris in history, and it is an honor to work for her. Hotel de Ville is the building of the headquarters of the municipality. Located in central Paris, this building dates back to the 1300s, centuries older than our country of the United States itself. Working here is like working in a castle that emanates history and culture. This internship is a dream come true, not to mention that my colleagues are some of the nicest, most personable, fun, and intelligent people I have ever met.

Examples of the work that has been assigned to me as an intern of Monsieur Lechavallier’s are: doing translations, writing emails/memos/notes to/for/from Mayor Hidalgo, working on refugee projects, and yes…writing speeches for the Mayor. This summer, Mayor Hidalgo helped to host the Euro Cup 2016, ordered to build two refugee centers in the next months, hosted cultural events, and was elected the first female president of C40. I wrote Hidalgo’s speech that she gave in front of the Eiffel Tower to Irish soccer fans, greeted ambassadors at the entrance of cultural events, and even wrote emails to mayors all around the world on her behalf. All of this I did while interning a 9-5 job with flexible hours and over hour-long lunch breaks that included walks in beautiful parks.

The skills I have learned and bettered from this internship are priceless, and this experience has helped assure me that I want to work in international relations and European politics for the rest of my life. I am extremely motivated, excited, and confident about my future career, and I most certainly feel of value and competent. I was able to network, drastically improve my French (for all communication at work was in French), and understand professionalism and structure in the French workplace. I am so grateful for this experience and all of the suits and ties I got to wear because of it!

Spring 2018

Position: Health and Human Services Intern
Student: Government Senior

 I interned with the Texas Health and Human Services Commission in their Human Resources department. I did not have a typical day experience; I was always working on new projects or updating information from previous projects. I really enjoyed this internship and the one on one relationship I had with my supervisor. She was able to take time out of her busy day to give me career advice, and teach me about the Health and Human Services Commission. I was allowed to work on many important tasks such as the health fair that takes place every year. It is a fair for the Health and Human Services Commission employees to attend and receive information about benefits that are offered through their work and other health and wellness information. I was in charge of contacting different vendors to attend the fair and bring information about their services as well as some samples or brochures. I also helped write the guidelines for a contest between state employees, called the biggest loser weight loss challenge. I was invited to attend a health care summit at the LBJ School of public affairs and typed up notes for my supervisor. I also scanned documents, made copies, and mailed off important documents. Throughout the months at my internship I was helping my supervisor track other volunteer and interns working hours. I put together intern packets for the summer intern program, these packets had all the human resources paperwork that was needed of the new interns. Over all I learned so much from this internship about communication and workload management.

Spring 2015 

Position: Emergency Services and Repatriation Intern
Student: International Relations and Global Studies Junior

My internship at the Texas Health and Human Services Commission this semester has been great. I have learned so much about government relations and public health. My supervisor has allowed me build my relationship skills and my discipline by letting me work in groups and alone on several tasks. I worked at the Tuscany Way location which is in northeast Austin. It was kind of out of the way but I liked the quiet area my office was in. I had my own cubicle and there was about 5 state employees and 3 other interns working with me.

My role as an emergency services and repatriation intern allowed me to sit it on after action infectious disease meetings. I had the opportunity to attend an Ebola meeting and got to talk to people from D.C. as well as other parts of the US which I thought was pretty cool. As interns we also got sent to the Capital during open session and got to hear whatever changes were made to bills regarding the Texas health department. That was very fun as well.

If I could give a day in the life description of my typical day at my internship, it would be to show up at 8 am and say hi to everyone then sit at my cubicle and check Microsoft outlook. After reading my emails and seeing my tasks for the day from my supervisor, I would meet her at her office to talk about the messages and then I would get straight to work. On Mondays I could always expect an intern meeting with the other girls, Karla and Lauren. We would talk about our different assignments and then Laura would write it all down and email the whole office on an intern bulletin to give everyone an update and what tasks interns were doing that week.

Spring 2024

Position: Investigative Intern
Student: Government Sophomore

I first stumbled upon the internship opportunity through the GOV Newsletter. Upon reviewing the description and submitting the necessary application materials, I never anticipated landing such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Serving as an Investigative Intern at the Travis County Public Defender’s Office has allowed me to indulge my passion for true crime in a practical setting. From using information from many different sources in order to successfully (and sometimes not so successfully!) locate clients and witnesses to refining my interpersonal abilities to secure crucial information or potential evidence, each day in this role is truly unique (which is my favorite thing about the internship). As someone who thrives in change and becomes bored when feeling stagnant, I enjoy the dynamic nature of every task as an Investigative Intern. Some of my assignments that I've undertaken include: social media deep dives, canvassing neighborhoods, making and nurturing relationships with strangers out in the field, dissecting and analyzing APD body-cam footage, breaking down surveillance recordings piece-by-piece, and dissecting (tons!) of case materials for thorough analysis.

Spring 2024

Position: Virtual Student Federal Service Internship
Student: International Relations and Global Studies and Italian Junior

I highly recommend the VSFS internship program at the State Department. The Virtual Student Federal Service Internship program allows you to work for the State Department remotely throughout the year. There are plenty of different internships to choose from ranging from foreign affairs to marketing or even cybersecurity. I found out about this program in one of the weekly IRG Newsletters and applied to around four different internships. The internship I was selected for focuses on doing historical research for a Diplomat in Residence. The project will result in an article that will include my work and the work of two other interns. My favorite aspect of this internship is that I have had the opportunity to expand my research skills in a new field, while also strengthening my writing skills.

Spring 2023

Position: Bureau of Legislative Affairs Intern
Student: Government and Philosophy Senior

The Department of State is responsible for U.S. diplomatic relations and foreign policy. I work in the Bureau of Legislative Affairs, which is responsible for advocating for DoS goals in Congress and addressing questions from members of Congress on key international issues and what actions the DoS is taking to address such issues. I found the internship through usajobs.gov. One of my main duties is to create bios on members of Congress that contain past statements, positions, and relevant legislation to brief the Secretary on his audience for hearings and meetings. It has been a fantastic experience, as my coworkers are really encouraging and genuinely value my contributions, despite merely being an intern. It is also gratifying to be trusted with assignments that the Secretary of State himself uses during pivotal foreign policy hearings before Congress.

Spring 2024

Position: White House Intern
Student: Philosophy Sophomore

The White House Internship Program is a leadership and development opportunity designed to provide hands-on experience in the operations of the White House Office (WHO), directly supporting the Biden-Harris Administration's priorities. Running from January to May 2024 in Washington, DC, the program aims to develop the skills of emerging leaders.

My path to this internship began with a recommendation from my high school U.S. History professor, leading me to explore and ultimately apply for a position within The White House Photo Office. This department is responsible for documenting the daily activities of the Administration, managing everything from photography, image requests, and editing, to the organization of metadata and the maintenance of the photo library for the National Archives.

In my role, I was involved in various tasks related to the archival process, such as storing and printing images, organizing metadata, and contributing to the construction and management of the photo library. These duties were essential in ensuring the efficient operation of the Photo Office, providing a systematic approach to the preservation of historical records.

What I found most rewarding about the internship was the work I did with metadata organization and the development of the photo library. It was fascinating to see the progression and milestones of the Administration through the lens of the Photo Office, offering a unique perspective on the importance and impact of historical documentation. This experience was not only relevant to my major but also provided a practical application of the theories I've learned in my philosophy courses, particularly in understanding the narrative and significance behind each documented moment.