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Shane Hageman leaves his Washington, D.C. apartment at 6:45 a.m. and walks the three-and-a-half blocks to the metro station at Judiciary Square. After a five-minute ride on the orange line, he gets off at Farragut Square and quickly makes his way to work, but not before clearing two security checkpoints and obtaining a badge from the Secret Service.
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White House intern Shane Hageman's day often started before dawn, as the first to arrive at the Office of Cabinet Liaison. Hageman was responsible for keeping White House senior officials updated on everything from grants to congressional testimony. "Working in the White House was very surreal," he says. "I saw parts of the White House that most people only dream of." |
Arriving at his office, he flips on the lights, turns on the air-conditioner and the televisions, and arranges the morning's newspapers on a coffee table. He powers up his computer and begins sorting information and organizing reports for senior officials on Capitol Hill.
At 8 a.m., regular staffers begin to arrive, and the pace picks up as events start to unfold. Hageman makes a run to a nearby McDonald's for coffee and a bagel, then heads back to face a 12-hour day.
It's turning out to be a typical day in the life of an intern at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
A résumé that includes the White House
Hageman, a Remington, Ind., native, was one of 13 Purdue University students who interned in Washington, D.C. last summer. They each enjoyed different experiences and work environments, but all came away with a newfound sense of responsibility and accomplishment.
An agricultural economics and political science major, Hageman was one of 100 students selected to intern with the Office of Cabinet Liaison at the White House. The office keeps the lines of communication open among government agencies, cabinet secretaries and White House senior officials.
Hageman gathered information and wrote reports to update senior officials on everything from grants to congressional testimony. Other responsibilities included answering phones, keeping agency contact information updated and facilitating meetings for senior officials, agency heads and cabinet secretaries.
For Hageman, it was his second internship on the national political scene. During summer 2005, he served in the office of U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar and was one of five students taking part in a new Purdue Agriculture Public Policy Internship program. Four of the five returned in 2006 through other internship programs.
"Working in the White House was very surreal. I interacted with senior officials and saw parts of the White House that most people only dream of," Hageman says. "It's hard to describe the feeling, to know that I was working in the same building as the president, where the decisions being made affect so many Americans and even much of the world."
Studying agriculture on "The Hill"
Like Hageman, Jeanna Pitstick also tracked happenings on "The Hill." Pitstick, a senior agricultural economics major, interned with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Congressional Relations Committee as a liaison between the USDA and Congress. She worked with legislation and budgets, compiled reports, and attended hearings on the new Farm Bill.
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| Internships at the World Bank in 2005 and the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 2006 helped Jeanna Pitstick define her career goals. The internships opened my eyes to new experiences, she says. "The plans I had before are not the ones I will keep." |
Pitstick, too, was in her second internship in the nation's capital. She worked the previous summer at the World Bank, and, like Hageman, is an alumnus of the public policy internship program. The Rensselaer, Ind., native says her experiences have helped her understand how events in Washington, D.C. affect Indiana.
"I study agriculture, not politics," Pitstick says. "But now that I have spent time here, I see how agriculture, farmers, agribusinesses and the government fit together."
Movers and shakers
Brad McKinney interned in the office of Senator Lugar, where his responsibilities included researching issues, attending hearings and writing press releases. "It really is a unique experience," says McKinney, whose workspace was surrounded by piles of papers, stacks of books and photos chronicling the senator's political career of nearly 40 years. "I dealt with a wide variety of problems and people," he says. "It forces you to develop patience."
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