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The agricultural sales and marketing major, who spent summer 2004 interning in Lugar's Indianapolis office, describes Washington, D.C., as a young city, where it's easy to meet other young professionals who share the same goals. "You live and work in the news," says the Fishers, Ind., senior. "The people you interact with are the ones making the news."
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Brad McKinney (left) served in Sen. Richard Lugar's Washington, D.C. office. "You live and work in the news," he says. "The people you interact with are the ones making the news." |
Hageman, Pitstick and McKinney each had the experience of talking with senior officials in their offices and then seeing them on the news within a few hours.
"One minute they were walking through my office and eating out of my bag of peanuts, and then within the hour, I would see them on television," Hageman says.
The three interns say that they learned a lot about government and themselves, but they all know it's just a beginning. "One of the biggest things I learned is that you have to show initiative, take action and then accept responsibility for those actions," McKinney says.
All had to adapt to new jobs and familiarize themselves with office protocol. "It's always a challenge to integrate and adapt to a new environment," McKinney says. "I had to understand and work by the protocol of the U.S. Senate and learn about parliamentary procedure on the legislative floor."
Defining moments
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Bill Hoagland (left), a Purdue Agriculture alumnus and a senior staff member for Sen. Bill Frist, provides a Purdue connection for Lawrence Smith (right) and other public policy interns. |
Although they have different career goals, the trio agrees that the internships influenced their plans for the future. "I planned to go straight to law school, but now I think I need one to two years of experience in the workforce first," Pitstick says. "This internship has opened up my eyes to new experiences, and the plans I had before are not the ones I will keep."
Prior to his experience at the White House, Hageman was interested in government and politics, or possibly campaigns. Now, he wants to check out the private sector and spend some time in New York. "I think it's important to understand both government and the private sector," he says. "They use completely different management styles—one focuses more on efficiency, while the other emphasizes democracy."
"This experience has cemented things for me and reinforced what I want to do," says McKinney, who plans to earn a law degree and then work in agriculture public policy. "I have a passion for it. I know I have a lot more to learn. You don't go into your first job after college as an expert."
The internships helped students grow personally and professionally and— sometimes—in unanticipated ways. "There is a smorgasbord of people in D.C.," McKinney says. "Being here makes you define who you are. It gave me more pride in being a Hoosier and a Boilermaker."
Contact Julie Douglas at agricultures.magazine@purdue.edu
Sidebar Feature:
Purdue University's 2006 Washington, D.C. interns
Scholarship program supports public policy internships
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