A Step Towards Advocacy

by Allison Polk

Through Gallaudet’s Capitol Hill Internship Program, Briana Johnson, a junior from Kennesaw, Georgia, completed a spring internship in Senator Sherrod Brown’s (D-Ohio) office at the Hart Senate Building, just around the corner from politically significant landmarks like the Capitol and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Briana worked with an intricate staff of interns, legislative assistants and legislative correspondents within the Senator’s office.

“I learned a lot,” said Briana. “The staff focused on topics like education, social security, the environment and many more.”

The staff was charged with interacting with Senator Sherrod’s constituents, which meant Briana saw her share of constituent’s letters in which they lobbied the Senator about issues dear to them.

As a government major, Briana had taken classes about legislation and therefore was familiar with the theoretical makeup of the system, but found actually working inside government to be a different experience.

“I took the knowledge I learned from my government classes along with others like research methods, law and education and used that to write a response or direct correspondence to the right legislative correspondent or assistant,” she said.

As an additional perk of this internship with the Senator’s office, Brianna attended the Ohio College President’s Conference, hosted in the Hart Senate Building, where she met other senators.

“The conference was mainly about education all over the country and improving education through the use of advanced technology. That was very interesting to me because education is one of my interests.

“Because of this internship experience, I will be attending law school to further my education, focusing on education and civil rights,” said Briana.

The Career Center and the Office of the President launched the Capitol Hill Internship Program, an initiative to connect more students with internships in Congress. Although students majoring in government have completed these internship positions in the past, the program has expanded this opportunity to all majors, as well as undeclared students who meet the selection criteria.

Senator Sherrod Brown is a trustee on Gallaudet University’s Board of Trustees (BOT). Because the University receives federal appropriations, the 21-member BOT includes one U.S. Senator.