Charley Rathgeber: Intern on the Mayor Frey Campaign

This summer, political science student Charley Rathgeber worked as an Intern on the Campaign for Minneapolis's Mayor Jacob Frey's re-election campaign. Read the below Q&A to learn more about her internship experience.

What were your primary responsibilities?

My day-to-day activities varied throughout the internship. Nothing is stable when working on a campaign, so your day-to-day responsibilities fluctuate and you have to be able to adapt quickly to new tasks and projects. Some common activities were phone banking, door knocking & literature drops, data input, campaign planning & coordination, staffing events, creating promotional materials, dropping off lawn signs, and answering emails & texts.

What large projects did you work on?

Some larger projects I had the privilege to work on were coordinating our campaign's meet and greets. For this, I would reach out to potential hosts and coordinate times in the evening that they would be available to host an event at their house that also worked for Frey's schedule. I would then keep in contact with these individuals, providing materials such as a meet-and-greet host guide and literature they could send to invite their friends, family, & neighbors.

The campaign would also conduct outreach in neighboring areas to bring awareness of the event. Myself or another intern would then staff the event, which involved helping set up, making thing easier for the Mayor while taking pictures & videos for media purposes, and helping the hosts at the end of the event.

What takeaways did you have from your internship experience?

Big takeaways from my internship were improved communication skills, knowledge of local politics, software systems, and the need for organization in any effort.

How have your experiences as a political science student prepared you for this internship?

I can credit the University of Minnesota Twin Cities for helping my knowledge of political history and governmental systems due to the various political science classes I have taken. I feel as though in any job you can learn on the spot, so my education only contributed to so much of my abilities. I would say the thing that helped me most was my past experiences and extracurricular activities. I was a Girl Scout my entire life, so I grew up door knocking, selling a product, communicating with those older than myself, and helping my community.

What are your future career goals? How did this internship prepare you for this future?

Previous to this internship, I had the career goals of becoming a lawyer and then possibly a politician. After completing this internship, I still want to become a lawyer, but I am no longer certain if I would like to become a politician. The job of a politician and a leader is not an easy one. Someone is always a critic and you will always have those who disagree with you. I like being a part of the change, but I don't know if I feel the need to be the face of the operation.

How did POL 3080: Internship in Politics or Government enhance your internship experience?

I never would have read The Campaign Manager: Running and Winning Local Elections by Catherine Shaw if I had not taken this course. This book has so much information on the process of local elections and goes into detail on how to run a successful campaign. I personally learned a lot from this book and I was able to take in the information better when relating the various chapters to my experience on the campaign.

What advice would you give to students interested in this type of internship?

Some advice that I would give to students interested in a political campaign internship would be that not all the responsibility falls onto you and to take a step back if you start feeling burnt out.

Composed by Sophia Paschke, communications associate.