Marissa Berg: Legislative Intern for US Senator Amy Klobuchar
This summer in US Senator Amy Klobuchar's Washington DC office, Marissa Berg had the opportunity to work as a Legislative Intern. Alongside eight other interns, she shared the responsibilities of responding to & sorting mail, responding to emails, answering phone calls, filling in databases, and other constituent-related duties. Each intern also worked with a legislative team, Marissa's being the Health Education Labor and Pensions (HELP) team, to write memos, conduct preliminary research on future topics, escort people meeting with Senator Klobuchar, give Capitol tours, and staff the front office.
"It was very fun. I enjoyed how there was always something going on."
Prior preparation
As daunting as working on the Hill may be, Marissa's experiences as a political science student helped prepare her for such an experience. "One of the main skills that a political science degree has built in me is the ability to read and write with a critical lens," she said. The specific knowledge from courses remains valuable, but the required reading helps students learn to think about concepts they may not know much about, find complicated, or disagree with. This has helped Marissa think more critically about what she is reading and trust herself to form her own conclusions, an important skill to have as an intern or staffer making decisions about the information to pass along to higher ups.
With her experience in class writing essays, Marissa has also gained confidence in her writing. Although she was not writing essays in the Senator's office, the experience of writing different types and lengths of essays has improved her judgement of what type of writing a task requires.
Enhancing the experience
This summer, Marissa also enrolled in POL 3080: Internship in Politics or Government, a course where students earn academic credit for their internships. For the course, Marissa read about the Senate, then wrote reflections on those readings and her internship experiences. The subsequent responses she received from Professor Paul Soper for the assignments were also valuable to Marissa in that they confirmed, corrected, and added depth to both her reflections and internship.
One reflection that stood out to Marissa was on the "home style" of Senators and how they model the desires of their constituents. This helped her notice how "Minnesotan" Senator Klobuchar is, in that she emulates a kind, working class, hardworking, neighborly, yet gritty style while campaigning and interacting with constituents. "Maybe I wouldn't have been thinking so much about her style and why she is how she is and why she's been so popular without having done the readings or having the assignment to think more critically about it," Marissa reflected.
Key takeaways
As a result of her internship, Marissa more fully realized just how large of an operation the country's highest levels of politics are and how much work and organization is required to get things done.
Additionally, Marissa gained a better understanding of how to operate in a workplace. She learned how to ask questions, notice when would be a good time to ask questions, how to interact with coworkers, and how to make a good impression on others by conversing in a positive way, no matter how brief the interaction.
Looking to the future
Prior to this internship, Marissa planned to go to law school and pursue a law career, whether that be in immigration, as a prosecutor, or something more public service-oriented. However, her internship gave Marissa the perspective that she maybe doesn't need as much of a plan. In conversations at the US Senate, she realized that everyone arrives there in such different ways, helping her grasp that it isn't necessary to have a concrete plan of where to go right away.
Marissa is now more interested in pursuing politics, at least for a while after college. She wants to emulate the spirit of those she worked with this summer, by putting in a good faith effort to change people's lives for the better. Her current goal for after college is to pursue a job as a legislative assistant in the State Senate, work on a campaign, or return to DC.
"I think my goal will be to keep pursuing opportunities that are exciting, fun, and fulfilling, and trust my network to support me in pursuing those opportunities, and know that life is long and you can change."
