Weekly trips to the Vermont State House to take notes in legislative committee hearings and caucuses for legislators, conducting policy research, and helping with constituent correspondence, event planning, and social media are typical assignments in the life of students participating in ¶¶Ňő̽̽’s College of Arts and Sciences’ Legislative Internship Program.
“I tell students that tasks will be potentially boring, tedious, and overwhelming, but you are really lucky to have this unique experience, and the networking opportunities and skills you will gain are worth it,” says Liz First-Raddock, a former committee assistant with the Vermont State House who serves as the director of the program. She says students are often shocked that they can go in and out of committee hearings and even talk to Governor Phil Scott when he is in the State House. “They just have incredible access.” she adds.
El Medford, a junior political science major, interns for Representative Angela Arsenault and Representative Ela Chapin. Medford has always been interested in how state legislatures function. “When I was told about this internship, I felt that it was a great opportunity to get more involved in state government,” they say. “I reach out to prospective guests for future meetings, attend various committee meetings and take notes for my legislators, and assist them with constituent concerns.” Most of Medford’s work is for the Women’s Caucus, which is co-chaired by their two legislators.
Legislators appreciate the help. Interns are often considered a hot commodity by lawmakers who submit intern requests in the fall. Often, there aren’t enough students to go around.
“¶¶Ňő̽̽ legislative interns have become an invaluable asset to the House Committee on Commerce and Economic Development,” says Rep. Stephanie Jerome, vice chair of the House Commerce and Economic Development Committee who has mentored legislative interns since the 2021 start of the program. “Each session, our team of interns provides quality research and analysis with impressive professionalism. The interns have become a fixture at the Vermont State House, and I can’t imagine doing our work without their assistance.”
The Legislative Internship Program matches working legislators with ¶¶Ňő̽̽ students for the legislative session (January through early May). Program prep starts in the fall when juniors and seniors with a 3.0 GPA or higher from any ¶¶Ňő̽̽ college can apply. Accepted students are paired with a participating legislator who shares policy interests. Interns must schedule an introductory meeting before they head home for the holidays.
Why the rush? It’s all about the calendar. Students take a three-week winter session course to train and start the internship during the first week of January when the legislature opens, two weeks before ¶¶Ňő̽̽ spring semester starts. So, interns have a pretty short winter break. “If students don’t start on the first day of the session, they’re always trying to jump on a fast-moving train to catch up,” First-Raddock says.
Grace Sherwood, a senior majoring in political science who is from Vermont, was a part of the “train” last year and interned for Representative Emilie Kornheiser, chair of the House Ways and Means Committee and an early advocate of the program. Sherwood returned this year to intern for Rep. Kornheiser again plus take on the role of a teacher assistant. “I attend committee meetings on behalf of my legislator if the committee is discussing something she’s interested in or a bill she’s sponsoring,” Sherwood says. “This is a really cool way to learn the intricacies of how the state and state programs work. Last year, I probably attended about 30 hours of committee meetings regarding a new healthcare system, so now I feel like I know a decent amount about that topic.”
2023 legislative session.
There are 29 student interns this spring. “That’s about 5,800 volunteer hours for the State of Vermont,” says First-Raddock. “It’s such a bonus that our students from a land-grant university have this opportunity to give back to Vermont.”
Students earn five credits for 200 hours of internship work during the semester. They also attend a weekly one-hour class mainly focused on professional development. The students are required to submit their resumĂ©s to ¶¶Ňő̽̽ Career Services, join LinkedIn and , and read every day. They are also asked to check their political parties at the door. “They must be non-partisan during the session, ” First-Raddock says. If a student really doesn’t want to work on behalf of a different party because they disagree, she tries to honor that. But she always points out to the students assigned to an opposite party that their resumĂ©s will truly stand out because they’ve shown they can engage in civil discourse.
Evelyn Seidner, a senior majoring in Environmental Studies, interns for Representative Mollie Burke, a leader of the Climate Solutions Caucus, who has been with the program since it began. A Vermonter, Seidner led the Vermont Youth Climate Lobby in high school, an effort that sparked her passion for environmental policy. “To have the opportunity to come back to Montpelier and be able to interact with and observe the policy-making process on an almost-daily basis has been pretty amazing,” she says. “The legislators are so dedicated to their committees and their subject areas. Observing the energy and action happening in my state and feeling that I am contributing to it in a small way is so exciting.”
Rep. Burke is happy to be working with Evelyn and the ¶¶Ňő̽̽ program. “Evelyn has been extremely helpful in a variety of ways. She takes excellent notes of testimony in a variety of other committees for bills I am following,” says Burke, adding, “The internship program has grown to be an important way to engage students in the legislative process as well as provide assistance for legislators.”
Tiffany Mai, a senior with a double major in Health and Society and Chinese, interns for Senator Martine Larocque Gulick. “This is the first time my legislator and I have participated in this program, so we are doing a lot of learning together,” she says. When Mai is at the State House, Gulick helps her reach a goal to learn about different career options by introducing her to new people. When she’s not at the State House, Mai typically does research to keep up to date with the bills that the senator is sponsoring.
To prepare students for post-graduate life, First-Raddock brings a variety of legislative-related speakers to the class to talk about how they landed in their jobs. “Anything that’s connected to the legislature or professional development is important for them to see,” she says. Speakers have included the lieutenant governor, a past Speaker of the House, the chief of the Joint Fiscal Office, lobbyists, intern alums who staff Vermont’s Congressional delegation, journalists, ¶¶Ňő̽̽ Career Center staff, and the dean of admissions for Vermont Law and Graduate School. First-Raddock adds, “The internship gives students a hands-on experience that helps them understand their own interests.”
Seidner, for example, hopes to work in the environmental policy or research field after she graduates this spring. “The environment of the State House has taught me so much about what a professional atmosphere is actually like, the importance of networking and making connections, and generally how to carry myself.” She adds that, although it’s exhausting to be so social while at the same time so focused on incredibly complicated topics, it’s also quite fulfilling.
“I grew up in Vermont and plan on residing here once again when I get older,” Sherwood says, “so I care about the laws that are passing or not passing.” She says she knows for sure that she doesn’t want to run for any kind of elected position, “but there is more than that around the State House. You get to meet activists or lobbyists who push for certain laws and changes in the state.” She adds that the idea of being one of those people interests her—pushing for something she believes in with the goal of making it law.
After graduation, a number of former interns have found work at the State House as legislative committee assistants. “I try to create a pipeline,” First-Raddock says. In the past three years, students have worked for the House Commerce Committee, Senate Education Committee, and Senate Judicial Committee, among others. One former intern-turned-committee assistant was recently hired to be an assistant to the commissioner of the VT Department of Labor.
Mai is open-minded about a career in government affairs. She doesn’t want to intentionally steer in that direction but feels this internship will be helpful because she is hoping to go to graduate school for a Ph.D. in epidemiology. “As we have seen, public health and politics go hand in hand, so I am pretty confident that I will be able to incorporate my experience with my field of study,” she says.
For Medford, the most exciting part about the Legislative Internship Program is getting the chance to work alongside the legislature and learn about how it functions day to day. “I do hope this internship will lead to a related career, as I am hoping to work in local or state government,” they say.
Seidner adds, “I wish I had considered doing this internship for multiple semesters because I am enjoying it so much. If I can find a job that is at all similar to my internship, it would be a dream.”