A little taste of politics
UT students intern at State Capitol
gain valuable experience
3/29/07
By Katherine Sauser
Some do it for the experience. Some
do it to secure a great recommendation on a
grad-school application. Some even do it for the
money. But there's one thing interns at the Texas
State Capitol all have in common: They are vital
parts of the political process.
Nicole Monsibais, a government and communication studies senior, began working for Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, on Jan. 2. Monsibais got the job through the Senator Gregory Luna Legislative Scholars and Fellows Program, which is controlled by the Texas Senate Hispanic Research Council. The program matched Monsibais up with Seliger based on issues in which she expressed an interest, she said. "I personally am interested in housing and immigration, but I'm willing definitely to branch out," Monsibais said. "The whole experience is about learning." Sixteen graduate and undergraduate students from public and private universities all over Texas received full-time legislative positions at the Capitol this semester through the program. In addition to working in a legislative office, participants devise and implement a community service project during the session and complete policy research projects. Before beginning her work this spring, Monsibais was already heavily involved in politics. She worked for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus while participating in the Bill Archer Fellowship Program in Washington, D.C., a semester-long program that gives UT students a chance to live and work in the nation's capital. She has also worked for Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio. Monsibais said she enjoys her work in politics and hopes to stay involved with it in the future. "Politics is messy, and it's probably the mess that I love about it - and the idea that somehow you make it through the clutter and come out with a piece of legislation that's going to help someone," Monsibais said. Government senior Alex Hunt also worked in politics extensively before landing his internship at the Capitol this semester with Sen. Juan Garcia, D-Corpus Christi.
Hunt worked for Garcia full time last
summer, helping with his election campaign, which
Garcia won against a 10-year incumbent. After that,
Hunt contacted Garcia's chief of staff, and, after
an informal interview, he was hired to work during
the congressional session this spring. Hunt's job
involves a lot of interaction with voters, he said.
"I really enjoy talking with constituents, because a lot of them don't know where to go for help," Hunt said. "I think a big part of it is that they know that they can call the office, and, if they have a problem that they just don't know where to go to for help, there will be someone there with an open ear." Hunt's work has also involved handling the publicity Garcia has received this session since passing a recorded vote amendment, which mandates that a record of every final vote in the Texas Senate be available online within an hour of being taken so constituents can see how their representatives are voting. The amendment shows Garcia's commitment to transparency and open government and is one of the biggest victories of the session so far, Hunt says. Hunt said he believes interning at the Capitol will help him with his goals of being involved in law or politics. Anyone who wants to learn about politics should get some type of internship, because hands-on experience is better than classroom learning, he said. "You can read all you want in books about how the process works, but you really don't know how it works, until you see it firsthand," Hunt said. "You can't anticipate things the way they make it seem in books." |