This week, I got to know members of the staff and my fellow interns better and mentally outlined some of my personal and professional goals for the remainder of my time at Congressmember Ted Lieu’s office.
On Wednesday, the other interns and I grabbed coffees at ChitChat with our office’s District Director, Nico. Letting us know that he wanted to be a resource to us both in our day-to-day work and longer-term professional goals we may have set for ourselves, he opened himself up to any and all questions that we may have had about his past careers and his work now for a member of Congress. I asked him about what led him to commit to the official side of work as opposed to campaigns, given his prior experience working on campaigns, and what advice he might have for students like me interested in working for members of Congress and congressional committees. The other interns chimed in with questions about what factors led him to choose investing in graduate school and the career path he took that eventually brought him to the position he’s in now, among others. The most important takeaway for me was a grateful understanding that Nico and other members of Congressman Lieu’s office were there to answer our questions about personal and professional struggles and paths, as well as support us in our future endeavors. Goal: I hope to have the chance to have coffee with everyone in the district office to learn more about their previous paths and what drives them in their work.
CLA Interns Emma Chen and Coby Nguyen engaging in conversation at Congressman Jimmy Gomez’s Town Hall.
I started answering the phones this week. It’s a task that I’ve learned many interns are reluctant to do — and for me, the most stressful part of answering phones is dealing with the uncertainty of every call. You don’t know if the person you’re about to speak to will be someone asking for help with a straightforward passport case or someone else who may be angry and aggressive with a comment they would like to leave for the office. Regardless, I learned this week that I love answering the phones and speaking to constituents. The issues they call with can seem mundane — passports or postal service issues — and other times, they are alarming — Section 8 housing vouchers or a tax issue, but by far, my favorite part of my internship has been getting to start cases and playing my small part in the most pressing concerns of the lives of our office’s individual constituents. Goal: I hope to have the opportunity to start and finish a case on my own, with guidance from our office’s amazing Staff Assistant, Stephanie.
The “hold” button is the most important feature of our office phones for me. When constituents call asking about Global Entry cards, student loans, or broken mailboxes, I nearly always need to put them on hold to ask someone in the office if that’s an issue a congressional office or the federal government can help with. Goal: By the end of the summer, I hope to have a solid, working knowledge of the jurisdictions of federal, state, and local government, down to which tax credits were issued by the federal government and which relief checks were authorized by the state of California.
CLA Interns Naya Dukkipati, Emma Chen, William Chao, and Liam Chia at Congressman Jimmy Gomez’s Town Hall.
The views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not reflect the views or positions of CAUSE or the CAUSE network.
Written by Emma Chen , Leadership Academy 2023 Intern.
The CAUSE Leadership Academy (CLA) for students is a nine-week, paid, internship program that prepares college undergraduates to lead and advocate for the Asian Pacific Islander community on their campuses and beyond.