My 10th and Final Week at NTIA
This is my last week interning at NTIA. This transition is bittersweet, as I am eager to see family and friends back home and rejoin my fellow MPAers but sad to leave coworkers and housemates here in D.C. This summer, I lived in The Rosary House near Catholic University. The house is managed by three Sisters, who are members of the Dominican Order, and hosts female students 20 to 30 years of age. If you fit this description and ever need temporary housing in D.C., this is a friendly, safe, and affordable place to live and I highly recommend it. I’m sad to say goodbye to Rosary House, to my fellow interns, and my coworkers. However, I am eager to share my experiences with classmates and excited for the upcoming school year.
A few of my favorite D.C. activities were kayaking at Key Bridge, brunches (Busboys and Poets, City Tap House, Army Navy Club, and the Red derby- I had a lot of brunch), the National’s games with NTIA employees, hiking the Bill Goat Trail at Great Falls Park, and visiting the White House. It was surprisingly difficult to get a tour of the White House, but definitely worth it.
Highlights of the internship: I really enjoyed participating in what I would consider to be major updates to public affairs resources. Some of this included creating fact sheets describing each office (for stakeholder outreach) and creating a stylebook to help guide NTIA employees with writing.
I gained experience with policy development by helping with information gathering for internet policy development and through the multistakeholder process on privacy issues. Lastly, I also really enjoyed being able to use my Spanish skills to translate documents. I had a wide range of responsibilities in this internship and am grateful to have been entrusted with this work.
My supervisors and the intern coordinator at NTIA have been helpful, encouraging, and welcoming the whole summer. I owe them big thanks for making this a truly enjoyable learning process. Not only did I learn about telecommunication and information issues, but I learned more about how federal agencies function, how public affairs professionals respond to and prevent issues, and more about how to work in an office environment . Thanks to the MPA program for making this a required experience.
