By Grace Costa, Justice and Legal Thought
I was influential in aiding Senator Hester get the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future passed, which is a bill that will completely reform Maryland’s public education system to ensure equality throughout the state for everyone involved.
This semester, I interned at the Office of Senator Katie Fry Hester. Senator Hester is the state senator for Maryland’s 9th district, which includes Howard and Carroll Counties. She is a democrat, which is the majority party in Annapolis. However, due to the diverse political affiliations in her district, she has become one of the only moderate democrats in Annapolis, making her extremely important for the party and the legislature as a whole. I first began interning for the Senator in April of 2019, after I met her through one of my classes. I stayed on with the office throughout the summer, and then began interning for them again in January of 2020. My second time interning for them was during the legislative session, so it was a very different experience than my first time. I was tasked with a number of duties, including dropping bills and amendments, liaising with constituents and helping them with their questions, heading the office’s communications, and completing research on bills. Some specific projects I was given included running the office’s Facebook page and writing the weekly newsletter. I also researched external bills (those that Senator Hester was not sponsoring herself) and gave her a voting guide. I had to use my research and analysis skills to deduce how a bill would impact her constituents, Maryland as a state, and her standing as a legislator if she did/did not vote for it.
This internship mattered. I helped work towards a better, sustainable, equitable, and just Maryland.
In all of my work at the internship, I helped in the functioning of the office. I was able to provide additional knowledge on topics such as criminal justice laws, take stress off of my supervisors’ shoulders, and help create a more just state. I was influential in aiding Senator Hester get the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future passed, which is a bill that will completely reform Maryland’s public education system to ensure equality throughout the state for everyone involved. I helped Senator Hester develop bills that would make Maryland more sustainable, and we were able to help small businesses as COVID-19 developed. This internship mattered. I helped work towards a better, sustainable, equitable, and just Maryland.
I also helped to campaign for Senator Hester in 2018, so this project especially stood out to me as it is really interesting to hear about what kind of issues are discussed in a senator's office as well as what kind of questions are being asked while policies are being developed. One thing I learned from your poster is that public relations is an essential aspect of being a senator because of the need to connect with constituents. What was a challenge that you faced during this internship?
I found it very interesting that your working in the office sparked new interests in public policy. It is really exciting that the variety of topics addressed by a legislature can spark new passions. I learned that even interns can have a profound effect on the outcomes of public policy, like you did. Do you plan to continue to work in/for government and if so, in political or non-political offices?
On another note, I worked for Senator Hester's election campaign in 2018. She is so awesome and seeing your work with her is really cool!
I am interested in interning at a political office in the future and your experience at the Office of Senator Katie Fry Hester seemed like exactly the type of internship i'd like to find in the future. I learned throughout your poster that you don't need to be at the top of the totem poll to make a contribution and help out significantly for the betterment of a state. I also really liked the design of this poster and the colors used even though it's probably more focused on the content. Has there been an instance where you changed Senator Hester's vote?
Being interested in working in political offices at any level, I was intrigued to see what made your work in state politics similar or different to that of the federal and local politics I've observed on other posters. After reading through your poster, I was able to discern that there are many similarities in the type of work that interns do in any political office including a more public relations element in meeting with constituents and doing research on legislation. One thing your poster has left me curious about is the degree to which you were able to influence the senator's voting; would you say that you had a large impact on votes that helped pass bills into law for…