Great Friendships and Fun Adventures in the City
Good afternoon! This week was super hectic but overall amazing! My family actually visited from Illinois because my sister had her college orientation at George Washington University. We had such a wonderful time exploring the city! We visited the Arlington National Cemetery, the Jefferson Memorial, multiple Smithsonian Museums including the Air and Space and American History Museums, and the National Zoo. Since my family was visiting and the staff and interns of Running Start were on a retreat, I was only in the office on Friday this past week. We worked on debriefing the Young Women’s Political Leadership program and mainly sending thank-you cards to speakers, representatives, and campaign advisers. I personally worked on creating new cards for our fundraising game that we play with the participants at the Young Women’s Political Leadership program. I created new “candidate” and “donor” cards with the help of another intern, Imani. I was excited to work on the project because I was able to use my creative side and incorporate ideas from my previous experiences working for my Congressman and a local Illinois representative’s campaigns. Next week, we have seven high school interns joining our Running Start team which will be really exciting! 🙂
Something that has surprised me about Running Start so far are the incredible ways the organization is able to stay in touch with their alumni. One of our interns is currently working on finding the right software for our organization to use so that Running Start alumni can become mentors to young women that participate in Running Start’s programs and conferences. One of the most important things I have learned so far is that internships in DC (and I assume across the country and globe) are mostly about creating strong relationships with peers and staff members and networking at events around the city. Although this internship isn’t exactly what I was expecting, I have learned so much about the nonprofit world and women in politics.
Two highlights of my week (besides showing my family around DC) would be attending Jazz in the Garden at the National Gallery of Art on Friday evening with my roommate and fellow interns and also going to the brand new “The Nation We Build” exhibit at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History! They have the original Greensboro lunch counter from the student sit-ins in February 1960 and memorabilia from the women’s suffrage movement. It was an incredible blast from the past and reminded me of why I love and care about politics and voting rights.
Happy Sunday & GO DEACS!
Daniella Feijoo
Class of 2019
