The Stennis Montgomery Association is hosting a political internship information meeting tonight at 8 in the Simrall auditorium.
SMA president Thomas Gregory said that the meeting is for students of all political parties and majors who are interested in interning with senators, representatives and even at the White House.
“It will make the otherwise time-consuming process a little easier for students,” Gregory said.
Gregory attended the meeting last year and said it was very helpful in the process of applying for an internship in D.C. He said it would have taken him twice as long to finish the paperwork had he not gone to the meeting.
Internships are not difficult to get, Gregory added.
Edward Sanders, a junior political science major, is the vice president of alumni affairs at the SMA. He was also an intern for the U.S. House of Representatives veteran affairs committee.
Sanders, along with other students, will be sharing his experiences of being an intern in D.C. at the meeting. He will be talking about food, lodging, the dress code, some of the things he did as an intern and the day-to-day operations at the veteran affairs committee.
“It was a great experience working for the House veteran affairs committee, where I was a de facto staff member and got to do things that real staff gets to do,” Sanders said.
Sanders said that students who are interested don’t exactly know what to expect and that this meeting will be very beneficial and enlightening for them.
The goal of the meeting is to identify students on campus who are interested in political internship and to provide assistance to those students, said Marty Wiseman, director of the Stennis Institute and adviser to the SMA. The meeting will provide information about whom students can intern with, how they can apply for these internships and who can help them with the process.
Wiseman also said that it is a huge benefit for students to know how the government operates, and that the meeting is being held to provide this opportunity for State students.
There are 26,000 college interns in D.C., and it is important for the university to have a presence there, Wiseman said.
“We have a number of students on campus who have already been to Washington,” Wiseman said.