Monday, July 3, 2017
By:
Another week has come and gone here and D.C., it is crazy how quickly the time is passing here. I’m pretty sure all the interns are enjoying ourselves and frankly I don’t want to think about leaving, I know I won’t want to go.
This past weekend was relatively boring. We got our first paycheck last Thursday and I mostly just paid bills. I then went on Sunday to go get a bridesmaid’s dress altered. I will be attending a wedding next Friday back in Cedar Rapids, Iowa but luckily, they could rush the alterations.
This past week of work has been exciting. We finished all the work for the physical exhibit minus the installation of said exhibit on Monday. Lexxi and I met with our mentor to discuss the next steps for the project. Lexxi and I had been knocking around ideas for social media and outreach projects for the past couple of weeks. Our mentor, Amanda, loved some of our ideas so Lexxi is working on a series of newsletters to send out to SPS students and I am making a series of videos related to our exhibit. We will also work on an article to be released in the SPS observer in September. The ability to implement our project in a multitude of platforms is a real blessing. I have never gotten to do something this versatile.
On Thursday as an intern group we toured Capital Hill. We started the morning out by going to a subcommittee hearing on in-space propulsion. At that hearing, we were recognized by Ami Bera as being the future of science, he had us stand and we were recognized by the whole room. I have done quite a few cool things in my life, including watching lava flow into the ocean from less than 100ft away, and I can honestly say that was the coolest thing that has ever happened to me. It was so encouraging and awe-inspiring to have that occur. I was literally speechless for minutes afterward (and I talk a lot). I am originally from the Sacramento Area of California and I remember when Ami Bera was elected, that simply made that experience all that more special. To see that we as human beings, as future scientists could influence the policies that govern our world was eye-opening. The morning got off to a great start, after watching half of the hearing we went to the Senate side and talked to someone about how he worked on a bill focusing on our energy resources. He also spoke about the differences in the Senate and the House and how large bills get passed in the whole of Congress. Our next stop was the Capital visitor center. There we sat in the House gallery to watch the proceedings there. We also saw the old house and supreme court chambers. During our visit we saw Mike Pence and Paul Ryan. It is hard to quantify the experience of being on Capital Hill, it’s like democracy is alive and there is so much possibility for change.
As you can imagine it was hard to beat a Thursday like that, but on Friday we got to install our exhibit! I honestly thought it would only take a few hours to install all the exhibits but it took all day. I am beyond happy that the exhibit is installed, it feels good to have our hard work on display and they look awesome! You can check it out below!
Victoria (Tori) Eng