Washington Intern Program Begins Application Process

Every spring, the Academy sends a select dozen seniors to the nation’s capital through the Washington Intern Program. These seniors spend the spring term working as congressional interns in either House or Senate offices.

Students work five days a week from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., answering phones, attending congressional hearings and retrieving mail, among numerous other jobs. The Washington Intern Program provides Exonians with a unique introduction to DC and the nation’s political landscape.

Michael Golay, history instructor and Washington Intern Program Committee member, identified the benefits and of the program—the opportunity to have a real-life working experience and introduction to Washington politics, in addition to weekends free to explore the city and a low homework load.

"As I understand it, the students also collectively read a couple of books and get together once a week to discuss them, but for the most part, it’s a regular working life—you’re thrown in with people who are considerably your senior including the other interns who are usually college interns," he said.

Barbara Eggers, committee member and former history instructor, agreed with Golay’s sentiment that the program offers Exonians numerous opportunities, emphasizing that students are also given seminars from important speakers.

"We also have seminars one or two nights a week when we ask an alum who is involved in government income capacity to come speak to us for about an hour," she said. "Those are always highly enjoyed by the students—we have foreign policy experts, senior White House officials, senior law enforcement officials, journalists for major news outlets like the New York Times and Time magazines and many other people who make significant contributions in their fields."

Spencer Reaves ‘14, who participated in the program last spring, described some of the seminars he attended as well as the connections the program offers. " We met with FBI Agents, former senators, lobbyists, political analysts, and even attending a Secret Service recruiting event. The connections and networking opportunities the program provides alone make the experience worth it."

Eggers emphasized how unique an opportunity the program provides, and how lucky the Academy is to have such a program.

"We are the only high school program for interns in Washington, and that makes the opportunity exceptional," she said. "All other interns are college interns, and students can certainly apply when in college but there is a much stronger possibility of gaining an internship through our program."

Golay cited Exeter’s assistance in internship housing and resources as benefits that students could only receive by attending the program through the Academy.

"It’s quite possible that high school students can get summer internships--we had a senior who worked in the house speaker’s office last summer. This [The program] is a different situation from that because it’s arranged by the school," he said. "I should say, too, that the students actually live on Capitol Hill, they live in a hotel—breakfast is included, television is included in the room, and it’s very centrally located, so the living quarters are quite nice."

Though the Washington Intern Program is not exclusively for students with an established interest in politics and the government, many students return to school with newfound enthusiasm for these subjects as well as real-world working experience. Golay gave an example of a student last spring, who went because they wanted to experience Washington, but came out as one of school’s most successful participants in the program.

"I think [the program] probably tends to draw students who are more interested in politics or government than the norm, but it’s certainly not a requirement. I mean everyone who applies has taken the U.S. history sequence so they have a sense of the country’s history and where Washington fits into it, but it’s certainly not a requirement to be a political junkie," he said.

Reaves believes that the program should appeal to any Exonian who wishes to learn. "I wasn't super involved in politics beforehand, but you really don't have to be. I kept up with current events as well as I could, and I have my own political ideologies, but I had never worked a campaign or anything like that," she said. "They aren't necessarily looking to take people who want to be the president of the US or anything, just people who are interested and passionate about learning."

Applications for the Washington Intern Program are due on November 3, and selected students will be notified by the end of the term. Prospective students can find applications in Golay’s classroom.