UW Tacoma Students Influential in Olympia

(Photo above: The cohort of 2020 Washington legislative interns from UW Tacoma poses in the Rotunda of the Capitol in Olympia. Left to right: Juan Castiblanco, Jessica Bryant, Keren Fermen, Brenda Portaro-Garcia, Carly Norton, Jaspreet Singh, Lexi Ehresmann, Charlene Walker, Jordan Caron, Andrew Willett. Not pictured are ASUWT student lobbyist Bengisu Incetas, Mark Joseph, John Sullivan, Laura Amador and Athena Brewer.)

If the state legislature is in session, you can bet there are UW Tacoma students present.

The civic education office of the Washington State Legislature runs a legislative intern program that attracts competitive undergraduate applicants every session from across the state.

“This winter, 15 UW Tacoma students are in Olympia working full-time as paid interns,” said Dr. Katie Baird, professor of economics in the School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences.

UW Tacoma has been sending students to Olympia at least as far back as the year 2000, which was the campus’s 11^th year of existence. This year, the program in total has 69 students. The 15 UW Tacoma students represent 22% of that total. “I’m guessing more students represent UW Tacoma in the program than any other school in the state,” said Baird. Leo O'Leary of the civic education office confirms the UW Tacoma dominance. He notes that the internship program got started in the 1950s and has operated continuously since then. His office received more than 300 applications for this year's 69 internships. Only students from the state's four-year institutions are eligible to apply.

The UW Tacoma interns are studying a variety of subjects, from criminal justice and politics, philosophy and economics to law and policy, communication, and psychology. If selected, students enroll in TPOLS 497, a 15-credit, quarter-long course.

According to a description of the internship on the SIAS website, Interns get assigned to work with a single senator or several representatives and “perform legislative research, track bills and conduct constituent correspondence.” Student opportunities to intern in Olympia also include serving as ASUWT's student lobbyist during the legislative session.

The website description goes on to say that interns “also attend committee hearings and meetings, and participate in academic seminars and workshops with state officials. They engage in panel discussions, mock hearings, floor debate and budget exercises. They learn about parliamentary procedure and how to write for the legislature, and they have the opportunity to shadow an elected official or state administrator for a day to learn about their jobs.”

This year's students, who they are interning with and their majors: