Friday, July 12, 2013
By:
This week has been the busiest week so far. Our committee had two markups (Weather Forecasting Improvement Act of 2013 and the NASA Authorization Act of 2013) and two hearings (Strategic Planning for National Manufacturing Competitiveness and Oversight and Management of DOE National Labs and Science Activities) so by Friday, everyone in the office was pretty exhausted. A more in-depth break down of the week: preparing materials on Monday and then attending/assisting at the different markups and hearings on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Also, on Tuesday afternoon, Nikki and I did our Capitol Tour training. Since we hardly ever go to the Capitol Building, finding the training location site was our first challenge. While we went on the practice tour we learned a lot about the different statues and other history trivia facts about the Capitol. Our tour for the other Society of Physics Students (SPS) interns should be pretty great!
Another exciting thing that happened this week was that I got to meet my representative, Mr. Kilmer. Mr. Kilmer is on the Science Committee so I was able to meet him at our Space Subcommittee Markup and got my picture taken with him.
In addition to work, I went to a couple of lectures and receptions on the Hill. Also, I went to a “She and Him” concert on Thursday evening at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts in Northern Virginia which was a lot of fun.
It is unbelievable how fast time flies – I am already half-way done with my internship. However, it only seems like it was yesterday that I landed in DC. I have learned so much since then and am excited to see what else is in store for me in the next couple of weeks.
Katherine Stankus