Jake Carrico

Theatre & Political Science

Congresswoman Jackie Walorski's Office

How has your internship helped build skills and clarify your career goals?

My internship has provided me unmatching insight into how congressional offices function and assisted me in clarifying my career goals by reinforcing my passion for administrative law and working on casework.

How do you apply your Liberal Arts skills in your internship?

I apply my Liberal Arts skills by treating all our constituents with the respect and dignity they deserve. I apply a lense of critical thinking when working with cases and making sure I connect constituents with the right people in order to assist them with their needs.

Describe your typical day as an intern.  

My typical day begins with me doing this thing called "Cruise the News". This involves me doing research on the news that is happening in the southern counties of the Indiana Second Congressional District, as a lot of news is easily found on the northern counties. I then report my findings to my superiors and we use this information to better understand the needs of the southern parts of the district. After this, I will usually alternate between answering phone calls from constituents and connecting them with the right people, and assisting the staff member who deals with VA cases with casework. This makes up my day. On occasions, I get to travel the district to go to certain events and represent the Congresswoman. Such events include naturalization ceremonies, and veteran appreciation events through the local VA hospitals. 

What was the most challenging aspect of your internship?  

The most challenging aspect of my internship was definitely figuring out to handle combative constituents that call in with issues we are unfortunately unable to help them with and trying to connect them with the right people that can help them.

What was the most exciting thing about your role? 

The most exciting part of my role has been assisting the staff member dealing with  VA relations with their casework. By doing this, I have seen the impact our work has made on the lives of people who served our country, and it has sparked my passion to pursue doing such casework for my career.

What surprised you most about your internship? 

What surprised me most about my internship was the travel around the district I have done, as I did not expect that I would be attending these kinds of events.

Describe the most meaningful experience you had as an intern.

The most meaningful experience I had as an intern was when we attended the Veterans Appreciation event at the St. Joseph VA hospital and we paid our respects to veterans who had passed recently and got to hear from their family members. This event was both touching and really made me see just who our work affects. It was this moment that made me realize that this was something I wanted to do for the rest of my life. To give back to those who gave so much to protect us is a feeling unlike any other.

How did you learn about your internship?

I learned about this internship through a family friend who informed me about the opening.