For two college-aged Arkansans, this summer break is going to mean a whole lot more than just swimming and watching TV: Andrea Kesterson, 21, of Hot Springs and Bryan Griffith, 21, of Bryant will both serve as interns in U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln's Washington office this summer.
Griffith, a political science and international relations major at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, said he had interned for Secretary ofState Charlie Daniel and heard of the internship with Lincoln from friends who had done it in the past. Kesterson, who is studying international business at Southern Nazarene University in Oklahoma, decided to apply for the internship because she's always wanted to spend some time on Capitol Hill with the nation's leaders.
"I hope to one day be in the White House myself," she added.
Kesterson said she began thinking about applying for the internship about a year ago and sent in her application, which included letters of recommendation and an essay about why she wanted to be an intern, during the fall semester.
Griffith applied in February, and in March, they received word that they would be two of the interns in Lincoln's office in Washington, D.C.
"I felt very honored that I'd been chosen to represent our state at the Capitol this summer," Kesterson said.
She added that she's curious about the relationship between elected officials and their constituents.
"I'm excited to see what our senators do with those questions and how they go about trying to answer them," she said.
As for what he's looking forward to the most, Griffith said that there are several: being in the capitol and Senate offices, getting a chance to understand the legislative process firsthand and meeting the other interns who share his interests.
"There's really not one thing in particular," he said.
Tri-Lakes, Pages 137 on 05/18/2008