Student intern's diary: Zoe Johnston, Washington D.C.

Every year, Flinders University sends students on a unique program where they experience a placement in the US Congress. One of our 2023 interns, Zoe Johnston, tells us first-hand what a day is like. 

“

Hello! My name is Zoe Johnston, and I am interning in Congressman Joe Courtney’s office. In the interim of me posting my week’s blog, I am going to be explaining my once in a lifetime experience in Congress on the day of President Biden's State of the Union address (SOTU).

So, a week or so prior to the address my office's brilliant Staff Assistant, Sawyer, asked me if I could do a private Capitol tour for the Congressman's SOTU guest and his wife. His guest was Joe Dela Cruz, a former Connecticut State Representative, and his wife Tammy. I, of course, was more than happy to take the tour - my first tour, no less, and was excited to host such important guests.
 

Morning.

Tuesday morning - SOTU day - arrives. At around 10am, I met both of the guests outside the Rayburn building, and we walked to the Capitol Visitors Center (CVC) where I felt very important being let through with a flash of my Congressional House ID. I then gave them a full tour of the Capitol while I conversed with them about our lives. Joe, Tammy, and I got very close and were making jokes the whole time. Joe even started a Facebook Live while in the Rotunda, and had me say hi to his followers (lol). 

After the tour, I took them back to the Congressman's office, and from there we (myself, Joe Courtney, Joe and Tammy Dela Cruz, and the Press Secretary, Patrick) walked through the tunnels for a media meeting. I was keeping Tammy company outside the media room when Former Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi walked past (!!!) Tammy was really excited, as she said her "one dream for today was to meet Nancy Pelosi". So, I marched her right over to where Pelosi was waiting for the elevator and Tammy and I got to meet her. She was so sweet, and gave Tammy a big hug while talking about gun violence, a topic close to Tammy's heart. 
 

Afternoon.

Later that afternoon, I went out to lunch with Joe and Tammy, and on the way out we saw Pelosi again (!!!) who saw us and said, "we meet again!" while walking past. Tammy was ecstatic. 

Right before they left, I offered to meet them when they came back for the SOTU and stay back with Tammy in the office while the two Joe's (Courtney and Dela Cruz) attended the address. 
 

Night.

When the other interns went home, the office staff, the Congressman, the Dela Cruz's and I, went to the Representative Dining Hall (which is only accessible to Members) and had a fancy dinner with Joe and the guests. From there, Joe and Joe went to a pre-address media commitment and the rest of us went back to the office, where we watched the SOTU address live in the Congressman's personal office. This was really fun, as we were all laughing and making jokes about what was happening (i.e., some outfits that were worn, and the back and forth between Biden and some GOP members). 

At around 9pm, Patrick (the Press Secretary) and I headed down to the Capitol (!!!) where the speech was taking place, to collect the two Joes. While waiting for the speech to finish, we ran into fellow Aussie intern (and very close friend) Bridget Black with her Press Secretary.

When the speech ended, we made our way through the area. Both Patrick and I were very excited (this being his first time at the Capitol after a SOTU address, even after working in Congress for 8 years). We felt very important as we walked through, as we were walking in the Member / staff section which meant we could brush shoulders with a long list of amazing Senators, Congresspeople, and Supreme Court Justices - people like Bernie Sanders and Cori Bush.

This was such an amazing, surreal experience that I was quickly taking in, while remaining professional (I felt like such a congressional badass, power-walking past Bernie Sanders searching for the Congressman and his guest).

After walking through and greeting a couple of Members, namely Rosa DeLauro (another Connecticut Representative), we decided to circle back through to see if the guests - who sat in a different section to the Members - had been let out yet. This turned out to be one of the best decisions we ever made, because as we went around the corner, who came off the House floor? President Joe Biden (!!!) It was so surreal to see and hear him in real life. I got quite close to him, and both Patrick and I were so shocked!

The President left at around 10:30pm and so we headed back to the office, where we caught up with the Congressman, and Joe and Tammy who I thankfully got to say goodbye to before they went back to Connecticut the next morning.

After that, Patrick drove me home at around 11:30pm and I just lay in bed trying to process the day (spoiler alert: I still haven't).

 

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