>> Hi. I'm Professor
Steve Parker
in the Department of
Political Science.
One of my jobs here is
to serve as coordinator
of the internship program.
For the last several years, the
UNLB Foundation has been kind
and generous enough to fund a
very special kind of fellowship
for political science and
related students whereby you get
to spend an entire
session in Carson City
in Nevada State Legislature.
This, you sign up for
an internship course,
and what we're here to do this
afternoon is talk with a couple
of alums of the program.
I have with me this afternoon
two young ladies who served
in Carson City
in the legislative
session of the year 2011.
Sitting to my left
are, first of all,
Brittany Ship [assumed
spelling] who served
on the democratic side of
the House and seated next
to her is Nicole Kester
[assumed spelling]
on the republican
side of the House.
One thing that we always
try to do is balance the mix
of the six students who
we send to Carson City.
You get to choose which --
when you're going to serve
on the republican side
or the democratic
said, of course.
The purpose of this brief
presentation is to let Brittany
and Nicole talk about their
experiences; just what it was
that they did there;
how they found housing;
what an average day was
like; what kinds of things
that they did; and maybe most
importantly, how it served
to build their resumes for
looking ahead to the time
after they graduate, as I
would imagine many people
who would watch this webcast are
asking themselves: What's going
to happen as a result of this?
Most of you are aware that
this is a paid internship.
It works out to about
$1900 a month to take care
of all the living expenses,
and that's something, again,
that we owe a great
deal of thanks
to the UNLB Foundation for.
So starting off to the person
closest to me right here
on my left, Brittany, would
you tell current UNLB students
something about, first
of all, your time at UNLB
and then what the internship
position was for you,
what you did, what you
learned, and so on.
>> Sure. I went to
UNLB all four years.
I didn't actual declare a
major till my junior year,
and I declared political
science.
One day I was just going
through my rubble mail,
and I saw the internship
open and saw
that it offered a stipend to
cover your living expenses
and was a really
great opportunity
to learn the legislative
process first hand.
So I applied.
>> What were some of the
things that you did there
in a specific job
that you were given?
>> Sure. I actually had
the privilege of working
in the Speaker's office
for the Assembly side.
And as you know, there's
two Houses in Nevada,
the Legislature, the
Senate, and the Assembly,
and I worked on the
Assembly side.
My average day, I
would go in and a lot
of time we would answer
constituent letters,
basically drafting responses
for people that needed help
from the government,
to find solutions
for them either programs
that were available
for whatever problem that they
had or people that they needed
to talk to in order
to solve a problem.
We would help find those answer
so that the Speaker could
send them a letter back.
Another thing we did
was bill tracking.
The bill -- we get a lot
of bill-draft requests.
There's over 1,000 bill-draft
requests every session.
>> So other legislators
turn in these requests.
They go to the Speaker's office
to people like you for tracking.
>> Yeah. Because the Speaker's
the leader of the caucus,
we track all of our caucus
members' bills, and so we see
where they are in committee.
We track, you know,
whether they pass or not,
and a lot of times we
create like a spreadsheet
of these bills so that
for everyone to know
where the bills are in
the legislative process.
So that if anyone has a question
over where this certain bill is,
we could see where
it is in the process.
>> So you learn a few good
computer skills related
to all of this as well?
>> Yeah. It's actually
very interesting
because you really learn a
lot about government process
in all areas and how
the bills are heard
and people can come and, you
know, open and come in support
of a bill and how
it will affect them.
It's a very open process,
very transparent government.
>> Nicole, let's switch over
to you for a few minutes.
What were some of the duties
and activities that you had
when you were in Carson?
>> Well, every morning
we, Justin and I,
who was my co-intern,
we would sit down
and read all the newspapers in
the state of Nevada and come
up with a list of newspaper
articles that may be something
that the legislators wanted
to listen to or wanted
to take the time to read so
that they wouldn't have to go
through the newspaper and waste
time finding the articles.
>> So you're kind of keeping
your finger on the pulse
of the state and informing --
>> Right. Informing
them, yeah, exactly.
>> Okay.
>> And we worked a lot on
financial things, tracking,
you know, where the money
was going from the caucus
because I worked for the
republican assembly caucus,
which was 16 members
at the time.
You know, helping
them with their bills
if they needed research or if
they needed to find somebody
to testify on behalf
of their bill,
we worked to find people
to do that for them.
If they, you know,
needed, you know,
somebody to read an
opposing bill or you know,
sometimes their was a bill that
was similar from, you know,
the democratic side and the
republican side, we would work
with them to, you know, create
a compromise and find the pieces
of both bills that
we liked so that
when only one bill got heard,
we were able to make sure
that the important
pieces were --
>> So a lot of behind the scenes
management, finding people
to give testimony, et cetera.
>> Yeah, absolutely.
We worked really
closely with the people.
Everyone there is really
great and everyone's friendly.
It was just exciting to
see what was going on.
You know, like Brittany
said, you would sit
in on committee meetings and
listen to what was going on.
You would do a lot
of bill tracking.
There were times when
it got closer to the end
of the session, things
were getting pushed
through at a very rapid pace
because we were behind schedule.
And so, you know, the
legislators may not have time
to read all the bills, so
as the bills would come in
or the amendments would come
in, we would have to sit down
and read through them as quickly
as we could to try to come
up with, you know,
some sort of summary
of what all these pages --
>> So you'd do some summarizing
for the legislators as well --
>> Yes.
>> -- as stuff was pending.
>> Absolutely, yeah.
>> You're doing is really is
serving as a staff member.
>> Yeah.
>> You're a paid staff
member for the legislature.
>> Absolutely.
>> What was -- what was it like
after hours in Carson City.
After all, it's a state Capitol.
You've got people there
from all walks of life,
come to Carson City
because there are things
that they have on their mind.
People who we typically
call lobbyists.
I'm told that Carson
City is a very good place
to make contacts.
>> It really is.
I think, you know, during the
legislative session there's all
sorts of events that go on.
You know, lobbying firms
hold parties or dinners,
a lot of which you'll be invited
to by your legislative
person that you work for.
It just varies, but definitely
the lobbyists are in and out
of the office all day
coming to check tabs or see
where this bill that they're
supporting is at, and this one.
And if the people you work with
aren't there, they count on you
to give them the
response they need.
And therefore, you build a good
personal relationship with them.
>> Is your experience
similar on that too?
>> Oh, absolutely.
I mean, all the lobbyists
come in, you know, in and on,
and you're even invited to
dinner with them sometimes
as like a friendly relationship.
So it's business, but
it's also going to be
like a friendly relationship
so you make friends
while you're there.
>> Yeah, yeah.
That's part of the idea.
That's part of the idea.
I think that's why one
of the other reasons the
Foundation is interested
in funding this.
Tell people who might
be interested in going
up there what it was like to
move from Las Vegas up there.
Getting you and your
stuff up there.
And just the logistics of it?
How did you find
a place to live?
How difficult was that?
Let's start there.
You're going to change their
life for a whole semester.
>> Well, me and her
had a unique situation.
Her parents actually found
us a house that was available
for rent on Craigslist up there.
So we actually rented a house
and split the rent cost,
and it included utilities.
It was fully furnished.
It was very nice.
But a lot of people
just stay at the Plaza,
which is a local hotel.
It has like a kitchenette,
microwave, refrigerator.
>> So you have a
studio apartment.
>> Basically, yeah.
And it's really right
next to the legislature,
and it's about as much rent as
an apartment would be, you know,
for a month because they rent
it out monthly during session.
And it's walking distance
to the legislature.
>> Walking distance to work,
and you've got all your
facilities right there
in your little studio apartment.
>> Uh-huh.
>> All right.
>> You know, there's lots of
apartments in Carson City.
It is really -- it's
not a huge town.
It's quite a little
town, actually.
And you know, I think the town
rallies during the legislature.
>> Things come to life.
>> So there are plenty
of apartment buildings
that are not rented 95
percent of the year.
>> Very inexpensive too.
>> Yeah. And in terms
of this, also,
there's one person who's an
alum of the session before,
the 2009 session, Elliot
Anderson [assumed spelling]
who served as an intern in
that session and was elected
to the Assembly two years ago.
He'll be coming back
again we assume.
>> No, he definitely will.
>> And he has volunteered, he
has stepped forward and said,
Professor, if you need
people, if you need anybody
to help your interns find
housing, I'll be that person
because I'm in place and
I've been there many times
and can assist with that.
So these kinds of things are
relatively easy to overcome.
In terms of keeping your
full-time student status.
The thing that we
usually recommend,
the internship itself you
earn six credits with that,
distance education learning
is available for another three
or six credits, and of
course, in addition,
there's Political Science 480
which is an independent study
course that you can sign
up to take with any
of the members of --
any one member of the
political science department.
Do that for three credits.
So you would have three
credits of independent study,
six credits of internship,
and that would leave just one
distance education course.
Or you might opt to do two
distance education courses.
>> Uh-huh.
>> Ladies, any thoughts
on the impact of this
on your resumes,
on your futures.
Tell us very briefly what
you're each doing now,
and then what you see
as the future being?
>> I think that, you know,
the field of politics
is definitely a field
of who you know.
And I see that more and
more going on through life.
That people will
apply to positions
and they won't get them if
they don't know anybody.
So for that I'm extremely
grateful to have met the people
that I met through this.
Now I work for the Republican
National Committee in the Romney
for President campaign here in
Las Vegas and have high hopes
of after the election's being
over moving to Washington,
but we'll see what
comes after that.
>> Yeah. One thing
special about Nevada is
that the political
community is very small.
So you actually meet a lot
of really important people
when you're up there.
You meet a lot of people
that are really involved
and you can get to know and
it can, when they know you
and like Nicole said, you apply
for a job later and they say,
oh, I know this person.
And you automatically get
kind of like a preferred
on your resume because
you met them before.
For me personally, I work for
the Speaker who's John Oceguera,
and he's running for
Congress right now
in Nevada's third
congressional district.
So I applied for a
job on his campaign
and now a full-time campaign
staffer on his campaign.
Hopefully if we win, you
know, I'll have a job offer
in Washington D.C. as well.
That's where I hope to go.
>> Okay.
>> That's a very, very
interesting and direct way
to begin a career in
government or politics.
>> Absolutely.
>> Okay. Well, to kind of
wrap this up I would say
that with this generous
funding from UNLB Foundation,
we are looking for six
good people to send
to Carson City beginning in
February of the year 2013.
You'll spend the entire
spring semester in Carson,
trips back to Las Vegas optional
depending upon your own whim.
You can take a look at the
print section of this website
for a good idea about
prerequisites, requirements,
and all the other details that
will be necessary in order
for you to apply for this.
Again, I'm Steve Parker,
Department of Political Science,
and I want to thank my two
guests today who are alumni
of the internship program,
Nicole Kester and Brittany Ship.
Thank you guys.
>> No problem.
>> Thank you.
