Some upperclassmen have been interning starting from the beginning of the second semester. In addition, many students are planning to participate in internships over the summer.

The students that take the Political Science class perform a political-based internship throughout their second semester. Interning students leave the school during their seventh period class, and stay at their internships until their office closes, which is typically around 4 or 5 p.m.

Students taking political science are interning with Senator Kaine, the D.C. Circuit Courts, the Peace Corps, the World Affairs Council, Reston Association, and more.

“I intern for Senator Kaine in his D.C. office on Capitol Hill,” senior Kaylyn Macaluso said. “I like this internship because I have a strong interest in government and this internship gives me insight about what I might want to do when I am older.”

According the political science teacher Annie Hadfield, students are expected to treat their internship the way that any college student would. Macaluso takes her internship seriously.

“I have a number of jobs,” Macaluso said. “The job I probably do the most is enter petitions. When a large group of people send in petitions about a topic that they are passionate about, each one of those petitions needs to be manually entered into the system. Then once they are entered in, one of the staff members writes a letter on Senator Kaine’s behalf. Once these letters are printed, I check over all of them to make sure there are no mistakes in the heading and greetings. I also run mail to other offices, sort all the incoming mail for Senator Kaine’s office, attend hearings, and sometimes attend the Senate gallery in the Capitol.“

In addition, students such as junior Kat Edmiston, who is not taking political science, will be interning at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) this summer.

“I’m interning at the ACLU as an intern to the executive offices in L.A.,” Edminston said. “I’m not sure exactly what I’m supposed to do, but I think I am mostly there to assist however I can, focusing on helping prepare case briefs and possibly helping with a social media campaign to connect the ACLU to the teens of today.”

Junior Darya Kharabi is also interning over the summer. She will be interning at the Initiative for Public Art Reston (IPAR) and the Fairfax County Democrat Committee (FCDC).

“I like the IPAR one because it revolves around public art, which is something very dear to me, and FCDC is interesting because I do not know anything about local politics,”Kharabi said. “However, the demerits of these internships would be that I am not paid.”

There are always merits and demerits that come with interning.

“Some demerits to interning for Senator Kaine are that I see first-hand how unproductive our current government is sometimes,” Macaluso said. However, some merits are that I get to surround myself with important, professional people that have a strong passion for the work they do. Additionally, I am able to see what is happening on current policy decisions. As an intern, I saw this first-hand.”