Alicia Rivera ‘25, a Tower Center Student Forum member, is double majoring in political science and psychology and minoring in statistical science. She was awarded the SMU Tower Center Kelli O. and Gerald J. Ford Fellowship for summer ’24, which she applied toward a legislative affairs internship in Washington, D.C.
She shares her experience tackling life on Capitol Hill.
Washington, D.C. could not be more different than Dallas, Texas, and for that, I am eternally grateful. I’ve lived in Dallas my entire life, and I love Dallas. I never imagined wanting to leave. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting—if I was expecting anything—but D.C. was a breath of fresh air and gave me an entirely new perspective.
My summer internship with the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) yielded incredible insight into working in the federal sector. PBGC is a federal agency that oversees protecting and restoring pensions for employees of private sector employers. I interned with the Legislative Affairs team, a more minor department within the Office of Policy and External Affairs. I was allowed to graciously learn about the many different kinds of pension plans, draft constituent response letters, write the scripts for internal PBGC videos, join live-streamed House and Senate committee meetings on behalf of PBGC, research the members of these committees to gage their stance on PBGC, communicate with Hill staffers and sit in on the larger Office of Policy and External Affairs meetings.
My workdays were mostly the same. I’d arrive at the office sometime around 8:30 a.m. via Metro—I became obsessed with the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), or simply put “Metro.” I was in love with the fast, efficient, and reliable transportation that could transport me throughout the DMV area within minutes. I certainly did not miss driving through 75’s crazy highway traffic.
Upon arrival to the office, I’d check in with my supervisor, Gail, and mentor, Jim. I’d see what the day held in store for me. My favorite task was drafting response letters to constituents sent in on behalf of their congressman or an inquiry from the White House. This task resonated because I vividly remember my fifth grade history teacher stressing the importance of representative democracy and constituent-representative relationships. This task felt like a full circle moment; I was working in D.C. on the receiving end of this matter. My work wasn’t the most glamorous, but it was simple and honest. I had the opportunity to help Americans restore their lost pensions from years of hard work. Many private companies have gone bankrupt due to various reasons, and unfortunately, the employees of said companies suffer. PBGC was established by the ERISA Act in 1974 to prevent the vested workers of these companies from losing their retirement funds.
However, on one Tuesday, there was a press release. I thought nothing of it; there had already been a few the weeks prior, but this time was different. PBGC had just announced its one millionth Special Finance Assistance (SFA) program participant. PBGC had managed to save the pensions of one million workers and retirees. So, on my favorite workday, as I called it “my big intern moment,” I wrote the script for an internal video to be shared throughout the agency. The agency’s videographer asked me to sit for a practice recording so he could adjust lighting and other features. When I sat for the rehearsal, I noticed grammatical and syntax errors with the current script and offered to revise the speech. Another department supervisor informed me that it was nice of me to offer, but out of protocol, and it was best to stick with the approved version. The videographer noticed this and silently provided me a script copy. They urged me to make my revisions, and when the moment approached, I’d be ready to offer my suggestions. When Acting Director Ann Orr came into the studio, she immediately heard the choppiness and said it needed some revisions. The moment I’d been waiting for approached. I offered her my script, and after reading through it, she agreed to the change and thanked me for my readiness. I felt like I was on cloud nine; this was a situation where my unsolicited advice could have led to a reprimand or being asked to leave. Instead, she was kind and allowed me to express my eagerness. I could not believe I just wrote the script for an internal video to be shared within the agency. This was not a silly email; this was an actual video script that all of the agency’s employees would see, and the video would be available in the agency’s archives for centuries to come!
During my internship, I resided in an apartment-style dorm hall occupied by interns from all over the country, located in the Eastern Market, three Metro stops from Capitol Hill and the National Mall. I opted into an intern housing system and was randomly placed into a four-person apartment where I shared a two-bedroom with three strangers for ten weeks. At first, it sounded like a nightmare, but the idea secretly thrilled me. It was the most incredible experience, and I was fortunate to bond with the girls. I was lucky because this very easily could have become a nightmare. My roommates were from all over the country—New Jersey, Georgia, and Florida—and were similar yet different from me. They were all studying completely different fields than I was—IT, cybersecurity, accounting, and auditing. I knew D.C. had a reputation for being flooded with summer “Hillterns,” but I was not expecting to meet students of different studies than political science. Coincidentally, we were all PBGC interns. We’d usually take the Metro to work together and have lunch at the office.
The four of us spent our evenings laughing together and creating memories. We got incredibly close very fast. I felt like I’d known them for a lifetime—like they weren’t strangers to me ten weeks prior. I couldn’t help but wonder how many other interns before us had created cherishing lifelong memories in the comfort of these same four walls.
Every day, I felt in awe of the city and immersed in history. This gave a whole new meaning to Lin Manuel Miranda’s soundtrack of Hamilton; it was exhilarating to listen to my favorite songs, I was actually living in “The Room Where It Happened.” My favorite Saturday morning activity involved walking to the best bagel shop in D.C., Call Your Mother, and ordering my usual—a strawberry iced latte and a toasted Sun City bagel. And I did exactly what the restaurant instructed, I’d call my mother and grandmother back home in Dallas.
The Call Your Mother location is in Georgetown. There was also one on Barracks Row right next to my apartment, but the pink house in Georgetown was more aesthetically appealing and hard not to love!
D.C. is a city full of personality. Each neighborhood is different from the next, and the people living in each neighborhood adapt the city to their own liking. Not only did I love D.C., but I fell in love with Georgetown. D.C. completely changed my post-grad plans; I toured Georgetown Law School and immediately felt this feeling in my stomach like something was drawing me towards Georgetown Law. Now that I have a much better understanding of legal career prospects in the federal and private sectors, I think I will better grasp the impact of studying and practicing law. The row house city is calling my name, and I can’t wait to return upon graduating from SMU this May!
