Above: L-R: Heather P. De Guia, Drew Austria, Eric Li, Senator Akaka, James Dee, Victor Liu, Kelsey Yamasaki. Courtesy of Ruby Moy.

Washington, D.C. --   Heavy sighs echo in the nation’s capital as the fall season approaches and as trusty summer interns begin to leave the office. Thousands of summer interns converge in Washington during the spring and are relied on to handle mountains of office work for office staffs that have little or no time to do it themselves. These mountains contain molehills of backlog, research, written reports and other meticulous tasks. For some offices, the interns only get smarter and brighter, if not for the pay but for their generational tech-savvy.

The Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS) employed six summer interns this year. Early January, more than 100 applications were received by APAICS to fill one of these coveted slots.

APAICS’ interns came from across the country – Drew Austria of Virginia, came from the University of Virginia to work for the Office of Congressman Mike Honda (D-CA).  Heather P. De Guia, from the University of Illinois at Chicago, was assigned to the Office of Congressman David Wu (D-OR).  Pomona College student James Dee set the bar at the Office of Congresswoman Madeleine Z. Bordallo.  Eric Li of the University of Michigan and was assigned to Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), while Rutgers University student Victor Liu handled the reigns at Senator Edward Kennedy’s office. Hawaiian Kelsey Yamasaki, hails from University of Denver. By summer, he was assigned to the National Education Association, Human and Civil Rights Division.

De Guia said she was excited that “a few years ago she was getting signatures for H.R. 333, a bill to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to authorize grants for institutions of higher education serving Asian American and Pacific Islanders, which was introduced by Congressman Wu in the 108^th Congress.”

She continued, “As an intern, I had the privilege of participating in meetings regarding the same bill (now H.R. 2616), and got the chance to witness the legislative process beyond C-Span.”

While the pay of internships make some outsiders cringe, the thought of the experiences gained by interns makes it all worth it.

“The chats with each of the members (of Congress they met) were very insightful, especially with Congressman McDermott (D-WA) since he is part of the US-Japan Legislative Exchange Program,” Dee said.

                Meetings with members of Congress can have its playful moments. For example, Congressman Honda called Yamasaki on De Guia’s cell phone because he was running late for the meeting.

Yamasaki asked, “Who is this?” and Honda replied, “I’m hanging out with your friends. This is your buddy, Mike Honda.” To this day, Yamasaki is still recovering from a pleasant shock.

Some days were long and went well into the evening.  Eric Li who wanted to finish his report spent most of the night writing.  His supervisor, who later complimented him on it, indicated that he would just reformat it a little and turn it into the Senator (Feinstein) to read.  Needless to say, Li was feeling euphoric having completed a “substantive task,” which was going to the “boss.”

Drew Austria was given the opportunity to work on several projects in Congressman Honda’s Office including the Fil-Vets issue and the Voting Rights Re-Authorization Act.

Victor Liu found the experience working in Senator Kennedy’s Office “great” and the “office is so tightly-knit and friendly.”

Some of the programs that APAICS provide for the interns include an interaction with the Tri-Caucus group.  In addition to APAICS, the Tri-Caucus group includes the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Inc., and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, Inc.  The summer interns from all three groups got together socially, which allowed about 85 interns to network. For eight weeks, there was a “Brown Bag” lunch with guest speakers.

“The APAICS’ Summer Intern program is such a wonderful opportunity for a young person to experience the workings of Washington.  The experiences and the networking, not to mention the deep friendships they’ve made with other interns, will prepare them for the future,” said APAICS’ President and CEO William H. (Mo) Marumoto.