Although he is almost 5,000 miles from home, 20-year-old Travis Korenaga has found a tight-knit community to help put him at ease.

Raised in Hawaii, where his family dates back five generations, Korenaga is an intern for his congressman, Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D), until mid-March.

Only in his third week at the office, Korenaga is slowly getting his bearings and moving beyond the menial tasks of setting out the day’s newspapers and handling constituent mail. Last week, for instance, he helped the legislative aide for education policy summarize an 80-page transcript from a hearing.

Korenaga lives with about 40 other undergraduate students in Woodley Park as part of Stanford University’s Washington program.

Their housing blends the best of dormitory-style living with that of a hotel. In addition to their full-time internships, they must meet three nights a week for class.

A junior at Stanford, Korenaga belongs to the 100-member Hawaiian club, the Taiko drumming group and the Kappa Sigma fraternity, where he said his brothers have made him feel at home despite being so far away from his family. One big reason is the fraternity’s “community feel,” he said.

Korenaga, a human biology major, originally wanted to be a doctor, but also thought about doing something that would help more than just one person at a time. That view changed after working in a community health center over the summer in the town of Waianae, where his grandfather was born and raised. He found that helping individuals was fulfilling.

“I don’t think I can describe the gratification you get when you see a sick person come back healthy two days later,” he said, “all because of you.”

Now, as an intern on Capitol Hill, he is back on the policy side of things. But in about two months he will be on his way to Cape Town, South Africa, to study public health at the University of Cape Town.