She lives in a house on Capitol Hill with 12 interns — five men and eight women chosen to live together — who work in Texas offices all over Capitol Hill. They even have a “house mom.”
“She’s one of the super-hard-core academic scholars,” says Johnson’s admittedly biased press secretary, McCall Cameron. “She’s here because she’s a stud muffin.”
Harris is a marketing major at Texas Tech University with one semester left until graduation. She’s in Washington on a six-month internship that gives her college credit.
Johnson’s office has no staff assistant at the moment, so Harris has taken over some of those duties. She writes letters, gives tours and generally assists around the office where she is needed.
Life in the intern house is real indeed.
“Oh yeah, [it’s] tons of fun,” Harris says. Except for the hot-water problem. Since Thanksgiving it has been going out, and, with eight people on her floor, getting time in the bathroom can be tough. “It gets hectic in the morning, especially since it’s mostly girls,” she says, true to the confessional “Real World” tone
The housemates spend a lot of time together, taking trips to New York City, Philadelphia and the beach in Delaware. They also partake in the Washington culture by going out to bars in Georgetown and Adams Morgan as well as to Capitol Hill venues such as the Tune Inn, the Hawk ’n’ Dove and the Pour House.
Harris says she’s grateful for the opportunity to be here.
“Not many college kids can come up to a great place like D.C. and intern here,” she says, explaining that politics have always interested her even though she’s a marketing major.
She says she appreciates the “down to earth” nature of Johnson’s office, as well as working for a war hero. “He has done so many great things for our country,” she says. “That’s a great experience in itself.”
Among the more notable moments of her internship was running into former Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) — no matter that he is in some legal hot water. In her mind, he is still the famous Tom DeLay.
“Tom DeLay walked by, and someone on my tour recognized him, so that was fun to talk about,” she says.
Harris grew up in Dallas and, like many Texans, feels enormous pride for her state. After she graduates, she says, she’s keeping her options open but would be open to returning to D.C. Ultimately, however, she’d like to be a high school math teacher in Texas.
But, she says, “I know I don’t want to do that right after I graduate.”
So what has the internship done for her?
“Besides learning about politics, it has given me a lot of real-world experience, “ she says. “In college you don’t get to experience a 9 a.m.-6 p.m job every single day. You learn so much about how to talk to people on the phone, how to act in a work environment.”
The office has even bestowed her with a workplace nickname: “It’s K-town,” Cameron says. “We just adore her.”
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