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Thursday, March 28
The Indiana Daily Student

Working without wages

The trials of an unpaid internship

Inside a god-forsaken cubicle at the end of the hallway that no one goes down unless they need something, you have already typed up two press releases, spent an hour doing mundane research for a coworker, and even, dare we say it, gotten coffee for someone that was not you.

Two creams, one sugar, all business clothes, and no paycheck. Who even knew it got lower than minimum wage?

Kira Geairn, a junior policy analysis major, found out for herself this summer when she interned in Washington D.C. as part of the Washington Leadership Program. Geairn worked for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee as an assistant to its press secretary, sometimes logging 12-hour days plus weekends during election preparations. Luckily, the experience ultimately paid off in other ways.

Q: What was it like being thrown into this environment during election season?
A: At first, I was terrified. I got there with no previous campaign experience, and I was the youngest person on staff. Everybody else had a master’s degree and expected me to know how to do things. (I thought), ‘Um, how do you use Excel again?’ I was really far behind. So at first, it was really challenging. We were really close to election day, so everybody was super stressed out about everything.

Q: Were there any days where you felt like this was too much?
A: Yeah, definitely. Sometimes, I was just like, ‘I’m not getting paid to do any of the work I’m doing.’ And I would often come in at 7:30 a.m. and leave at 8 or 9 p.m. and work through weekends, and that’s just how demanding the job was sometimes. And I had to pay a ton of money to live in D.C., so it was like I was paying them to work all the time.

Q: Was there ever anything else where you felt like you had to really budget yourself?
A: Transportation in D.C. is crazy expensive! I was actually given a stipend that goes up to $120 a month for my internship, just for transportation to and from work, and I would often times go over that just for work, not even to go to class or go to the store. Everything is on the subway system, so you’re taking a train everywhere you go, and every time it’s around $1.55 each way. That’s the minimum price. It adds up really, really fast.

Q: So did your parents help you out?
A: Actually, not really. My parents really weren’t in the position to do that this year, so I worked two jobs over the summer (before my internship), and then part time for my dad’s fiancee’s company, and just saved up a ton of money. Then I took out an extra loan to pay for everything. So financially, it was kind of insane. About halfway through the semester, I was counting the days until the next half of my loan came through. It was a little bit frustrating at times. You’re like, ‘Do I have enough money for groceries next week?’

Q: Do you think that it was worth it in the end?
A: Yeah, I made so many contacts from doing this and a lot of friends in the field. When I left, somebody who wasn’t even my supervisor or anything, just somebody I knew from the office, sent my resume to (Indiana Senator) Joe Donnelly, and I had the opportunity offered to me to work for him this summer. Since it was a political position, you lost your job at the end of the campaign so everybody put their neck out for everyone else.

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