Mineola Resident Attends 2013 Presidential Inauguration

The following was submitted by Sarah Pritchard, a Mineola resident and member of the Mineola High School Class of 2011. She is currently enrolled at Quinnipiac University.

My internship through the Washington Center was by far one of the most enriching experiences in my life thus far. During the past 10 days I have met with countless members of Congress, spoken with influential individuals in the media (NPR radio hosts) world and political experts.

I first heard about the program through Quinnipiac University, which is affiliated with The Washington Center in Washington, D.C. The Washington Center gives students the opportunity to be placed into these diverse internships for as few as 10 days or up to a whole semester. Quinnipiac informed me about the program and being a Public Relations major I figured it would pertain to my program at school, so I applied and was accepted.

The seminars during the internship featured publicists that worked on the Obama campaign, NPR radio talk show hosts and many other influential individuals in the media. This interested me and gave me an improved idea of what I wanted to do with my major.

One of my favorites that spoke to us during the seminar was Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform. In addition to these informative seminars, we also got the opportunity to take an inside look at CNN, during which we met Wolf Blitzer and Jon King. We also were able to sit in the Gallery at the House of Representatives and witness a proposal for a bill regarding relief for Hurricane Sandy.

In addition to this, we also visited the Indian Embassy and spoke with the Chancellor, spoke with the editor of USA Today, the President of CATO (a nonprofit, Libertarian think-tank) and even went to an Inaugural ball. The highlight of the trip was most definitely taking part in the 2013 Inauguration of President Barack Obama for his second term. 

Although getting there before 6 a.m. to secure a decent vantage point of the Capitol wasn't ideal, witnessing history in the making was definitely an experience I will never forget.

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