The Insiders: Students Learn About Washington Firsthand

By Brad Haire
Photos by John Amis

Where can you attend a breakfast that includes a speech by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and later watch Cher advocate for stronger military helmets?

And where can you help U.S. leaders from Georgia make decisions that affect the state, nation or world? You've got to go to Washington, D.C.

Each summer for the past 10 years, students from the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences have gone to Washington as part of the CAES Congressional Agricultural Internship Program. Each student's experience is different, but all have come away with the same shared knowledge: They know how Washington politicians do their jobs, how political players play their game and how the nuts and bolts of U.S. farm policy are put together.

"I wanted the opportunity to do something with agriculture on a national level, and I got the chance," said Chris Tyson, 22, an agriscience and environmental systems major from Statesboro, Ga.

Tyson and five other CAES students lived and worked in Washington for 12 weeks this summer. The interns say it is hard work. A congressional office can get more than a thousand letters each month and as many as 700 phone calls a day.

"It wasn't quite what I expected. It was overwhelming at first because there's so much stuff going on up there," said Tyson, who interned under Rep. John Barrow of Georgia's 12th District. "There’s going to meetings, to hearings and talking with constituents, and there’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes, too."

The program matches interns with senators and representatives who are or have been members of agricultural committees, said Joe Broder, BSA – Agricultural Economics, '71, CAES associate dean for academic affairs and the internship program coordinator. The application process is much like applying for a real job and includes interviews with the congressional offices.

Thirty-six students have gone through the program, which over the years has joined students with the offices of Reps. Sanford Bishop, Jack Kingston, Jim Marshall, Max Burns and John Barrow and Sens. Zell Miller, Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss.

"Many in the college felt that the program wouldn't be a good idea. They worried it would be too political. But that has not been the case," Broder said. "This program has benefited the college and the congressional offices that get quality people with solid backgrounds in agriculture who can contribute and become real assets to have on staff while they're in Washington."

Chambliss agreed. The program has worked out just as he intended when he initiated it in the mid-'90s. Chambliss, then representative from Georgia's 8th District, approached then CAES Dean and Director Gale Buchanan with a plan.

"We started this program with the idea that we wanted to let young folks who wanted to be involved in agriculture figure out what goes on in Washington and how it works and bring that knowledge back to Georgia. Because if they are going to be involved in agriculture, they need to know how agriculture policy is set," said Sen. Chambliss, sitting inside his Washington, D.C., office, where an American flag stands in one corner and a mounted rattlesnake coils in another.

Secondly, he said, the program creates "a pool of young people we can hopefully bring to Washington and get them to work on staffs and bring a knowledge of Southeastern crops to agriculture committees or personal offices."

Although it's a learning experience, his interns have been expected to work, too. "They can make mistakes as long as they're working hard," Chambliss said.

The success of the program hardly could have been illustrated better than at the Senate regional farm bill hearing June 23 in Albany, Ga., where both a current intern and the program's very first were acknowledged on record. Chambliss, chair of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, and Kansas Senator Pat Roberts presided over the hearing.

During the first part, Chambliss recognized Rep. Bishop. The hearing was taking place inside his 2nd District. Bishop spoke briefly, only to introduce "a very special person," his current CAES intern, Niki Newberry, an agricultural communications major from Rochelle, Ga.

"She will be speaking for me and for our office," he told the crowd.

With confident resolve and only a slight flutter in her voice, Newberry, 22, took the stage for several minutes and told the 200-plus crowd that a bright U.S. future must include thriving rural economies driven by a sustainable, healthy agricultural industry.

"It is our goal to secure a farm bill which will serve all aspects of agriculture, from livestock to poultry producers, from row-crop to vegetable farmers, covering south Georgia to California and all in between," said Newberry, who was later interviewed by a local TV news crew.

"It was a great experience," she said later. "He (Bishop) asked if I'd like to speak for him. So, I prepared and did it."

After Newberry, Chambliss spoke more on the internship program and introduced from the audience Christy (Cromley) Seyfert. The '98 CAES graduate from Brooklet, Ga., is currently a senior professional staffer with the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry and helped organize the field hearing. In 1997, she was the first CAES Washington intern. She interned with Chambliss.

"The internship shows there is just so much more to the legislative process than what you read in textbooks," said Seyfert during an interview in Washington. "It's a great opportunity and lesson for the students to take back."

Seyfert said she was "scared to death" and "nervous" about going to Washington for the first time. She'd never been there before becoming an intern. Being the first intern from CAES, she had no comparisons to make from the experiences of others. Interns now are asked to compose presentations about their experiences and speak to college organizations, recruiting future interns.

But growing up on a farm, Seyfert said, she understood that what happens in Washington can impact rural Georgia. "And I wanted to go experience that firsthand," she said.

After graduation, Seyfert returned to Washington in 1998 to work full-time with Chambliss. She established a strong precedent. Four other interns have gone on to taken full-time positions with congressional offices or committees in Washington over the years.

Her parents were supportive and wanted her involved, she said, but they were apprehensive. Seyfert's mother had only one request of Chambliss. "She said, 'Don't let her marry someone outside of Georgia she meets in Washington,'" he said. "I wouldn’t even let Christy date the first few years."

But there are powers stronger than Congress and parental wishes. In 2000, Christy Cromley met Mike Seyfert. The Kansas native is the legislative director for Sen. Roberts. And in 2001, the two married. Her mother was forgiving and understood, and she was downright tickled about the union six months ago, when Sydney Seyfert was born.

Going to Washington isn't cheap. A key to the success of the program has been its matching financial support arrangement. It allows the interns to establish a residence in Washington and provides for living expenses.

An intern becomes a paid member of the congressional office staff. This salary accounts for half of the $6,000 stipend. The rest is covered through college scholarships made available through donors such as the Georgia Agribusiness Council and members of the Georgia Electric Membership Corporation. Other donors have included Gold Kist, Georgia Peach Council, Georgia Poultry Federation, AgSouth Farm Credit, BB&T Bank, Farmers & Merchants Bank, Sea Island Bank, Triangle Chemical and Cresco Cap Stone Utility Supply.

As their Washington experience neared its end in late July, Tyson and Newberry joined Cathy Strickland from Canon, Ga., Cade Bennett from Nunez, Ga., Chris Cunningham from Quitman, Ga., and Andrew Menaquale from Fulton County, the whole 2006 Washington class, for a reception.

They mostly laughed and recounted stories about unusual calls from constituents, encounters with shady characters on D.C.'s public transit, crazy days when certain amendments came before the floor, celebrity sightings and an accidental run-in with a former presidential nominee and many other tales. They even told the story of how one of them became known as "Chicken leg."

Outspoken interns, possibly fueled by their newly discovered confidence as Washington movers and shakers, talked about current government policies that are working and ones that aren't and what can be done to change them. They all told Broder and CAES Dean and Director Scott Angle what they could do to make the experience more rewarding for future students.

Bennett interned under Rep. Kingston. The 24-year-old senior agribusiness major was asked during the reception how his internship experience may help him in the future. He leaned back in his seat but answered immediately. "When I get finished at UGA, I'm going to take the book of business cards I got from being in Washington and start calling all the folks that said, 'If you ever want a job, give me a call,'" he said. "I'll see what my options are and make a decision from there."

To better reflect the role and status the interns and the program have earned over the years, Broder said, in 2007 the program will be officially renamed the CAES Congressional Ag Fellowship Program.

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