IUP Student from Pittsburgh Completes Internship with Senator Fetterman

A social studies education major and political science minor from Pittsburgh had the experience of a lifetime this summer as an intern in the office of Senator John Fetterman in Washington, DC.

Dmitri Woods, a 2021 graduate of Keystone Oaks High School, is the son of Erica Loizes and Philip Woods. He is an active member of the IUP community, including serving as president of Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity and as a senator in IUP's Student Government Association. Following an application and interview, he was invited to serve as an intern with Senator Fetterman from May through August.

"I've always been interested in politics, and I've always wanted to be in DC," he said. "If you are a history nerd, you won't find anywhere more interesting than DC, especially this summer with all of the political news and events. I'll never forget this summer and having the opportunity to have a front-row seat of history in the making.

"Interns are like the atoms in a molecule," he said. "We are responsible for a lot of routine and small tasks that are part of making the office function. We manage emails, take calls and monitor voice mails, and just help the staff in the legislative offices with things they need," he said.

"Managing constituent calls and comments is very important, because keeping track of voice mails and constitute opinions helps the office and the legislator gauge the opinions of the public at large. Depending on what is happening, there could be more than 100 emails in a day for us to help to manage, and that is very important data and information," he said. "We also got a chance to draft emails and messaging for the staff. I knew that all of my experiences would be valuable, so I said yes to everything," he said. "It was an amazing experience and so rewarding."

"I even got a chance to be on national television, as I got to be at a Congressional hearing about eliminating medical debt from credit card records; I'm featured on a clip that has 800,000 views," he said. "I also had the chance to meet YouTube personality MatPat."

Interns in Senator Fetterman's office are required to do a capstone project. Woods said his project, designed to encourage the Senator to endorse legislation to reduce the "red tape" for caregivers, was his high point.

"My girlfriend, a nursing major at IUP, made me aware of the issues about caregiving and how complicated it can be for the caregiver to get assistance and information. My capstone project was designed to promote Senator Fetterman's support for Senate Bill 3109, which has a goal of recreating websites for caregivers and ensuring that those websites have language that is easy to understand and that the information there is easy to access.

Woods compiled a number of documents about the bill, including researching issues facing caregivers. He did a case statement about the bill, which included a press release, social media messages, graphics, and a poster.

"I was told that my graphics were the best of all presentations, and that my presentation was very passionate and engaging, and it got very high marks from the legislative team, which made me very proud," he said. "Not only was it a great learning experience, I believe that the goal of this bill is so important, and I really like knowing that my work may make a difference in helping a piece of legislation be passed that will help caregivers," he said.

As a senior at IUP this year, Woods intends on getting more involved with the College Democrats, including helping to encourage a larger voter turnout by students.

After graduation, Woods, who is very interested in foreign relations, hopes to build on this experience for his career.

"When I left Washington, I took a picture of the Capitol building, but I didn't look back because I made a promise to myself that I would be back. I'd like to become involved with the Foreign Relations Committee, addressing geopolitics, or campaign work, or maybe work in constitutional law after getting an advanced degree in a related field," he said. "Our office was close to United States Senate President Pro Tempore Patty Murray, and I got to know some of her team, so that might be next for me.

"One of most interesting things I found during my internship that in Washington, DC, politics, while it may look like it on the news, the politics there are not in any way, shape, or form as contentious as you might think. I saw that there were people who were doing their best to help out their states and their constituents without political animus. I saw people just doing their jobs."

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