Noemí, Blog 5, July 19th

    This past week at RESULTS felt like my busiest yet. I feel my leadership and responsibilities increasing and it makes me both excited and anxious at the same time. I had three congressional meetings back to back from Wednesday to Friday. On Wednesday, I met with Senator Durbin’s office a second time. We discussed the permanent expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit. The legislative assistant we met with is named James Floyd and although I have been to less than 10 congressional meetings, I think James is the youngest staff member I have met with. While we did discuss these two policies and what needs to be done to get them permanently expanded, I also took advantage of this time to ask career questions about his experience. I appreciated his honesty when I asked what was something he disliked and liked about his job. He told me working online from home was definitely hard because the Hill environment is something that really motivates him. But something he likes is when he sees how hard work pays off like when an important bill that will really make a difference is finally passed. He explained how everyday he learns more and more about a topic he thinks he knows a lot about. I resonated with that same sentiment especially the last few weeks. For example, I thought I knew a decent amount about housing but starting with RESULTS, we jumped into topics I never dived deeper into like eviction.

    Another meeting that was significant to me was meeting with Caleb Gilchrist from Representative Danny Davis’ office to discuss global policies. Honestly, he didn’t get into specifics about anything they’re working on but I also had the opportunity to ask him any advice he would have for a college intern. In many words, he concluded that professional life really has a lot to do with networking and how he believes relationships are the most important thing because they are the key to success. This reminds me of the presentation Nica did on community organizing. She expressed how important genuine relationships are as well. I think I always knew this but I will keep this in mind as I navigate my last year at AU and whatever comes after.

    I am grateful for many things this week. I was sick for weeks but the last couple days I have started to feel so much better. The beginning of this past week it was a bit hard to get the motivation to do many things I had to because I wasn’t feeling well but now that I feel better, I am ready to go into this next week and continue forward with new projects with RESULTS. I am also proud of myself for leading three important meetings that I can say I took a lot from. Additionally, this weekend I spent much needed recovery and self care time by being with good friends. I am realizing a lot about myself and who I am in my professional and personal life as well as how I need to go through life to keep both healthy.