T h e W a s h i n g t o n B u s
In the Fall and Winter of my freshman year, I had the privilege of being an intern with the Washington Bus. As an intern in the winter, I was working with the Bus staff and my fellow interns to advocate and lobby during this legislative session. We were all following a couple of bills. 2 of mine were HB 1406 (tax the billionaires bill) and HB 1153 (increase language accessibility in public schools bill). HB 1406 died fairly early, but HB 1153 passed and I was so ecstatic to have been part of that effort. Over the course of the quarter, I learned a lot about the legislative process and how to get involved by submitting written testimony, participating in phone banks, signing in pro, and even doing virtual testimony at public hearings for bills. I also had the exciting opportunity of participating in the Washington Bus lobby day where we were able to have meetings with various legislators and tell them why bills mattered to us on a personal level. It was a crazy experience and I learned more than I ever thought I would! Here is the document that I used to track all of my bills over the course of the internship. This has all my bills, the ones that died and the ones that passed. I am very proud of how it looks with the organized color coding. It contains all of my research and notes and is a reminder of all my hard work!
Winter of my sophomore year, I started interning with the ASUW Office of Inclusive Design as their multimedia intern. I learned so much about accessibility and inclusive design as I managed their social media through Spring quarter. I also gained an appreciation for the community found within ASUW.
Also in Winter of my sophomore year, I started an internship with the Alliance for Gun Responsibility. This continued through Winter quarter of my junior year. I was able to work through two legislative sessions and one electoral season. There was a lot of phone banking, door knocking, and overall communicating with volunteers. A lot of what I did was just a deeper level of the work that I did with the Washington Bus my freshman year. I was able to take the volunteer engagement and research skills I learned back then, furter develop them, and apply them in a more intense way. it was a crazy experience and I learned so much about what goes into organizing.
Fall of my junior year, I started as the Assistant Director of the ASUW Gender Equity Commission. I had had such a great experience with ASUW my sophomore year as an intern, I wanted to continue my work. I loved that it was such a community focused role.
Also Fall of my junior year, I joined the Bricolage board as the Social Media Coordinator. I had participated with them my sophomore year by having one of my collages featured in their journal, and I wanted to take on a role of leadership. I had so much fun with the creative freedom the team gave me and was able to unite my love for creating visuals with the literary community.