All through high school, and now at Cal State Fullerton, Sophia Darvish has always sought out opportunities that enrich her mind and help shape her passions.
Among the most fulfilling of those opportunities for Darvish, who is in her fourth semester at CSUF, was her participation in the Panetta Congressional Internship Program.
As a Panetta Scholar, Darvish, a criminal justice major, spent the Fall 2023 semester in an 11-week internship in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington D.C.
The Panetta Institute was founded and is co-directed by Leon Panetta and his wife, Sylvia. Panetta served in several Democratic administrations as Secretary of Defense, director of the CIA and White House Chief of Staff.
As part of the internship, congressional representatives, along with state and local elected officials, taught the interns policy issues related to income inequity, inflation, health care and Middle East politics.
The first two weeks of the internship took place in August at Cal State Monterey Bay, where the interns attended lectures, including lectures given by Panetta himself.
“We were learning all about the government and bipartisanship and basically how things work,” Darvish said. “And then we were sent to D.C. and spent 11 weeks there working full time for a member of the House of Representatives.”
In Washington, Darvish worked as a legislative intern for U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal of California’s 24th District, which encompasses portions of San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.
Her duties included preparing and maintaining reports and memos, drafting letters to constituents, organizing messages from constituents, answering phone calls, attending briefings and giving tours of the U.S. Capitol building.
Only 25 students from the CSU system, Santa Clara University, St. Mary’s College of California and Dominican University of California are selected for the internship.
Students’ housing, tuition and travel are funded by…
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