For many people, going to Washington DC involves tour buses and guides, but for two college students from Erie, the experience is quite different.

Joseph Pinto, is a student at the University of Notre Dame. For the past 8 weeks he’s been an intern at Congressmen Kelly’s office, but he really works for the people of the third district. “Anything that can make their trip to the capitol a memorable one and one that they can reflect kindly upon their time seeing representative Kelly…then that’s something that I wanna try to help stream line and help make that a successful trip for them,” says Pinto.

Pinto’s internship is unpaid, but he says it is worth it. “To be able to say that I can give back to the people at their district, and I see how much everyone in this office and how much Representative Kelly does for the people is a nice sentiment that I can have some impact in their lives as well.”

Madelyn Zurinsky is a student at Gannon University and is part of the Junior Fellows Program at the Library of Congress. She has been working in the Rare Books Special Collections Division. “Working here has been a dream come true… I’ve wanted to be a librarian ever since I was a little girl, so to be at the largest library in the world is incredible,” said Zurinsky.

“From 1870-1890 there are a lot of items that are kept in these boxes…and I’ve been going through them and analyzing them and re-housing them and indexing them which has been a part of the big process,” Zurinsky tells us.

For Joseph and Maddelyn, their extraordinary view of Washington is coming to an end, but they both agree it’s an experience they’ll remember forever.

–Wilenie Sepulveda