Ashley TerryField Period JournalsSummer 2014

Day 1: 5/23/14Today was a very exciting day. I was able to meet the Congressman for the first time.

Our first part of the day we went to a Rotary meeting where the Congressman was the honored guest for the afternoon. I got to observe how a rotary meeting ran and see Congressman Gibson give a small speech. Then we went to a campaign kick-off where he invited veterans and spoke about hoping to get re-elected in the fall. After, we took pictures, handed out signs, flyers, and bumper stickers, and talked to constituents. When this was all over all the interns helped pick up. After I met with my supervisor and she showed me a bit about what I would be doing in the coming weeks while in the office. She expressed that today was a more exciting day than most and that I would usually be doing data entry and filing.

Day 2: 5/27/14Today was a more quiet, learning day. I filed paperwork for most of the day. While

filing I learned about the different topics Congressman Gibson focuses on. I also got to read some of the letters sent to him through the office. Some were of support while others were complaints. It was very interesting to see all that must be kept in the office. I also had to file closed cases, this helps in case something new happens to come up or Paula just needs to make a reference back to an old case. Paula also discussed more of what I will be doing during my time there. I also got to send a Privacy Action Release Form, also called a PARF, and learned about franked mail.

Day 3: 5/29/14Today I was given more to do. To start the day out I observed Paula working a bit more

before she put me at the desk for the afternoon. She taught me about Fireside, which is the program used to log in information about cases. For the rest of the day I answered some phone calls, read emails, and printed awards for upcoming ceremonies Paula and Chris were going to. I also prepared Paula for her meetings next week by printing out what her meetings were and any important information that went along with it. We put them in folders so she could just grab them when she was ready to go. The last couple hours she had to leave so I was in the office by myself. During this time I logged in contact information, filed more paperwork, and sent another PARF.

Day 4: 6/3/14

Today I was in the office by myself the whole day. Paula was out with the Congressman at a presentation and then a funeral of a very important man. During the day I logged in more contact information, answered telephones and read emails. While answering telephones I could not really do much so I had to take down as much information as possible for Paula to get when she came back the next day. After each phone call I had to log it into fireside, this involved finding the constituent in the program and writing a brief summary of what they had to say. I got some calls involving case work and some that just wanted to make their opinion known about certain issues. Paula had a meeting the in the office about a case but could not make it so I had to take up the persons information and let them know she will give them a call as soon as she can. The office also received a PARF via snail mail which I then scanned into the computer and uploaded into Fireside.

Day 5: 6/5/14Today was a short day, Paula was very busy on the computer doing casework so I could

not do much. Most of the work she has me doing is on the computer and she tries to schedule meetings out of the office the days I am there. While I was at the office I made collages of the Congressman to hang on the back wall of the office. I also read some articles about the Congressman in local newspapers to learn more about his views and the topics he finds most important. Before leaving for the day, I filed more paperwork and tried to fix a part on the filing cabinet in order for more papers to be filed.

Day 6: 6/10/14Today I did the same general thing I will be doing from here on out. I entered more

contacts into the computer, answered phones, filed paperwork, sent more PARFs, logged in information on Fireside and got Paula ready for her events. I also started to make phone calls to constituents and witnessed more constituents come into the office. We received a letter in the office that was a bunch of opinion polls from some high schoolers in the district. Paula had me get there addresses to send a response back to them. Paula also had me work on cases and start a new case. It was nice to see that the photos I set up earlier were hung up on the wall behind the computer.

Day 7: 6/12/14Today I had to come in a bit later than normal because the second computer is still not up

and she had a lot of computer work she needed to get done. While I was there I filed more paperwork, answered phones and worked on some cases. Paula showed me a new part of Fireside today called mailroom that is where she sees all the cases that are referred to her. We worked on some together and ended up starting some new cases because of it. A few were just comments, but Paula made sure to call the person anyway to check up. After that she had a few events to get to so I stayed in the office to continue answering phones. Between phone calls I would look up any events in Delaware county newspapers that might be a good place for the congressmen to stop by at. I had to enter the information into the universal calendar entitled

“What’s Doin’ in Delaware” and forward it to Paula. Before I left a man came in and donated money to Congressman Gibson’s reelection campaign.

Day 8: 6/7/14Before I start today I wanted to mention something that happened to me yesterday at my

job. I work for the ARC and there was an award banquet this past weekend. One of the consumers I work with received an award and a bunch of certificates from the areas government officials, one of the certificates was one a printed out weeks earlier at the congressman's office. It was very cool to see the work I was doing was reaching outside the office. The consumer was very happy and proud of her certificates and awards and I was happy I was able to be a part of that.

While at the office I organized paperwork, opened mail, updated cases, answered phone calls and read more articles on the congressman. I also tried to set up a computer to be able to work on cases and answer phones the same time as Paula. However, we could not figure it out and are waiting on IT. We also watched a video on Congressman Gibson’s opponent, Sean Eldridge. We observed how he conducted himself in an interview and listened to his opinions on different topics. Paula noticed he was a very good speaker. I specifically felt that him and Congressman Gibson had very similar ideas about certain topics, but different opinions how to change and implement them.

Day 9: 6/19/14Today I was alone in the office, Paula gave me a big project to work on all day. I had to

go through all her cases and make sure they all had the information they needed. If they did not I was to upload the missing information into fireside. I also had to make sure her hard files were up-to-date and remove any closed cases to get filed. I also answered phones, read more articles, and updated events. When I was done with the cases I added more contacts into her contact book before heading home for the day.

Day 10: 6/24/14Today there was not much excitement. I did the same general things I do most days, took

phone calls, file paperwork, entered contacts, scanned files, sent mail and updated cases. I also searched for information that Paula needed as well as finally fixed the filing cabinet. Paula also had me look for articles with the congressman’s name in it and any articles that had information about the big topics the office is dealing with at the time. One of these topics is the Constitution Pipeline, there is a lot of controversy regarding this pipeline in the district. I found out today that Congressman Gibson and his offices can write recommendation letters for people in search of a new job. Paula had to write one today and made a bunch of phone calls to make sure this person was worth writing a recommendation for. This may be a possible idea for my future job search.

Day 11: 6/26/14

I started alone today, I almost did not think I was going to make it in because of the severe flooding in my area. While there I answered a phone call regarding the flooding updating me about the road closings. I also read emails and articles about the congressman. When Paula arrived, she had me look for articles regarding the congressman in the local papers, update cases, open snail mail, and send faxes. She had to leave early so she left me to update the Delaware county calendar and contacts.

Day 12: 7/1/14When I walked in today there was a phone conference just starting. Paula had me take

notes. It was about a program that is going to be held regarding a local river. After the meeting was over, roughly an hour and a half later, Paula had me open and send snail mail, read emails and articles, and label some folders. After lunch, and for the rest of the day I worked on getting my computer set up so Paula and I could work at the same time. There were problems and I am going to have to try again Thursday. Hopefully the computer gets set up before I finish this Field Period.

Day 13: 7/3/14I started the day alone. I read articles, updated contacts, and filed paperwork while

waiting for Paula. Once Paula was there I observed her working and helped to work on a few cases. I got a phone call to work on the computers, unfortunately the original man that I was working with last week never let his colleagues know that they needed to call our office. The woman that called me about the computers said I would have to wait until he got back from vacation. This is getting very frustrating. Paula had to leave early so I was able to do computer work while she was gone on her computer. I answered more phone calls, sent and read emails, updated the calendar and searched for more articles on the congressman.

Day 14: 7/8/14This week I am alone in the office because Paula is on vacation. I had to listen to any

messages left and call back everyone who was having a question regarding their case. I had to inform them that Paula is out of the office this week and she will get back to them as soon as possible. If the caller sounded angry or upset in some way I was to contact Paula and she would see what she could do from vacation. I got one angry call and an email from different people, but most of the day was smooth sailing with few calls. Most of the day I did the standard of answering phone calls, updating cases, filing paperwork, reading emails, reading articles on the congressman, entering contacts and updating the calendar. While emailing I was informed that if I ever wanted to stop down to DC I just had to let the office know. This excites me because I love DC and I really want to do a field period and maybe even work there. I will definitely keep this in mind for my next Field Period option. Still no update on the computers.

Day 15: 7/10/14

While alone today because Paula is still on her vacation I did the same old things. Worked on cases, answered phone calls, read emails, etc. The office did receive some snail mail and a few constituents came in, but the majority of my day was transferring contacts from Paula’s big notebooks into the computer. I did not get very far though. There were not a lot of phone calls and the ones I did get said they would just wait for Paula to return on Monday. Kind of a boring job when you are not the main person who knows what they are doing.

Day 16: 7/15/14Today, Paula was back in the office and was very busy playing catch up. I tried to get the

computer working and the man told me he would call back later, he never did. I did end up getting it to connect to the internet though. I also tried to connect my securID, but that did not work either, very frustrating. So for the rest of the day I ran some errands and made calendars for events going on. This took most of the day and I will have more to do on Thursday. A couple constituents came in today and called wondering what Chris’ views were on the recent immigration bill going through Congress. They seemed very upset about it. Paula also invited me to Fair on the Square in Delhi on Friday. They will be campaigning for Chris there. She also invited me to the county fair when the congressman goes. I am pretty excited about this, they both should be great learning experiences to see how on the road campaigning goes. However, Paula told me that this race is very mild compared to two years ago and the man the congressman is running against, Eldridge, is already around 30 points behind Chris. Paula also made the interesting point of if Eldridge wants to change the way congress is being ran why run against someone who is doing a good job? There are many people in congress who are not doing any good there or have been there too long and he has enough money to move anywhere, so why here? This makes a lot of sense to me, Eldridge seems like there is some other agenda he is after.

Day 17: 7/17/14Today I worked on a large community calendar and looked up events in the newspapers,

as well as articles on the congressman. Two constituents came in that were having a problem with the VA. While talking with Paula and I about the problem they were having, Paula had to keep digging for information because they were not giving her much. After they left she pointed this out to me and some of the flaws in their story, as well as how their story kept changing with the more questions she asked. I hardly noticed, which is why I am the intern and she is the constituent representative. Paula had to leave early so I closed up the day by working on some cases.

Day 18: 7/18/14Today was Fair on the Square. We had a tent on the strip and handed out lawn signs,

bumper stickers and pamphlets about the congressman. We had a lot of constituents come up to us with questions or just wanted to comment about the congressman. A lot of people in the area seem to like him, which is great for the campaign. Some people did come and complain of course, but Paula handled it very well and I was very impressed. I hope to have her people skills

one day. It was great to be out of the office and interact with all these new people. I enjoyed myself and I hope they invite me to the county fair in August.

Day 19: 7/22/14I was alone today, Paula has another short vacation this week, but she will be back

Thursday, my last day! When I came in I listened to the messages and called the people back to let them know Paula was out of the office and will be back Thursday. I also logged the calls into Fireside and left a note for Paula with the person’s contact information. Then I read the emails to see if there was anything that needed to be logged into Fireside and read the most recent articles on the Congressman. I continued the rest of my day with finishing up the community calendar, filing papers, and checking the local papers for Gibson articles. There were a few phone calls, but none wanted to leave a message, they just said they would try back when Paula was there. I finished the day by updating the contacts from “Big Bertha”.

Day 20: 7/24/14Today was my last day in the office. It was a bit sad because Paula is such a great

supervisor and person. However, she said she will contact me whenever the congressman is in the area so I can join with them to get more ‘in the field’ experience. I will be joining them at the county fair on August 12th, it should be a good day. While at the office we received more newspapers so I looked through them and updated the community calendar. I also found a few articles on Congressman Gibson that were sent to his media advisor. I finally set up the laptop and the intern email for the next intern that comes. Before heading home I sent some constituents letters through franked mail and closed a few cases.