The Experiences of a CUA Hilltern -

Noah Slayter

By John Maggio

Matthew Michels is a senior at The Catholic University of America majoring in politics and German studies. During his last semester at CUA, he started his first Congressional internship, colloquially known as being a “Hilltern.”

Michels interns for Rep. Brendan Boyle (PA-02) and lives just outside of his district. He spends most of his time answering phone calls from the Congressman’s constituents in the northeast area of Philadelphia.

“It’s been a great experience to work on the Hill and see how a Congressional office really works, walking through the halls of Congress, bumping into familiar faces that you see on TV every day,” Michels said.

As a Hilltern, part of Michel’s job is to give tours to guests of the congressional office. One of these tours is a favorite memory of his during his time interning for Boyle.

Boyle is proud of his Irish ancestry and is known for his work with NATO and the EU, so regularly having European officials in his office is not uncommon. One of these officials was Simon Harris, the then Irish Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. Matt gave a tour to Harris, and about a month later, Harris became Ireland’s newest Taoiseach.

“I get to say that I know the Irish Prime Minister, which not a lot of people get to say,” Michels said.

During his time at CUA, Michels has had his favorite classes with a former politics professor.

“Any class taught by Dr. White is definitely a favorite of mine,” Michels said, “I just like his style of lecturing, which is just honestly telling a story and the history of whatever topic we were talking about that day, always kept me engaged.”

The courses taught by Dr. White that he took were the American Presidency, Political Parties, and American Public Opinion.

Michels has been looking forward to graduation and is excited for his Senior Week.

“[I’m] looking to take it easy these next few weeks,” Michels said.

When looking at job prospects on Capitol Hill post-graduation, Michels had some insightful thoughts.

“There are a lot of openings on the Hill, but it doesn’t really matter what you know, but who you know,”Michels said. “So to folks looking to get into all that, to work on the Hill post-graduation, I’d really recommend if you intern on the Hill to grab coffee with as many folks as you can, try to find people from your hometown or home state.”