December 16, 2021
By Cameron Hardy
Allow me to use this space on the page to do the obligatory “this year was crazy” and follow it up with the poorly aged “looking forward I’m confident next year will be better”. However, despite the continuing global pandemic, I was fortunate enough to have an in-person experience at Triad – and I can confidently say that I am all the better for it.
I cherished every moment I spent in the office and every committee meeting I was able to attend (even when some lawmakers on the committee did not). When I was first informed of an internship opportunity with Triad, I had the gut reaction of thinking “lobbyist” was a dirty word and perhaps not how I wanted to begin my political career. But at the end of this 3-month journey, I am incredibly glad that I pushed that thought aside and applied. My time as a member of the Triad team was incredibly valuable. I got a behind the scenes look at “how the sausage gets made” and I have to say there are more wine tastings in the process than I expected.
I was recently asked to compile a list of everything that I have done during my time here. At the very top of the list, I wrote that I set every possible app on my office desktop to dark mode. I’m quite proud of that one. Among the other things I have accomplished here are writing bios on legislators and summaries of legislation, creating weekly summaries of everything that happened in session, and becoming incredibly familiar with Pennsylvania Legislative Services.
All of these experiences have provided me with not only a greater knowledge of how state government functions, but also a greater understanding of what I want to do with that knowledge. Of everything I have gained through this internship, I would say that the most valuable thing is the clarity that I now have regarding what I actually want to do with my political science degree when I graduate. My time as an intern has helped me develop an appreciation for the finer details of public policy that I intend to put to good use in my professional future.
By far the best part about working at Triad is the team I got to work with here. I had the unique opportunity to briefly work along side the intern that preceded me and share in his joy as he was hired full time by the firm. I want to thank Charles, Asa, and Olivia, and everyone at Triad for briefly taking me under your collective wings. I also feel that I owe a big thanks to my professor at Penn State, Jon Price, for recommending Triad. They do say that this business is all about who you know, and I am certain that I am better off now that I know everyone at Triad. Thank you again to the full team and best of luck to whoever comes next.