Harris at City Hall

Internships offer students real-world experience and the opportunity to discover more about different career fields.  In senior Jacob Harris’ internship, he works for mayor Sly James of Kansas City on data entry, as well as researching facts for the mayor’s speeches and public addresses.

“My job has been to find other cities’ responses on gun control and gun violence,” Harris said.

Harris said that he got the job because of his interest in law enforcement and government.  He plans to double major in political science and economics.  He credits his decision to go into law because of how much he has enjoyed his time working for James.

Harris’ internship has opened up many opportunities that he otherwise may not have had.  He attended the United Nations state dinner and met Rep. Emanuel Cleaver.  He was also able to shadow James for a day.

According to Harris, the best part has been getting to see how politics take place from a governmental perspective rather than just a citizen’s perspective.

“We always think about how policies will affect us,” Harris said, “but people don’t often understand or realize what the city has to go through to allocate certain parts of the budget to one department over another.”

On Jan. 19, Harris had the chance to accompany the youth commission to meet with some students from the Ukraine to talk about education.

Harris side he enjoys his internship because of the real world experience that it has given him.

“What I do affects the community,” Harria said.