University of Florida students have been given a front row seat to the inner workings of state and national politics and the opportunity to kick off their careers in the discipline.

Through the Bob Graham Center for Public Service, the Washington and Tallahassee internship programs give students from various majors valuable experience and their first taste of life in politics. Bob Graham Center Experiential Learning Coordinator and Lecturer Kevin Bird, Ph.D., said both programs offer specific developmental benefits to the students, but the confidence they have by the end of the internship is among the most crucial.

“They are categorically amazed by how much they learned about the different possibilities for themselves, and they have confidence that they could track one of these opportunities down and do it,” Bird said. “They’ve seen themselves function in very fast-moving, demanding situations, and they have risen to the occasion in one of the most complex contexts that you have.”

Tallahassee Internship Program

In Spring 2026, the Bob Graham Center sent eight students to Tallahassee. Lillian Ehlers, now a fourth-year political science major, spent the Tallahassee Internship Program (TIP) term with Representative Robin Bartleman.

For about three months, Ehlers tracked Bartleman’s bills, greeted constituents, staffed meetings, updated her social media accounts and more. She said while undergraduate classes gave her an idea of how bills are passed and what to expect, joining the program revealed the intricacies of life in politics.

Ehlers also said her experience in TIP was “extremely hands-on,” which she didn’t expect before starting the internship. Since she worked alongside a small office staff, she had more responsibilities than anticipated. This also meant Ehlers had more access to her representative.

“Rather than trying to just do everything on my own and do as much as I possibly could, I prioritized asking for help when I needed help, sometimes even from my representative directly,” Ehlers said. “She would give me a task, and if I didn’t fully understand or I had questions, she had a very open office, and it was a very accepting environment. They just wanted me to learn, so I felt very comfortable asking them for their guidance.”

Since the program was created in 2009, 228 UF students have completed the internship.

While in Tallahassee, the students also benefit from invaluable ongoing guidance from UF’s Office of Government and Community Relations, which also pairs the students with their political office for the session. Every Friday they meet at the Tallahassee office with Chris Emmanuel, assistant vice president of government relations, for an in-depth class on the legislative process.

Manager of State Government Relations Mike Murtha said the office is also always available for everyday questions. In fact, he said he still hears from former interns looking for advice.

“They have to be extremely professional, and we have been fortunate over the years that the vetting process (Kevin) Bird does in the Graham Center is very rigorous, so we get the highest caliber of students that come through here,” Murtha said. “They’re great ambassadors for the university.”

Washington Internship Program

During the spring semester, the Bob Graham Center also sent 12 students to intern in Washington, D.C. Since its inception in 2020, 118 UF students have finished the D.C. internship. Political science and history major Jess Chisholm, now a fourth-year student, interned for Congresswoman Lois Frankel for about four months this spring.

Chisholm said he mostly handled administrative tasks, like taking phone calls and emails, greeting guests, helping run meetings and compiling news stories for his congresswoman. While her schedule didn’t allow as many one-on-one interactions, he said he still learned a lot through their limited conversations and by being around her.

Chisholm said he developed his general knowledge by attending briefings and built confidence in himself over the course of the internship, but he also had the chance to learn outside of his daily work. Since he lived with the other Washington Internship Program (WIP) participants during his time in D.C., they networked whenever possible.

“We all were friends with each other, and we tried to go to things with each other,” Chisholm said. “We particularly emphasized going to networking opportunities and talking to people. We went to the Florida House a lot and were able to befriend some people that went there often.”

Bob Graham Center Support

Kiley Wenger, now a fourth-year political science and economics major and communication studies minor, participated in both TIP and WIP. She completed TIP in Spring 2026 with Representative Hillary Cassel and went through WIP in Spring 2025 with Representative John Rutherford. In the summer of 2025, she stayed in D.C. to work with Senator Ashley Moody.

One of her favorite aspects of the internship was feeling the support the Bob Graham Center provided her and the other interns. For WIP and TIP students, the center provides a stipend and housing. In 2025, her time with Rutherford was through the Washington program, but she had to support herself financially while in Moody’s office.

“After I completed my spring internship in DC, I had to support myself through the summer one,” Wenger said. “It made me extra appreciative, after paying for housing in DC for a month and a half, of how much the Bob Graham Center invests in its students and all of the networking opportunities they provide.”

The Fall 2026 cohort of students has been selected, but at the start of that semester, the Bob Graham Center will open applications for the Washington and Tallahassee internship programs for Spring 2027.