Students Fit the Bill(s) in State Government

Ever since she suffered a concussion in high school while playing lacrosse, Lexi Sens ’28 has been passionate about brain health. Four years later, she got to take her experience from the field all the way to behind statehouse doors.

Interning this spring in the Maryland General Assembly for Del. Jamila Woods of Prince George’s County, Sens wrote testimony for House Bill 825, which would establish the Maryland Brain Health Grant Fund and develop brain health screening guidelines.

“It was a personal bill to a lot of us,” said Sens, a global health and international relations major who’s working with colleagues to bolster the bill for next session. “I was definitely proud of the work that I did.”

The Auburn, Mass., native is one of 79—a record number—of University of Maryland Fellows Program students and alums interning with the General Assembly during the 90-day session that ends April 13. The yearlong program, housed in the Office of Undergraduate Studies, aims to equip Terps with the skills and experience needed for careers in public service.

“I’ve been impressed with how they’ve been able to take the opportunity and run with it,” said UMD Fellows Program Director Jay Arasan. “Being able to apply what they’re learning in the classroom in their internship is just a life-changing experience.”

The program includes three branches: Federal, Global and the new-ish Maryland Fellows, which launched in Fall 2023 and helped drive interest in General Assembly internships. The 240 students, who span 50 majors, take one of 13 fall seminars taught by expert practitioners to learn about the policy-making process, with topics ranging from political engagement and advocacy to public health policy to science diplomacy. That prepares them to apply for credit-earning internships in the spring at local, state and federal agencies, nonprofits, international organizations or, for many, the Maryland General Assembly.

To ensure equitable access, UMD offers bus service to Annapolis so that transportation costs never stand between a student and the statehouse.

Full eight-hour days in Annapolis thrust the undergrads into the ins and outs of state government as they study policies, respond to constituents, take meetings, write memos and prepare bills. For example, Joyce Banjo ’26, now in her second year interning for Del. Nicole A. Williams (many Fellows alums intern for more than one year), conducted background research for House Bill 577, which would ban a certain kind of machine gun convertible pistol. Reintroducing the bill this session, the government and politics major from Upper Marlboro, Md., gave personal testimony, discussing the 2023 shooting at Morgan State University, another public campus not far from her own. And international relations major Andie Dybala ’26, also interning again for House Speaker Joseline A. Peña-Melnyk, helped collaborate with the family of Matthew McHale, who died while working on a boat in 2016, to pass House Bill 1322 (Matthew’s Law) to require carbon monoxide warning labels on gas-powered vessels.

“I thought I’d just be behind a phone, taking the standard intern kind of duties. But having these responsibilities of having to handle bills throughout the session, making sure you keep everything up to date, that was something I really enjoyed,” said Dybala, from Essex, Md. “It’s prepared me even more to transition into other positions and into the workforce.”

While the fast-paced and sometimes unfamiliar statehouse environment often seems intimidating to the students at first, that need to network and present helps push them out of their comfort zones.

“I have performance anxiety all the way. I remember starting school and giving a random presentation for a class and almost shaking,” Dybala said. “Throughout these two years that I’ve interned with the MGA, I’ve been able to really improve that.”

Those skills have proved beneficial as the fellows pursue careers in government, policy, law and more—with the feeling of making a difference leaving a lasting impression.

“It’s great to get that practical experience as I’m learning,” Banjo said. “It’s not for just a grade. It’s actually impacting constituents and impacting my community.”