Nicholas Hydukovich

Washington D.C. Summer Internship Program Summer 2002

Nick interned at the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs - Office of Congressional and Public Affairs, 810 Seventh Street NW, Washington, DC.

The Office of Congressional and Public Affairs (OCPA) for the Office of Justice Programs, which is a component of the United States Department of Justice.  The Office of Justice Programs (OJP) contains several office with many functions.  These functions include assisting victims of crime, preventing violence against women, conducting research and compiling statistics on various crimes and the victims of crimes, and allocating grants to states and local government as well as private organizations.  OCPA has several duties, which include working with Congress in matters relating to the OJP, answering public inquiries about the programs of the OJP, preparing general correspondence for the OJP, and disseminating information released to the public by the OJP.

Here is what Nick had to say about his Summer Study experience: "More than individual single tasks to be completed at my internship, being in Washington gave me insight about a newfound respect for the federal bureaucracy.  Often the bureaucracy is depicted as slow and inept. Although I observed a few bureaucratic procedures that were in my opinion wasteful, my experiences in Washington illustrated to me that most government workers are indeed hard working and quite concerned with the betterment of the nation as a whole.  In OCPA, for example, I saw many career bureaucrats working long hours and always trying to produce the best possible result.  Rather than the lazy, incompetent, or self-interested bureaucrats so often depicted in the media, these people did whatever necessary to complete the task at hand efficiently and effectively.  Perhaps more than anything, my internship showed me that "good government" does indeed exist.

My time in Washington has renewed my ambition to work either with or for the government in my career. Whether I work as a private attorney, a Congressional staffer, or a federal prosecutor, I have come to realize that I can make a contribution to a government that effectively serves its people."