“Probably the thing I’ll take away the most is both sides want to see America get better, to prosper and grow,” Gross said. “It’s simply a question of how do we do that. Both sides have their ideas of how to make the country better, it’s just coming to common ground, and then you can move forward. But sometimes it doesn’t go as easily as it will other times.”
The time working with legislators increased Gross’ desire for a career in politics.
“The thing that people don’t understand is there’s just so much to do,” the political science major said. “I’m going to put 98 percent of my time this year trying to focus on getting back there. I really just fell in love with the city.”
He would like to be congressional staffer and might consider running for office locally some day.
Gross had never met Boehner before the internship, although he had seen the Speaker at Wetherington Golf Course and Country Club, where Boehner is a member. Gross, 21, has worked at the golf course during the summer since he was 13 when he started out as a caddie. He now works as a bag-room attendant and a junior golf camp instructor.
In Washington, Gross met with Boehner about half a dozen times.
One of Gross’ responsibilities included going to hearings and taking notes. He’s interested in national defense and intelligence, so he was able to attend hearings with FBI Director Robert Mueller, Sen. John McCain and Sen. John Kerry.
The other part of Gross’ job was working with constituents. The interns made sure any fax, letter or call received a timely response.
“My favorite thing was doing the constituent tours of the Capitol,” he said. “You can schedule a free tour of the Capitol through your congressman’s office. So people would come in, and we would take them on that.
“Any chance I got to go in there, I took it, because the building was beautiful. I loved being there.”
He says he parents, Sally and Troy Gross, aren’t politically active, but they were thrilled he received the internship.
“They were just as excited as I was,” he said. “I couldn’t have done it without their support.”
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