Dispatch from D.C.: Reporting from the seat of government is energizing my college career

Gawking up at all 555 feet of the Washington Monument against a snow-flurried night sky was not how I pictured spending my "last first day" of a semester as a senior set to graduate in May. 

Like many kids born and raised in Miami, I was sure about my choice to attend FIU. As a journalism student, I was less sure of my future in the profession for which I am studying.

Little did I know that the FIU-provided opportunity to move 1,000 miles northward to report on one of the most historic transitions of power would be the shakeup I needed. 

As I write this, I've been interning as a student reporter for Caplin News in the FIU in DC center for almost a week, and it's been nothing short of monumental. I've completed class assignments amid the centuries-old works in the Library of Congress and studied under news greats like bureau co-chiefs and professors Patricia Guadalupe, who is also a copy editor for Axios, and Adrianna Hopkins, an Emmy-award-winning anchor and reporter. And I crossed two things off my bucket list: seeing my first snowfall and throwing my first snowball.

Just two evenings ago, at a Biden appointee farewell event hosted at the FIU in DC hub, I met multiple high-profile Capitol Hill movers and shakers, among them Panthers such as Alex Howard ’15, the former assistant press secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, and William A. Ramos ’85, senior advisor to the Economic Development Administration within the U.S. Departmenet of Commerce. More than an opportunity to schmooze and connect, it was a chance to be inspired by a room filled with success stories that had walked the very same halls and eaten at the very same dining spots I had back in Miami. Surely I could join their ranks too, one day.

My day job, however, is to report on the first 100 days of the new presidency, one that will surely prove no less buzzworthy than its preceding campaign season. Each week will see me crank out a TV news package for our student multimedia news platform Caplin News, where you'll often catch me reporting live from sights like the Capitol and the White House. 

With Inauguration Day on the horizon, I've been hitting D.C.'s icy pavements to cover my first story while here, Florida GOP's weekend-long festivities. Starting Sunday, I'll be zipping across the Hill to meet with state Republican leaders as they pick up ceremony tickets and I press them on what they'll expect from the new administration. Early Monday morning, I'll be navigating the tall, black perimeter fencing surrounding the Capitol grounds to meet with caravans of Floridians who will have spent 24 hours driving just to watch a jumbotronthe as the new president is sworn in. 

As I write this, I'm equal parts excited, overwhelmed and itching to get out there already. It'll be a long and eventful — not to mention cold — three months, but as I stand here at the start of it, I'm reminded of all the Panthers that came before me to lead the way.

Tune in to the Caplin News YouTube channel next week to watch student coverage of the inauguration.