A Day In the Life with Emerald Garret | Government & Politics: Civics for the American Experiment
How do government, politics, and civics work in everyday life? Join Emerald Garrett, a Senior Legislative Assistant as she shares her journey from a young student passionate about foreign languages to Congress. Learn how her unique path and dedication to public service have helped her contribute meaningfully to the legislative process.
This video ties into the Bill of Rights Institute's Government and Politics: Civics for the American Experiment curriculum, specifically Unit 3, which examines the purpose and role of the legislature in the Constitution. Emerald's story highlights the importance of young voices in shaping Congress and demonstrates the power of civic engagement in a representative democracy.
0:00 – We’re all here now and we all are connected by this shared interest that we have in trying to help and make a difference. (bright music) My name is Emerald Garrett. I am the senior legislative assistant for Congressman Clyburn. He represents
0:20 the sixth Congressional District of South Carolina. I first started thinking about my career when I was in middle school, and what prompted that was my mom starting to think about my career. I told her I was interested in foreign languages, and traveling, and different cultures. She looked up some of those careers and she said, "I think that you wanna be an ambassador."
0:41 And I said, "Okay, I don’t know what that is," but I looked at what she had researched, I’m like, "That sounds pretty cool. Yeah, I wanna be an ambassador." And so I just held onto that. Practically how I got here is through the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s, Emerging Leaders Internship Program, and also put me in touch with the congressional office. This was the Senate Health Education,
1:02 Labor, and Pensions Committee for me to do a three month internship for them. So they really covered everything that I would need to be able to sustain myself up here, and they also connected me with the job that I would do, and they taught me how to get a full-time job from that opportunity. And I think what got me interested in foreign cultures
1:24 and language was being exposed early on to anime. I was really into "Dragon Ball," "Dragon Ball Z," "Sailor Moon," and I was just so interested in learning more about the culture that produced these cartoons. And one day, I think I’d been in the office for two years, the Japanese ambassador came to meet with Congressman Clyburn.
1:46 And so I had the opportunity to introduce myself and the congressman in Japanese to the ambassador. And that was really exciting for me that I got to meet him, and not only that, but I had the opportunity to showcase the skill that I worked hard on and was really proud of. So that was really cool. (speaking Japanese)
2:07 And the second time that I remember something that was just really a surreal moment was when we got the Joseph H Rainey room dedicated. So Congressman Joseph H Rainey is the first elected African American member of the House of Representatives, and he was from Georgetown, South Carolina.
2:27 And that was just a moment in history that I got to be a part of. You can come from any background in school. There are people who were really into sports. I know people who were really competitive college level athletes that now work for comms directors, I think D one or D two basketball player. I know people who’ve been very successful in lacrosse.
2:49 I was into theater and I watched anime most of my free time, and cartoons. Like we have very different interests when we were in high school and middle school, and we’re all here now and we all are connected by this shared interest that we have in trying to help and make a difference. And yeah, I thought I would have to put all those things away, like stop watching cartoons and just only consume the news,
3:13 and only talk to people about serious things. I’ve met friends that really like to play Super Smash Bros here. It’s a really diverse group of people here, and it’s a really lively city, and you get to do very important work and you can still stay true to yourself and what you like to do. You might look on TV and think that this place is mostly comprised of like older, you know, like Gen X
3:36 or Boomers that are pulling all the levers, but most of the people around here are 20 or 30 years old and they just demonstrated that they know their stuff, that they’re reliable and they’re ambitious and they wanna help. So I think there’s a lot of opportunities for young people and there’s a huge community of us. What makes working here rewarding in spite of the chaos
3:59 is that what you’re doing, you really feel like it matters and is making a difference. Even if it’s a small, small pebble, you feel like you’re contributing even just a drop in the bucket. (bright music)
