A Day In the Life with Jaydn Smith | Government & Politics: Civics for the American Experiment
How do government, politics, and civics work in everyday life? Join Jaydn Smith a Senior Legislative Assistant as he shares his journey from growing up on a Nebraska farm to Congress. Learn how his passion for public service and dedication to helping his community have allowed him to craft impactful legislation and contribute meaningfully to the legislative process.
0:00 – I have an opportunity to actually craft legislation and policy that impacts my home. (soft music) So my name is Jaydn Smith and I’m senior legislative assistant for Congressman Don Bacon. I tell people that I’m a babysitter of laws.
0:22 That I handle legislation from the time that it’s an idea to the time that it actually gets signed into law. Basically, my job is to do all the legwork to actually get bill ideas signed into law. I have an opportunity to actually craft legislation and policy that impacts my home, the state of Nebraska,
0:44 and serve the people that, you know, that I am here to help serve. I have the opportunity to fix significant problems in people’s lives. And so that’s very rewarding. I grew up on a farm in Nebraska. Part of farming is you gotta work on equipment and stuff like that. I learned how to weld. I loved it,
1:07 but I was welding the same thing over and over every single day, and that just, I didn’t find that very fun. I’ve always been interested in government. I’ve always, you know, been interested in politics. I also really enjoy arguing and debating people.
1:28 So I said, well, I’ll go be a lawyer. So then I went into undergrad and I went through all that process. Had you told me that I was gonna be here, I’d said absolutely no way. I probably would’ve said, I’m not qualified enough. You know, when I came here as an intern, I thought that the people who worked here, you know, graduated from Harvard
1:49 and Yale and Georgetown and Princeton, but I could not have been more surprised. I mean, everyone here, I mean, they take everybody. As long as you have something to contribute, you have a place here, somebody’s willing to give you a chance. It’s full of people who wanna serve. And interns here play an incredibly important role.
2:12 You know, they, it doesn’t sound like much, but they answer phones for when constituents call, and we get thousands of phone calls every single year, and their job is to make sure that those constituents are heard. At the end of the day, we’re just looking for people who have a drive to serve. Also, Washington DC is crazy interesting.
2:33 I mean, every corner there is history. And so, you know, if you have ADHD like me, you can be easily distracted. So, I’m a history nut. I absolutely love history. So, you know, you can be walking down the mall and look down and see a plaque that says, you know, George Washington, you know, gave a speech right here, or something like that.
2:54 I’ve been here for four years now, and I can still walk on the streets and see something new every time. So there’s plenty of stuff here. The first time that I walked on the house floor, you know, that is a sacred place. You know, when you look at everything
3:16 that’s happened in there, I mean, that’s where presidents give the State of the Union. You know, you watch it on TV. Every law that this country’s ever passed originates there, and that’s huge. I didn’t come from a politically active family. I had an appreciation and a love for my state and my home,
3:38 but my world was kind of a, you know, a 25 mile radius from my house. It wasn’t until that I got here that I really developed a love and an appreciation for my state. (soft music)
