Carolyn Richardson and Steve Thackston
Every year, the Georgia General Assembly culls a cohort of interns from state colleges and universities through the Georgia Legislative Internship Program. Georgia State University, administrative home to the GLIP under the direction of Dr. BillThomas since 1987, has been sending exceptional students through the program since it began in 1969.
Once the interns are chosen, they are assigned to offices in the Georgia House of Representatives or the Georgia Senate, where they have responsibilities ranging from providing constituentservices to tracking legislation, to performing administrative tasks, to taking notes at committee meetings. Only about 35 students statewide are picked to be interns each year, and Georgia State typically garners five to eight of those 35 slots. This session, GSU has eight interns, selected from a field of 27 applicants.