Photo Courtesy of Dorothy Clark

Regardless of circumstances, graduating from college and joining the workforce can be a stressful experience. Add a global pandemic and a turbulent political climate into the mix, and the situation only becomes more complex. Such is the case with Hofstra graduate Dorothy Clark, who found herself working on Capitol Hill in one of the most challenging years to do so.

Graduating from Hofstra University in 2020 with a double major in political science and philosophy, Clark did not initially see herself in the job she has today. As she explains, “I actually didn’t anticipate ever coming to D.C., but I did an internship while I was at Hofstra, and I fell in love with the city, and I fell in love with how fast-paced the environment is.”  She goes on to describe how “when it comes to working on the Hill, I just love how there’s so many people who just want to make this world a better place. It’s so exciting, there’s always something happening, and there’s always the hope for something better.”

Upon moving to Washington D.C., Clark worked as a staff assistant, and was recently promoted to legislative correspondent. She works under U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer of Minnesota, who happens to represent the town that Dorothy was raised in. As a staff assistant, Clark took on a variety of responsibilities.

“The day kind of depends, it’s not like there’s always a set schedule. I mean, you turn the phones on at 9 a.m., and you just tackle each project that you have. As a staff assistant, I could be doing something different every single day,” Clark said. Some of her common projects include constituent correspondence, research for Emmer’s legislative team, sourcing press clips and media for the communications team and more.

“I feel like it’s been a very humbling experience,” Clark said, “like if I take anything away, it’s the fact that you can never know too much. There’s always more to learn, there’s always people to meet, there’s always more experiences to take hold of.” She explains the excitement of being able to “walk into a room and know you’re not the smartest person there, and you’re going to learn something by the time you walk out. 

With all the wonderful opportunities that Clark’s work brings her, there has also been a certain degree of challenge, especially considering the national and global events that have occurred during her nine months of employment. With the coronavirus pandemic disrupting jobs around the globe, recent college graduates such as Clark are left to enter the workforce in a stressful, unstable climate. On Capitol Hill, Clark works on a hybrid teleworking schedule, rotating half the staff between in-person and virtual work every couple of days. “It’s hard to move to a new city, it’s extra hard to move to a new city during a pandemic,” Clark explains. “So, I’ve been really, really fortunate that I have a great support system back home, and they’ve been super kind and helpful.”

On January 6, 2021, further tragedy struck. The insurrection that took place left Capitol Hill, and the nation as a whole, shaken. Luckily, Clark was working remotely that day, and thus witnessed the events unfolding from a distance. The situation was nonetheless nerve-wracking.

In the wake of the insurrection, work environments on Capitol Hill had to adapt yet again. Clark’s office came together to support one another through this difficult time. “Not only did we check in on each other in our physical well-being, but it was also our emotional well-being,” Clark said. “We’re truly like a team through the whole thing, and I think that goes to show a lot about the strength of our office, and even the Hill.”

Clark’s office and others like hers went on to offer various support groups in the form of webinars and sessions. Clark is a part of the Women’s Congressional Association, which offered their own Zoom calls and webinars pertaining to the event. According to Clark, “right away, they were just letting you talk about your thoughts, talk about your feelings, and you’re able to do it with a community of people who understand. You know, we all walk in through the same doors every single day, we all understand what it feels like to know what had happened.”

Despite everything, Clark remains optimistic for the future. “A lot of my feelings toward that event are just moving forward,” she says, “and truly trying to make a future that’s going to be better, that moves away from violence and moves towards compromise and communication.” She believes that the insurrection will keep Capitol Hill striving to improve, forcing government leaders to address deeper issues within the system at large.

A previous version of this article misspelled Dorothy Clark’s last name as “Clarke”.