'Its a win, win, win, win': Cougs meet lawmakers on Capitol Hill

Students met with some of Utahs top officials on Jan. 23, including the attorney general, state auditor and a plethora of staff and representatives.

The Political Affairs Society, a part of the BYU Political Science Department, took its annual trip to the Capitol this past week. Each year, the club packs vans full of eager students and drives to Salt Lake City to participate in a tour of the Capitol, followed by "speed mentoring."

"Speed mentoring" involves placing two to three students with a state official for several minutes. They talk, get to know each other and receive valuable advice and connections.

State officials stressed the importance of these connections, explaining that they can be the difference-maker in clinching a job. They explained that connections lead to internships, and internships lead to jobs.

These kinds of university-sponsored networking events have led to countless opportunities for students. Dallin Bundy is one of those students.

Bundy is a Truman Scholar, Political Affairs Society co-president and works in the Governors Office. Now, he helps run the society's Capitol visits.

Bundys position, or something like it, was the goal for many students who took the trip.

Audrey Van Kooten is a sophomore studying political science at BYU. She shared her gratitude for the trip.

I'm very passionate about politics, and have been since early high school, and so I'm really interested to learn more, Van Kooten said.

Van Kooten also spoke about the benefits of a school-sponsored trip.

I can't always make the trip myself and so having a hosted event where there's vans that'll take me, like, right when I get out of class, it's just really helpful, she said.

Master's student Veronica Merritt studies religious education and has a background in organizational leadership. Merritt had similar praise for the event.

I loved it. I'm an organizational leadership kind of person and an adult education kind of person, so I'm big on education and pedagogy, and, you know, getting the content delivered and how it's done, Merritt said. And I think it was done really well. Today, the statehouse is beautiful, and of course, the food was good.

While some, like Van Kooten, seemed rock-solid on their future plans, several students went just to test the waters.

Julia Laverty, an elementary education major, attended the trip hoping to get a feel for the environment of state government.

I've been wanting to go up to Salt Lake City, so free road trip and some of my long-term goals involve going into educational legislation, so it seemed like a fun way to kind of dip my toes into this sort of atmosphere. And also I like being around people, and I knew there would be people here, she said.

Jobs, internships and opportunities are all important, but connections are the real end goal of these visits.

It's a win, win, win, win, Laverty said.