Chaminade alumnus Patrick McBride has a new perspective on the way things get really get done in Congress after recently completing an internship there.
As he competed his freshman year at the University of Richmond last month, McBride worked for five weeks in the office of Rep. Peter King (R- Seaford), initially expecting that he would spend most of his time answering phones and running errands for King’s regular staffers.
But the New Hyde Park resident was assigned to cover some sessions of the House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee with Iran’s nuclear aspirations as the primary topic.
“The cool part about it was sometimes the staffers let me go to hearings or meetings. I took notes and I would write up reports,” McBride said.
Seeing King’s staff in action was the real eye-opener during the five-week stint.
“It was nice to see things that you don’t really see on TV. The biggest thing I didn’t know is that Congress is basically run by the staffers,” McBride said.
He said King has four or five regular staffers who “basically do the hard work” of researching topics for the congressman.
McBride’s entree to the internship came through his older brother Michael, also a Chaminade graduate, who had also done an internship with King and gave his younger brother a recommendation.
Last summer, he worked at the New Hyde Park Funeral Home with his father, Michael McBride, who is director there.
Both this year and last Patrick assisted his father in the annual Katie’s Run 5K to honor his late younger sister, Katie, who died from a rare form of cancer at age 11 four years ago.
As a business major at Richmond, McBride said he doesn’t have an interest in politics as a career, but was eager to have the same Capitol experience as his brother.
“I really wanted to do the Peter King internship. I’m not really looking for a future in politics, but I thought it would be a cool thing,” he said.
His duties included giving visitors to King’s office tours of the Capitol, including the House gallery while that chamber was in session.
“It’s actually very confusing with all the underground tunnels and everything,” he said.
He stayed with a Richmond classmate who lives in Alexandria and also enjoyed the companionship of several other Richmond students who were working as congressional interns.
In their off hours, they took in the sights around Washington, including the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument and the Smithsonian Institution.
“I think the Library of Congress is probably the nicest building,” he said.
A member of the National Honor Society at Chaminade, McBride was accepted at the University of Richmond to play lacrosse on a $30,000 scholarship.
McBride received the Jack Lenz Semper Fidelis Award as Chaminade High School’s top senior athlete when he graduated last year. Playing as a linebacker for the Chaminade Flyers football team, he had also won the Gerard Benyo Most Outstanding Varsity Football Player Award.
As much as he enjoyed his congressional internship, he’s not interested in becoming a full-time staffer.
“Staff work is a lot of hours and not a lot of pay,” McBride said.
He said he’s sticking with his original plan to follow his older brother’s lead in aiming at a career in accounting.
