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Date: 6/13/2019
WILBRAHAM – A Minnechaug Regional High School student got a taste of politics this spring with a chance to work on Beacon Hill for a day. Kaitlyn Acciardo worked as an intern in the office of Massachusetts state Sen. Eric P. Lesser and was able to staff for him on the Senate floor while they debated the Senate version of the state budget.
“It was great to have Kaitlyn in our office, and we appreciated her spirit and commitment to Western Mass. We are grateful for all her hard work, and the residents of Wilbraham and the entire district should be grateful too. I know that Kaitlyn has a bright future ahead of her!” Lesser said in a press release.
“It was so inspiring,” Acciardo said of her experience. “It made me think of my future and how that could be me.”
Acciardo became interested in politics during her freshman year of high school.
“I took a leap of faith and joined the Model Congress, more because I like to argue than knowing what it was about,” Acciardo said with a laugh. The president of the congress that year took her under his wing and showed her the ropes. In her sophomore year, she became the Model Congress President.
“My love for politics has just grown,” she said.
It was in Model Congress that Acciardo heard Lesser. After that, she approached Minnechaug’s internship program. Though Minnechaug hadn’t had an intern in Lesser’s office before, Acciardo pursued it and the placement for the spring semester was set up with help from the River East School-to-Career Partnership, which brings together schools, businesses, and organizations.
At Lesser’s office, Acciardo worked with a team that included the state senator’s Senior Advisor and Director of Strategic Engagement, Michael Clark, whom she called her mentor, and Joel McAuliffe, the District director. McAuliffe is also a city councilor in Chicopee.
Acciardo’s work in the office included interacting with constituents, preparing correspondence, and helping with the “Thrive After 55” initiative, a wellness event at Springfield College that Acciardo said Lesser is passionate about.
At the State House, Acciardo relayed questions to his office and ran paperwork to Lesser as needed. Even though Lesser was busy, she said, he took time to make it a “teachable moment.”
“I worked so hard. It was so rewarding to see that hard work paid off.” She also said that she had a much greater appreciation for the work that goes on behind the scenes of politics that most people never see.
“It’s so great to see the stuff [Lesser] does for our district,” Acciardo said. She said her internship has taught her that she doesn’t have to have the biggest voice in the room to make an impact.
Acciardo graduated from Minnechaug on May 31 and will be attending Franklin Pierce University in Ringe, N.H. where she will major in Political Science and enroll in a brand new minor, Intelligence and Special Security. She said her father’s stories from his career as a correctional officer inspired her, and she is intrigued by intelligence analysis.
In the future, Acciardo said, she would love to intern at the FBI or for another politician, maybe even in Washington.
“I’m keeping every door open,” Acciardo said. While she is not sure what political path she will follow she said her ultimate goal is working at the national level.
“I still can’t believe this is my life,” Acciardo said.