Last year, Ansley Moore, of Selmer, waited to be rejected for an internship at the United States White House.
“Over 3,000 people apply for the internship, but less than 100 are accepted,” she said. “I actually applied with the intention that when I got turned down, I might see what area(s) I needed to work on in order to apply again and be successfully admitted.”
Instead of opening a rejection letter, however, Moore found herself living in Washington, D.C., for the first four months of 2019. As in intern in the White House Management Office, she spent her time learning the true definitions of professionalism and discretion and filled all sorts of roles – from conducting a parking audit on White House grounds to taking coats for foreign delegations and delivering supplies to staffers in the West Wing.
“This experience taught me to be much more thorough and detail-oriented in everything I do,” she said. “In the White House Management Office, so much of what I did directly correlated with other offices. This meant that a number of people would see any project I worked on.”
One such inter-office assignment took the form of a massive spreadsheet tracking the monthly use of resources throughout the department. Moore says this assignment taught her the value of accurate records and will remain in use for years to come to help the office monitor usage and areas of need.
Moore, who graduated from the University of Tennessee at Martin during commencement exercises Dec. 14, earned a bachelor’s degree in history – a love that began with stories from her grandparents.
“As a child, I spent a lot of time with my grandparents, who always talked about what life was like for them as they were growing up. Since then, I have enjoyed studying and learning about how life has changed over time, which ultimately led me to the field of history,” she said.
Her time in the nation’s capital provided weekends and evenings full of national landmarks, museums and tourist locations as well as those areas most people never see – such as the Truman Bowling Alley.
“The staff in my office were amazing people, so anytime they could show me something that related to my love of history, they did,” she said.
Moore plans to pursue future degrees in history and ultimately teach at the collegiate level.
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