By Richard LeComte 

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Keijuan Pryor spent a semester away from the University of Kentucky treading the halls of power in the U.S. Capitol as an intern for Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-NY, then the Senate majority leader. Pryor’s experiences ranged from the nitty-gritty of constituent service to creating a vision for the future of technology.   

“I went to hearings and briefings,” said Pryor, a UK public policy political science major from Louisville. “I would walk around with constituents if they came down for a personalized tour of the Capitol with one of the senator’s staff members. Some days you would work on different policies. One day it would be education, the next it would be AI, another day would be national defense. You did whatever was thrown at you.” 

Pryor’s heady opportunity arose from two UK College of Arts and Sciences programs: WilDCats at the Capitol and the Workforce Ready Wildcats Scholarship. WilDCats gave Pryor the chance to intern with Schumer, and the Workforce Ready scholarship helped him cover expenses while he was in D.C. Donors will have the chance to give to the Workforce Ready fund on April 24 during One Day for UK. 

“With the Workforce Ready Wildcats scholarship, I was able to take an incredible internship in Washington, D.C.,” he said. “This experience has deepened my passion for public service and helped me explore my future in government." 

He also had the opportunity to see other senators in action, although many of them were out campaigning. 

“We would see other senators in passing, but everyone was kind of busy given the election,” he said. “We also did work for other senators, especially the ones representing the swing states who had elections last year.” 

As part of his internship, he was able to live in a facility WilDCats at the Capitol has in D.C. He was able to interact with interns from other universities, thus broadening his out-of-state experience. 

“I lived on Constitution Avenue, right in the national historic district,” he said. “There were a few houses right beside us that had interns from other universities. They were our neighbors. We became friends with them, and then there were the interns in my cohort who went to school in D.C. I became really good friends with them, and we would go to their universities, and they would show me around and I even took a trip to New York with one of them.” 

Pryor remembers becoming interested in politics when he was a child and during his time at duPont Manual High School in Jefferson County. His career ambitions include becoming involved in both Louisville and national politics. 

“My goals are to get a master’'s in public administration, and then I hope to go to the Hill and specialize in some type of policy area and then potentially run for office, starting at the local level and working my way up to the federal level.” 

In addition to his studies, Pryor plays double bass in the UK Symphony Orchestra. 

“I started in fifth grade,” he said. “I started playing the violin because it was an option in elementary school, and then I went to middle school, and I didn’t want to go to gym class. So I said, I’'ll go to orchestra, and I decided to pick the bass because no one else did.” 

Workforce Ready offers Arts and Sciences undergrads the chance to pursue internships, career prep, professional development, research and community engagement to prepare them for the job market. Thanks to the Workforce Ready Wildcats Scholarship, Pryor has taken his first steps toward those political goals.  

“As I think over the experience, I learned that this was more and better than a textbook. I was able to see the day-to-day workings of the government. It made me want to continue learning about it and hopefully get in there one day and not just read about it in a book.”