When I was growing up, my father, who was a lifelong National Institute of Standards and Technology employee, would encourage both my older sister and me to consider taking on summer internships with the federal government. My sister did that, and I remember her getting up really early to ride into work with my dad. Later she would tell me that she really enjoyed the experience.
When it came time for me to get a summer job, my aunt had just opened up a new restaurant in my hometown. So I spent my summers flipping pizza dough and building towering soft-serve ice cream cones for my friends. I had a really good time there at my first job, though I sometimes regret missing out on government service.
When I was in college, government agencies sometimes came to campus looking for summer interns and many of my friends took them up on their offers. I had friends interning at everything from the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian to the National Security Agency and the FBI. A few of them even ended up working in government service after graduation. But one of the things that all of those internships had in common was the fact that they required the intern to commute into a federal building every day, just like a regular employee.
So what is a talented college student with an interest in government service supposed to do now that COVID-19 has chased even regular federal employees out of their offices? The government has an answer with its Virtual Student Federal Service, or VSFS.
I learned about the VSFS in talking with members of the State Department’s Bureau of Information Resource Ma ..
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