Alumni Q&A
Sarah Ferris (class of 2014), is a reporter on POLITICO’s Congress team, where she focuses on the House Democratic caucus. She talked with Ilena Peng, The Hatchet’s blog editor, about her favorite part about being on Capitol Hill, what it was like covering impeachment, and how GW and Congress aren’t all that different.
What is your favorite part about covering Capitol Hill?
By far the best part is that it's an equal opportunity reporting zone and by that, I mean if you have a Capitol press pass, it  doesn't matter if you work for The New York Times or if you work for a local news outlet. You're able to talk to the senators and the members of the House right in front of you. You introduce yourself, you ask them a question, they will answer you. It's not one of those things where you have to track down their offices and get them on the phone and talk to their staff ... I [started on the Hill when I] was 22 years old and I could talk to chairmen of committees off the floor and they would get to know me and I would get to know them and the relationships are just amazing — not always amazing — but that remains my favorite part of covering Capitol Hill.
You covered the House impeachment proceedings and the Senate trial. What is it like covering that?
It just opens your world. This is something that is once in a generation, sometimes I still can't believe I'm covering it and it becomes one of those all hands on deck moments for our team, which is about eight or nine people. ... You have to be organized. You have to be talking constantly. You have to be in a million places at once and try to get the right senators who are going to have the right quote or the right answer to the question and it's just a whirlwind.
What made you want to go into political journalism?
I sort of stumbled into it. And I think every reporter has a similar story, that they never sought a specific type of job. ... My first job out of college happened to be for The Hill newspaper. I interviewed for a weekend blogging role, and I ended up getting a health care policy job and it was just the luckiest thing that could have ever happened to me and that was six years ago and a lot has changed since then.
How would you say The Hatchet has prepared you for your job today?
It's funny because covering the University and covering the United States government should not be alike, but they're actually extremely similar. … The way I covered Steven Knapp's administration is just like how I learned to cover the Obama administration. And the way I covered the Faculty Senate or the Student Association – building the relationships, hearing out complaints, digging around into interesting trends – that's how you cover Congress. And the basics are the same no matter what you're doing, but once you grasp how to tell stories about tension, how to tell stories about relationships, how to tell a story about money and change, that can sort of be translated into any field.
(Photo courtesy Greg Nash)
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