W.F. West Graduate to Start Internship in D.C.

    Every United States president started somewhere politically. For Chehalian Terassa Wren, a 2008 graduate of W.F. West High School, who has dreamed of becoming president of the United States since she was growing up, that start may very well be Monday morning. That’s the first day of her internship in Washington, D.C., in the office of Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Camas.

    “I just really want to learn what happens at the core of it all,” Wren told The Chronicle on Thursday, one day before she was to leave for the nation’s capital. “I also want to see if it totally turns me off.”

    Wren, an easygoing, long-haired brunette with a brilliant smile, became immersed in politics in high school when she began attending Lewis County Republican Party functions. One of the highlights, she said, was hearing former gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi speak, although she didn’t get to meet him.

    “I was bummed,” Wren recalled with a smile.

    Asked why she leans Republican, Wren said, “I guess I’m more conservative in my beliefs.” And although she said didn’t agree across-the-board with the party platform, “I agree with Republican values.”

    The internship isn’t her first trip to the East Coast; she traveled to New York City in high school. This is her first trip out of the state alone. Wren’s mother, Kathy, is understandably nervous.

     “I’m excited for her but I’m really sad too,” Kathy said, her eyes becoming a bit watery. “She’s got a good head on her shoulders. We’ll be talking all the time.”

    According to mom, her oldest daughter has held an interest in both politics and the Middle East since she was young.

    “She told me in the second grade she was going to Saudi Arabia,” Kathy said, adding that she did her best — unsuccessfully, it turns out — to discourage the idea.

    “She’s always known what she wanted.”

    Wren called her interest in the Middle East a “God-given passion.” After graduating from Centralia College last year she began taking Arabic language classes at the Washington Academy of Languages in Seattle. It’s all part of her effort to achieve her desire go to the Middle East.

    “I really believe I will one day be over there,” she said. 

    Lodging during Wren’s internship was arranged through an internship network. She won’t know who her roommates will be or their political leanings — interns are not separated by political party — until she arrives. And she’s more than OK with that.

    “I’m one of those people who loves to listen to other viewpoints,” Wren said.

    Bold and confident in her direction in life, Wren expressed little nervousness about her internship in the capital of the world’s superpower.

    “If I just lived by fear, life wouldn’t be worth living,” she said.

     Wren’s internship runs through December.

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    Lee Hughes: (360) 807-8239

Meera Puri Has Also Interned With Herrera Beutler

By The Chronicle

    Meera Puri, a graduate of Centralia High School, interned with Jaime Herrera Beutler for five weeks, ending her term at the end of July.

    Puri will be a senior at the University of Washington this fall. She is studying political science.  

    Herrera Beutler, a first-term congressional representative, has had four interns so far.

    Interns literally get an up-close look at the country’s legislative process, said Herrera Beutler’s spokesman, Casey Bowman — Herrera Beutler’s office is only a two-minute walk from the House floor.