Ravens wide receiver Torrey Smith is an intern.
Not some cushy glorified NFL intern for publicity – an intern intern.
Smith has spent his March working for Maryland U.S. Representative (D) Elijah Cummings. Cummings governs the seventh district, which includes just over half of Baltimore City and most of Howard County. Smith has a few more days left.
"I was handling files, reading letters, relaying them, typing up what sponsors say, printing stuff," Smith said. "I was the office guy."
Sounds like a whole lot of grunt work.
"It was fun though," Smith said with a laugh. "I enjoyed it."
Smith was a criminal justice major at the University of Maryland, and decided that with some spare time this offseason he wanted to get out and do something outside the box. He talked to Ravens Director of Player Development Harry Swayne, who hooked up the government gig.
"It's about seeing what's out there," Smith said. "As an athlete I feel like I always said, 'Man, I can't wait till I can just play football and I don't have to worry about school.' Now that all we do is work out and you have the rest of the day, I feel like I'm limiting myself if I don't do anything else."
Smith mostly worked out of the Baltimore office, but went to Capitol Hill a couple times.
So what did he learn?
"I learned that there are really politicians that do a lot for their community – [Cummings] being one of them," Smith said. "You can literally call your congressman and any issue you have, they can basically point you in the right direction if they can't help you. I never really knew that.
"Being on that side and seeing how they work, it's pretty cool. Their staff, they actually care. That says a lot when it comes to a city like Baltimore. You need people who are leaders and taking care of your area who really care."
You can tell how pumped Smith was for the job.
First day at my internship instagr.am/p/Wb6JTVk-Rc/ — Torrey Smith (@TorreySmithWR) March 4, 2013
