Kennedy King grew up in Pasadena, California, in the congressional district represented by Judy Chu—the first Chinese American woman elected to Congress. This past spring, the rising Maxwell School senior came full circle as an intern in Chu’s Capitol Hill office.

“It was the best news ever,” said King about first learning she would have the opportunity.   “She really represents our district so well. She’s been a big inspiration to me and her career has really shaped some of my own aspirations in public service.”

Early on, King’s internship took an even greater personal dimension. Her grandmother has lived in the United States for 40 years but speaks limited English. At doctor’s appointments, family members come along to help, but the language gap doesn’t always close. “For instance, I don’t know the word for cataracts in Chinese, so we’re both just kind of confused,” said King.

That experience got King thinking about health care access for seniors with limited English proficiency—a common challenge in districts like Chu’s. During her internship, she began researching incentive structures like physician fee reimbursement programs that encourage doctors to serve in rural areas, and she wondered why a similar model couldn’t work for bilingual providers. 

“If that incentivizes people to live in rural areas, why can’t we do the same thing for bilingual health care providers?” said King, who is majoring in anthropology and political science at Maxwell and art history in the College of Arts and Sciences. “It would encourage more of them to live in high-LEP (Limited English Proficiency) districts.”

She brought the idea to the office’s legislative aide covering Asian American and language access issues, and to the legislative director for health care.

“I came in bright-eyed and excited,” King said. Her legislative director liked the idea, but walked her through why broad health care legislation wasn’t a realistic near-term goal—and what a more achievable path forward might look like.

She narrowed the scope. Rather than pursuing new legislation, the proposal for her intern project now advises Chu to write an oversight letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services requesting data on language access gaps—laying the groundwork for a legislative push down the road.

The experience reshaped how King thinks about public service. Real change, she learned, rarely arrives all at once.

The daily pace of King’s internship, which wrapped up May 15, depended largely on the congressional calendar. When Congress was in session, she often fielded calls from constituents, wrote memos for Chu’s staff and conducted policy research. When Congress was in recess, she had more time to network and collaborate across the office.