For this Luther College student, spending J-Term working at the Iowa State Capitol was exciting

Luther College political science major Harry Merz is a native of New Zealand, a country which has a parliamentary form of government which is much different from American government.

So when Merz went through the application process for an internship at the State Capitol in Des Moines during J-Term, he was excited to get accepted and to have the chance to follow Decorah State Representative Michael Bergan for three weeks.

Bergan "took me under his wing," Merz tells decorahnews.com.  That meant Harry attended the same committee and subcommittee meetings that Bergan attended and even attended legislative receptions at the end of the day.  "It can be a long day," he says, although he sees the value of the legislative receptions, since they give legislators a chance to hear differing postings of view.

The state government in Iowa is "much more complex than I thought," says Merz.

His three weeks in Des Moines coincided with the meetings of  the Elections Contest Committee, which held hearings to determine whether 29 absentee ballots cast in Winneshiek County should be included in the House District 55 election results.  Merz did some research for Bergan on previous rulings in past years by the Elections Contest Committee and was able to attend the meetings of the committee.

Merz says his J-Term in Des Moines increased his understanding of the American system.  He is now considering whether he wants to go on to law school following graduation from Luther.