Join us in congratulating congressional fellow Lars Schönander on his placement with the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business. In this position, Lars will work alongside the committee on matters pertaining to federal technical procurement, SBIR, and oversight of SBA and small business contracting.
Read more on Lars’ path to working in Congress and his experiences in becoming a fellow in his blog below:
Ever since I abandoned my childhood dream to work for the State Department in college, I thought I would never get the opportunity to work in government. TechCongress revived that dream.
A commitment to public service is something that runs deep within my family. My uncle was a diplomat for the US State Department. My grandfather was a diplomat and ambassador at the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Lastly, my great-grandfather was a military attache for the US Army during World War Two. In hindsight, it makes sense that I would continue that legacy, but the path to get there was convoluted to say the least.
After an unexpected ten-minute conversation at the end of a Christmas party, I secured an internship at the Foundation for American Innovation. My performance as an intern led to a full-time role as an engineer and I went on to work on policy projects on a part-time basis, which ultimately led me to be hired full-time to do policy work at the Foundation for American Innovation. This experience at a think-tank focused on modernizing Congress made me view Congress differently — both as an institution and as a potential workplace.
I had known about TechCongress for a while, but only pulled the trigger on applying once I realized that in order to get better at doing policy work in Washington, I needed to gain professional experience working in Congress. Although I have briefed staffers and even testified to Congress, the experience of merely interacting with Congress is not comparable to working alongside those within the institution.
I joined TechCongress to gain a better understanding of Congress and to implement some of my ideas from the inside. I am looking forward to learning how to use my technical skills to improve American national security and strengthen America’s supply chain in critical technologies through policy. I am most grateful for TechCongress granting me the opportunity to continue my family’s legacy of public service for yet another generation.