By Jayden Fortner

Lina Belaissaoui walks quickly down the hall at the Capitol building in Denver; her next meeting is seconds away. She grips her notes close to her chest, darts into the next room and slides into her seat just before the lawmakers begin to speak. Today, Belaissaoui will be talking to them about legislation for people with disabilities.

“I definitely do feel a little intimidated because these are people who are government officials,” Belaissaoui said.

Belaissaoui is interning as an executive assistant for Colorado Gov. Jared Polis. She is a University of Colorado sophomore who serves in CU Boulder’s student government with a double major in political science and speech, language and hearing sciences.

Her internship involves discussions with the governor about legislation introduced in the House regarding disability advocacy. This includes deciding whether the right people are working on the topic and whether their methods are effective.

“I really wanted to work for disability advocacy, and this internship was a really good way to do that,” Belaissaoui said.

She commutes twice a week from Boulder to Denver to attend meetings in the governor’s office and learn how policies transition into law.

“I think people really, especially when it comes to legislation, see the black and white,” Belaissaoui said. “These are the words on paper, but I think people don’t realize that like every comma matters and every word matters.”

She helps with the policy revisions.

“There are a million people that have to look over it before it can be introduced to the public and be introduced to the rest of the House to vote on,” she said.

It wasn’t easy for Belaissaoui to secure the internship. When she first applied during her freshman year, she was rejected. Still, she continued to pursue her advocacy work, serving as the disability liaison for CU’s student government.

On her third attempt for the governor’s office internship, she was accepted.

“Don’t take no as a forever no,” she said.

Stacey Bui was Belaissaoui’s graduate teaching assistant and recommended she apply for the governor’s internship.

“I shared this opportunity with all of the students in the class,” Bui said. “Lena was one of two students in the class who decided they wanted to pursue this opportunity. She was the one who took the initiative to come forward and say she wanted to apply.”

Belaissaoui is integrating her internship learning into how she advocates for the disability community on campus.

Camden Sharkely, a senior and CU Boulder student body president, has worked with Belaissaoui for the last two years.

“I love getting to work with Lina, “Sharkley said. “She is a passionate and caring person with what she decides to invest her time in.”

Belaissaoui is working with the CU Boulder campus and CU Student Government to secure closed captioning in classrooms and improve campus transportation for disabled students. At the same time, she is juggling her internship, which isn’t slowing down. During January through May, legislative sessions at the Capitol are at their peak.

“It’s not just bill writing, it’s not just sitting around, but there’s a lot of meetings and purpose behind everything that’s being done,” she said.