Even though it was late in the evening after a whole school day, Candace Marie Ruocco kept up her excitement and energy.As a junior, Ruocco, along with some other political science majors from TCU, became one of the 100 fall 2007 interns for the White House.

“It’s so real,” Ruocco said. “There were times I couldn’t believe I was really working there.”

Ruocco said she admired Bush’s political attitude.

“She is very passionate and she targets directly toward the domestic issues, for example, health care for women,” she said about the first lady.

The experience in Washington helped her incorporate her professional attributes gained in college.

“I have learned so many practical skills and successfully applied what I have learned at school,” Ruocco said.

She said the work at the White House was very demanding because of the nature of the job. There were always deadlines and she had to work hard all the time.

She said her favorite part about working at the White House was how she had the chance to understand realistically how the American political system works. She was surprised how huge the government is.

“It was still like a dream to me,” Ruocco said.

Ruocco is majoring in English, political science and fashion merchandising. She is taking 21 hours this semester. She enjoys taking all those classes because she said English would help her with her verbal communication skills and political science prepares her for law school. As for fashion merchandising, she said, it is just so much fun.

Ruocco is involved in many school activities. She is the Student Government Association academic chair and a representative for the AddRan College of Humanities and Social Science. She also works for the leadership center teaching chancellor’s leadership classes and is an executive board member of her sorority.

Ruocco keeps herself busy and hates to waste time.

Ruocco’s experience in the White House didn’t make her distant from her friends. She keeps a lot of good friends and hopes to spend more time with them.