Interns Reflect on the Fed’s Mission

Walk through the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis on any given day and you’ll find countless examples of ways the Bank serves the people of the Eighth Federal Reserve District — staff getting insights about the economy from business and community leaders, teachers getting new resources they can use to help students understand economic principles, and researchers diving into data trends.

This summer, interns from around the country got to experience these moments and see how they build toward a strong and resilient economy for all. Inspired by my own experience as an intern working to support the Bank’s communications and engagement efforts, I asked some of my fellow interns to share key takeaways from their time at the Fed.

1. When did you see the Fed’s mission in action?
2. What surprised you the most, or what’s one thing you want people to know about the St. Louis Fed or the Fed System?
3. What made your team’s purpose clear?

I also asked them a bonus question tailored to their team’s responsibilities.

Read on to learn what we discovered about the St. Louis Fed’s regional branches, monetary policymaking, economic education efforts, bank supervision, and more. Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.

Regional Offices

The St. Louis Fed has four locations — downtown St. Louis, plus three branch offices in Little Rock, Ark., Louisville, Ky., and Memphis, Tenn. Those branch offices are part of the Bank’s efforts to gauge and understand the economic landscape across the entire Eighth Federal Reserve District. Houston and Reagan, two of the Bank’s branch-based interns, share how impactful the branch office experience was for them. Their activities included attending a roundtable discussion with business and community leaders and learning about gathering anecdotal economic information.

Reagan Gilmore, Louisville Branch

The Fed’s mission in action: I joined the Louisville Branch’s regional executive for a roundtable discussion. It was great to hear all the voices behind the anecdotal insights that ultimately get published in the Fed’s Beige Book.

Surprised by: How welcoming the atmosphere was! As soon as I started my internship, I was greeted by multiple people who all wanted to contribute to and enhance my experience.

Bonus: How my internship changed the way I think about the Louisville Branch: By showing me the wide expanse of the Louisville Branch. It was an amazing experience seeing all the work done to represent all areas of southern Indiana and western Kentucky.

Houston Myer, Little Rock Branch

The Fed’s mission in action: One of the St. Louis Fed’s jobs is to support the Federal Open Market Committee’s (FOMC) decisions about our nation’s monetary policy. I saw that every day as a regional Reserve Bank intern at the Little Rock Branch. We have unique insight into how the Eighth District’s Beige Book, which can help inform monetary policy, is crafted and composed.

What people should know: How relationship-oriented the Fed is. Beyond interpreting data, the Reserve banks have created a network of contacts in every corner of the country. This, in turn, allows them to understand what is going on in the lives of Americans.

What made my team’s purpose clear: After learning about the FOMC and how data are presented from each district, I realized I was helping to gather that information. When our regional executive and I met with a business leader in the community, we were contributing to the FOMC’s understanding of our nation’s economy.

Bonus: How my internship changed the way I think about monetary policy: My internship has helped me understand that the Fed is committed to getting monetary policy right. In doing so, they hear from communities across the 12 Reserve bank districts and the country. I understand and respect the process of monetary policy more today than I did prior to my time here.

Economic Education

The St. Louis Fed’s Economic Education team promotes an engaging approach to teaching economics. Their free resources are available to educators and learners alike, including on the Federal Reserve Education website. They also host in-person events for educators across the Eighth District. Greta, an Economic Education intern, shares more.

Greta Stucke, St. Louis Headquarters

The Fed’s mission in action: One moment that stood out to me was seeing the work my team put into the Fed’s AP Summer Institute, a weeklong program for AP Economics teachers that combines lectures, classroom activities, roundtable discussions and networking opportunities. Seeing how the Fed supports educators, listens to different perspectives, and helps build lasting professional relationships made me realize that its work extends beyond analyzing charts and graphs; it also depends on connecting with the people and communities it serves.

Surprised by: Before my internship, I imagined the Fed as primarily economists working behind computers. Instead, I saw employees processing currency, staff engaging with communities across the District, educators developing classroom resources, and teams coordinating events for teachers, students and families.

What made my team’s purpose clear: Learning that most members of my team were former teachers. They had experienced the Fed’s educational resources in their own classrooms, which ultimately inspired them to work here. Although they loved being teachers, they also saw an opportunity to expand their impact by creating resources that support educators and students across the country.

Bonus: How my internship changed the way I think about economic education: Whether it’s developing engaging classroom activities or answering everyday questions — like why it costs more than a penny to make a penny — this team is constantly finding ways to connect economic concepts to people’s daily lives. Education isn’t just something the Fed offers; it’s an important way the institution helps people better understand the economy and their role in it.

Bank Supervision

The St. Louis Fed’s Supervision team helps keep the banking system stable and strong by assessing the health and financial condition of banks and bank holding companies across the Eighth District. To protect consumer rights related to banking, they also monitor financial institutions for compliance with consumer protection laws. For interns like Colton, seeing how statistics support banking supervision revealed how important this work is to the Fed’s mission.

Colton Tiede, St. Louis Headquarters

The Fed’s mission in action: I saw this during Bring Your Children to Work Day in the Bank. It struck me that part of the Fed’s mission is ultimately to make the economy strong for the next generation.

What people should know: That everyone is doing their best! The St. Louis Fed specifically does a lot of outreach and data work that is made accessible to everyone, such as through the FRED Blog and other Bank publications.

What made my team’s purpose clear: I realized how important the statistics team is for the Bank’s supervision work once I saw our databases in action. My team provides financial and regulatory data and structures it for bank examiners, which helps support their work. Also, it’s easy to buy in to the purpose of statistics when on a team as good as this one!

Bonus: How my internship changed the way I think about bank supervision: My internship has made me appreciate the importance of work that people don’t see, especially in supervision. The Fed handles lots of information about banks, and it needs to be managed efficiently. The statistics team does this incredibly well and works hard to support everyone involved in the supervision process, which is exactly the type of environment I want to be in.

A Final Reflection

As summer wraps up and the Bank’s interns return to campus (or in my case, the post-grad world), we’re grateful for how the Bank embraced the curiosity and energy we brought to the work. Our reflections are a reminder that the Fed’s mission comes to life through the people it serves and the belief in a strong and resilient economy for all.

Interested in internship opportunities at the St. Louis Fed? Check out the Bank’s internship program page.