Spiegel was applying to colleges in high school when he heard about Quinnipiac’s QU in DC program. With a passion for politics and the hope of going to the nation's capital, it was the main selling point for the university.

Throughout his first few years at Quinnipiac, he worked toward earning a spot in the program.

“When I was in one of my first-year political science classes, Dr. Scott McLean and a liaison from The Washington Center came and spoke about the program,” he said. “They had me counting down the days until I could apply.”

The QU in DC program is open to students who have earned junior and senior status by credit hours completed. For Spiegel, an accelerated dual-degree student in the 3+1 journalism program, he knew he only really had one shot given his ambitious graduation goals.

He decided the second half of his second year was perfect. He was accepted to participate in the QU in DC program last spring and then searched for an internship. It wasn’t enough to simply live and learn in this city that he admired, he wanted to work there, too.

“I was finally able to relax once I got the offer to be an intern at C-SPAN in its field operations department,” Spiegel said.

He had no idea what he would be working on or what his workday would look like but he was up for the adventure. Finding himself surrounded by good people, he enjoyed every day.

Most of his semester was spent on Capitol Hill, working with the television crews that produce the vast majority of coverage of the congressional hearings.

“Because the Capitol Hill press corps is so large, office proceedings are ‘pooled for TV,’ meaning that there is only one camera crew in the hearing room and those feeds are sent out to every broadcast and cable network. For most of the major hearings, C-SPAN runs those cameras,” Spiegel explained.

If you followed the TikTok hearings from the spring of 2023, you saw his work. He was a part of the team in the room with CEO of TikTok Shou Chew; Attorney General Merrick Garland; and the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Jerome Powell.

Originally, he dreaded the assignment.

He thought he’d spend five hours standing around doing nothing. The title and the notoriety sounded interesting, but the hearing was bound to be a long one, he thought.

To his surprise, right before the hearing, his manager asked him about his primary camera work and told him he was getting put into the rotation.

“I was sitting in my chair silently freaking out because I was just told that I was going to operate the primary camera for a pool-fed broadcast! When I finally got the call from the bullpen, I don’t think I stopped smiling the whole way,” he said.

He walked, grinning, from the Rayburn House Office Building's hub room to the Elijah E. Cummings Hearing Room and was ready to work. Spiegel put on the headset and immediately heard, “Welcome, Jack,” from his manager.

“I wondered how he knew exactly when I got there, but then I looked at the return feed in the viewfinder and saw myself in the background. I realized that I had made it," he said.

To be in the room is cool, to work the camera is cooler, but to do your own solo work is the best.

“If I wasn’t behind a camera, I was allowed to go around with my own and take photos of lawmakers and the congressional proceedings. Some of my favorite events were the State of the Union, the White House Correspondents’ Dinner and an executive order signing at the White House,” he said.

While Spiegel is still getting his master’s degree in journalism, working in DC broadened his horizons. Originally set on working exclusively in photojournalism for print media, he’s much more open to visual journalism through other mediums, aiming for opportunities in broadcast and print media.

“Without a doubt, QU in DC was the best experience during my time at Quinnipiac. Regardless of your major, the Washington Center is wonderful at helping you find an internship that suits you," he said. "It’s a great opportunity to network with professionals in your field and get a little change of scenery from Hamden.”