Hoosier basks in spotlight of RNC

NEW YORK -- All Jenna Friederick needed was time. \nShe needed time to figure things out, time to step back and look at what she wanted, time to focus. Time is what she has taken. \nAfter taking three semesters off, the IU senior was in New York this week working at the Republican National Convention. \n"A lot of people want to rush and get done in four years, but there's no need for that," she said. "I love my life."\nFriederick left IU after the first semester of the 2002-2003 school year, taking on a slew of different jobs, just trying to figure out what she wanted to do.\nThe finance and marketing major in the Kelley School of Business said the life of a business student drove her to seek something else. \n"There were some other things I wanted to explore," she said. \nThis landed her in New York the same week as the Republican National Convention.\nAmong "a whole mish-mosh of little jobs" Friederick said her main duty is as the personal assistant to Edlen Electric President Jim Wetterling. \nThe Evansville native didn't come to the convention with plans of being someone's right hand woman. It just fell in her lap when a friend recommended her for the position because Wetterling's people said he needed an assistant.\n"I'm very glad I did this," she said. "I got to see a lot of really cool stuff and been exposed to a lot of famous people. My whole world is even bigger to me now."\nAfter she returns to IU this spring to finish her degree, Friederick isn't sure exactly what direction she wants to go, but being at the Republican National Convention gave her another option in life. \nSo far in New York, she has had the opportunity to meet a mayor, senators and many other well known people including Barbara and Jenna Bush, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and North Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham. \nFriederick said meeting these powerful people can be beneficial in the end. Even though, she said, they might not remember her.\n"This is a perfect opportunity for me," she said. "By me having their names, and having met them, I can always tell them that I was at the Republican National Convention and they could point me in the right direction."\nShe said her days working at the convention weren't that long, but the whole week was been tiring for her. \nShe said one of the highlights of the week was her opportunity to sit in on the convention Tuesday night when California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger spoke. \n"I was impressed," she said. \n-- Contact senior writer Josh Weinfuss at jweinfus@indiana.edu .