POL Prep Part One: My Work as an Intern
In all the work that we completed leading up to our internship, nothing was emphasized more than the fact that we wanted to make a meaningful contribution to our workplace. With the end of my internship closer than the beginning, I do believe I made such a contribution. I attended several meetings on behalf of the office, and then reported back the information from those meetings to my colleagues, I presented certificates of recognition to students and community members across the county, and wrote letters of support and congratulations for several individuals. Still, the most meaningful thing that I have done for my internship was the production of a video of support for AB 949: Competition Cheer to CIF Sport (my internship project). For this assignment, we went out to different schools around the community and interviewed cheerleaders, cheer coaches, and other athletes about cheer and the bill, which allowed us to paint a picture about where constituents stand. We are now using those interviews to produce a video in support of the bill that Assemblywoman Gonzalez can show to the Senate and Assembly floor. I believe this video will be the most meaningful contribution I made to my workplace when it is completed.
While the work I completed was meaningful to my internship site, the work I did for my internship was also meaningful to my education. Because there is always something to do or somewhere to be, my scheduling skills have improved tremendously. If you were to look at the calendar on my phone now, you would not think it belonged to a high school student. There are times, locations, and availability stamps on every date, as well as reminders about what needed to be completed by when. Speaking my mind has never been something that I have shied away from, but being an intern sitting in on meetings, debates and commissions, your voice is not one that people want to hear. Because of this, my internship has shown me how to listen, identify the information that catches my attention as well as what is important, and write down whatever it is I would have otherwise said. I have also done a lot of fieldwork, outreach, and presenting that have given me the opportunity to represent myself, my colleagues, my office, my school, and my member to the highest of standards.
Of course, there was also the process of completing our internship project. I still remember the day before Dr. P's internship site visit, I sat down with my mentor to brainstorm what my internship project could be. I did not have the slightest idea what my project was going to be, and after a good half hour of discussion, we came to the conclusion that I would work with two of my colleagues in my project to produce a video that would support AB 949, a bill Assemblywoman Gonzalez coauthored that would turn competitive cheer into a CIF sport. We had to start by mapping out what our video was going to look like and we wanted it to accomplish, then we had to compose interview questions, and then actually reach out to people to interview them. Next, we had to make site visits to schools all over the district and conduct those interviews, and we are currently in the process of editing the video. We will send the final product up to the Capital before the bill heads to the Senate floor.
While the work I completed was meaningful to my internship site, the work I did for my internship was also meaningful to my education. Because there is always something to do or somewhere to be, my scheduling skills have improved tremendously. If you were to look at the calendar on my phone now, you would not think it belonged to a high school student. There are times, locations, and availability stamps on every date, as well as reminders about what needed to be completed by when. Speaking my mind has never been something that I have shied away from, but being an intern sitting in on meetings, debates and commissions, your voice is not one that people want to hear. Because of this, my internship has shown me how to listen, identify the information that catches my attention as well as what is important, and write down whatever it is I would have otherwise said. I have also done a lot of fieldwork, outreach, and presenting that have given me the opportunity to represent myself, my colleagues, my office, my school, and my member to the highest of standards.
Of course, there was also the process of completing our internship project. I still remember the day before Dr. P's internship site visit, I sat down with my mentor to brainstorm what my internship project could be. I did not have the slightest idea what my project was going to be, and after a good half hour of discussion, we came to the conclusion that I would work with two of my colleagues in my project to produce a video that would support AB 949, a bill Assemblywoman Gonzalez coauthored that would turn competitive cheer into a CIF sport. We had to start by mapping out what our video was going to look like and we wanted it to accomplish, then we had to compose interview questions, and then actually reach out to people to interview them. Next, we had to make site visits to schools all over the district and conduct those interviews, and we are currently in the process of editing the video. We will send the final product up to the Capital before the bill heads to the Senate floor.