Ciao, readers!

By: Amanda Norell

Just as it is every year, the semester has flown by even quicker than the year before. It seems like just yesterday I was walking into my interview (sick as a dog, deaf in my left ear and voiceless—quite the disadvantage. I didn’t think I had a shot!). But now, 4 months later, an experience, changed, and successful (I would say) intern writes to you.

I received my offer from LACD in the spring and was beyond jazzed about it. I actually received it before I secured my summer internship, which made me even more jazzed. I will admit, though, that over the summer I began to have my worries, not necessarily about the internship, but about my semester in general and how I would balance my time. With 18 credit hours, a part-time job, being in a sorority and two other organizations (one where I hold a position) on top of the internship, I didn’t realize initially how much I was taking on. When the semester had finally started, I quickly became aware that juggling all of these activities might be too much for me to handle, and I needed to scale back. It was not an easy decision for me to make (someone who hates to admit ‘defeat’), but it was also one of the most mature decisions I had ever made and I grew a great deal from it.

I saw myself grow even more through my internship with LACD. I was being challenged in ways I had never been before and, while I admit that I was a bit intimidated at first, I began to love it. The first of my assignments as an intern: creating the LACD newsletter for both September and October. I had had some experience in this arena before; interviewing people, writing articles, page layout, etc., so I truly enjoyed working on the newsletters and found it to be a nice introductory task for me. But around mid September that I hit the ground running. Writing press releases for Advance Yourself (LACD’s graduate and professional school fair), project managing LACD’s speaker series, creating and implementing marketing plans, delegating tasks, and collaborating to the creation of LACD’s newest program, Peer Partners.

I know there are things in there that I am forgetting, but this experience has prepared me for the future by instilling and strengthening in me marketable skills for employers. I have started to find my voice in a team setting and now feel more comfortable as a leader. My organization and time management have improved and I have become much more comfortable professionally interacting with superiors as well as peers. I’m definitely a much more well-rounded person than I was at the start of the semester

So what’s next for me? I’ll be spending spring semester studying abroad in Scotland, and I couldn’t be more excited! I have one more year at Purdue starting next fall, and it’s crazy how fast time flies (sorry for the ridiculous cliché, but I can’t help that it’s true). After that who knows! It’s no secret I want to be a wedding planner, so I’ll keep working toward that and see what happens!

Lastly, I just want to thank the whole LACD team for helping me grow this semester, especially Sidonna and Lisa for giving me this opportunity. Good luck with career week! (Not so secretly bitter I won’t be here because it already sounds so awesome!) And to my other interns—I wish you all the best in all of your future endeavors!

Ciao, readers!