I reached the end of my internship and it was a sad last meeting. Before having our wrap up conversation, I gave any last deliverables and discussed last minute tweaks before my last day was up. The main deliverable was the welcome post for their first recruited Special Olympics athlete for their equestrian team. It was interesting to see who the organization has connections to and who they network with, along with how they do it. I got to learn how non-profits work and support themselves, while fueling the marketing to keep the word out. I was eager to be involved in how the organization worked behind the scenes. This actually helped me learn how to go about my senior project, being as how I decided to create a non-profit to help end period poverty. I’m grateful I gained knowledge on the process and can already apply the skills to my own project.
We discussed how the internship went overall; Our biggest takeaways and our critiques. I learned how it is to interact with your clients and know their personality to an extent. This can help you gauge the kind of work they would like and cater to their visions more. I also got to experiment with my design style outside of school projects while learning to blend it with what the client is looking for. It was a good learning experience for me socially as well, being as I’m usually even more reserved. I also think I managed my time better, meeting all due dates on time. One thing I could have worked on is taking a little more initiative in reaching out for help. My fear of being deemed unqualified and untalented resulted in me shying away from guidance when I really needed it. If I was to change anything about the internship, I would just rely on texting rather than emails due our communication being constant. It was sad to have it end already, but they have been working hard on writing grants to help get funds to hire me. It sounds like they’re making significant progress in receiving the grants, so my hopes are up.
