Response 2: Personal Contributions

After completing my second week at my internship, I feel like I have a much better understanding of my responsibilities and how I will contribute to our agenda and goals for the summer. My boss and I began the week with an informal check-in of my main responsibilities and the work I had completed so far. We will continue with these check-ins weekly and always focus on my four main roles and responsibilities as pertaining to Rethink Waste, the Community Garden, the Turning the Page (Paper Reduction) Initiative, and the Sustainability Plan.

This week, we had a mini-retreat to discuss the Office for Sustainability’s role on campus and brainstorm ways to better communicate its role to the public. During this two-hour meeting, I played an instrumental role in editing and designing the Office for Sustainability’s main informational visual document. I felt very comfortable being vocal about my ideas and was proud to participate so much and have my ideas be well-received. It was a great time to work on my collaboration skills and teamwork. I tried to be very cognizant of how much I was participating compared to my colleagues – ensuring I gave others the same time and attention they gave me.

We specifically discussed the internship program, how to improve it, and how to incorporate our other key initiatives into interns’ responsibilities. When planning and troubleshooting for one of our current programs, University of Richmond Sustainability Advocates (URSA), I was pleasantly surprised by my innovations and the ideas I had for fixing and redirecting this program, informing the public, and hopefully increasing participation. We’re a small group of four, so it is easy to feel comfortable and appreciated in meetings like these.

My boss has also afforded me with a wide range and heavy load of responsibilities. The stereotypical intern work doesn’t really occur for us here. I feel like I’m contributing to very important things and actually have a large part in making the Office for Sustainability more productive and meaningful, and in making the university as a whole more sustainable.

One of my main responsibilities this summer is running the Community Garden. I will plan two events for the Community Garden members, such as potlucks or gardening workshops, and interact weekly through the Listserv. This week, I spent a lot of time creating a big-picture schedule and goal-oriented plan for the garden. I worked hard to clean up the garden and get it ready for the season, weeding and tending to ignored and overgrown plots. I reached out to the former Community Garden organizer to be brought up to speed and have begun putting together the Listserv and contacting gardeners who haven’t made progress on their plots yet. I’ve really enjoyed having the responsibility of building community and finding ways to bring people together and get excited about this project. It has been a valuable way to improve my communication skills and gives me a project that can truly be my own.

I’m very excited to see how my responsibilities grow and evolve throughout the summer. I feel like all initiatives I’m involved in will provide so many opportunities for learning and personal improvement and growth. I feel very lucky to have a boss who is so supportive and encouraging and trusts me with real, meaningful work. He is very focused on creating a worthwhile experience for me and I’m very excited to see how the rest of the summer goes.