What is link? |
MY LINK Experience |
Animas High School provides a college-preparation curriculum taught using project-based learning. This type of learning provides significant opportunities for students to gain hands-on experience through academic projects, public exhibitions, and internships. As a part of our junior year, each student participates in the LINK (Leading Internships for New Knowledge) program. LINK is a three-week internship opportunity taking place in May. For this opportunity, each student finds an internship in a field or profession that they would like to explore.
My link
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For my LINK internship, I went to the Colorado State University Denver Center to work with their director of PR and Outreach, Tiana Nelson.
The CSU Denver Center is located right downtown at the corner of 17th and Glenarm. The center is, "a source for University events, academic services, Ram Gear and social and professional networking opportunities in the Denver Metro area." https://denvercenter.colostate.edu/ |
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Anticipation and preparation
For my internship, I wanted something in the fields of marketing or communications. Since this field was so broad I reached out to everyone from the University of San Fransico Medical Center marketing Department to Tommy Hilfiger. During this search for an internship, I heard "no" many times. Often times I received responses saying that the organization or company only took college students. Something that I learned in the process of finding an internship, was that using your connections is a helpful thing. I many times reached out to people through connections made by friends or relatives. I personally only sent out one request cold, meaning I had no connection to the company.
I found my internship through a connection of my fathers, he is friends with the husband of the vice chancellor of CSU. I used this connection and reached our asking if there was a possibility of me interning with their marketing and communications team. I heard back and received my first and only "yes" of my internship search. After getting connected with my mentor we set up a time to talk about what this internship would be like. At first, I felt nervous that this internship was just going to be desk work since I would be working in an office, but after a thirty-minute phone call with Tiana, I was overjoyed about my internship. When we talked she told me that she had done a few internships where most of them were just sitting and doing busy work, but that's not what she wanted me to do. That afternoon she sent me a rough schedule of what my time there would be like, and it was already so full! That day I became so excited for my internship. I knew that I would be able to really learn about and experience the field that I was interested in.
Looking ahead to my internship I really hope that I will be able to become a part of what is happening. CSU is all about community involvement and I hope that I can experience that first hand. I am looking forward to being able to contribute to the busy and exciting world of marketing and communications. I hope that in my project that I complete I will be able to make something meaningful to myself and to CSU.
I found my internship through a connection of my fathers, he is friends with the husband of the vice chancellor of CSU. I used this connection and reached our asking if there was a possibility of me interning with their marketing and communications team. I heard back and received my first and only "yes" of my internship search. After getting connected with my mentor we set up a time to talk about what this internship would be like. At first, I felt nervous that this internship was just going to be desk work since I would be working in an office, but after a thirty-minute phone call with Tiana, I was overjoyed about my internship. When we talked she told me that she had done a few internships where most of them were just sitting and doing busy work, but that's not what she wanted me to do. That afternoon she sent me a rough schedule of what my time there would be like, and it was already so full! That day I became so excited for my internship. I knew that I would be able to really learn about and experience the field that I was interested in.
Looking ahead to my internship I really hope that I will be able to become a part of what is happening. CSU is all about community involvement and I hope that I can experience that first hand. I am looking forward to being able to contribute to the busy and exciting world of marketing and communications. I hope that in my project that I complete I will be able to make something meaningful to myself and to CSU.
My LINK Project
For my LINK project, I created a proposal and application for a National Western Center Youth Action Coalition (YAC). The YAC aims to get high school students from the Globeville-Elyria-Swansea neighborhoods involved in the $1.2 billion dollar National Western Center (NWC) project. The MWC mission is to, "convene the world at the National Western Center to lead, inspire, create, educate, and entertain in pursuit of global food solutions." Since this project is being developed in an underserved area the community voice needs to be heard. This coalition is intended to get not only more community voice heard, but youth voice as well.
LINk reflection
Coming into LINK knowing how to speak to professionals was a very useful skill. I was only an eleventh grader working for a college, talking to professionals, in a field I was fairly new to. I felt that I was able to present myself in a mature a professional way. This was very useful when going to as many as five meetings in a single day. During my LINK experience, I learned the importance of collaboration within teams. This skill was learned through one of the challenges I encountered. My LINK internship involved many different aspects, from sorting fans for an event to designing my project. Since I was doing so many different things, it meant that I was working with many other people. I had to quickly learn to communicate with my mentor, other members of the team, and even people from outside organizations. Being able to connect and communicate with other people was highly beneficial when it came to completing what was asked of me.
While I was very much welcomed by the team and began contributing in many ways, I many times had no context for much of what I was doing. I would often time be filled in moments before a meeting or even simply after. This would make it challenging to know what to listen for when taking notes. I realized that it was important to research who I was meeting with or look at their collaboration with CSU on their website. One of my projects, a National Western Center partners matrix, actually helped me understand who some of the partners were and how they worked with CSU.
I feel that I was an important contributor to my office. During my first day, my mentor introduced my project to me. That morning I started thinking of what I could do with this youth coalition idea, but that afternoon we went to an event with youth involved with History Colorado and a leadership council. My mentor was presenting about the National Western Center and mentioned that I would be creating a youth coalition. They immediately began asking me what I was planning and how it was going to work, I had no idea what to do since it was only my first day. My mentor and I explained that it was only my first day and we ended up having an hourlong brainstorming session with these History Colorado kids. I took 5 pages of notes just from that conversation on my first day. From there I was able to incorporate my own youth perspective as well as the thoughts and ideas from the kids we talked to that first morning. Over my three weeks, I was able to complete a project that will actually be implemented in the fall as well as share my ideas and voice in many meetings. I bought a fresh perspective as well as a youth perspective. In large projects like the ones CSU are involved in, it is important to have different voices and ideas, that's why I think having highschool interns is important. We are able to contribtue our voice while learning about the fields we have interst in.
When going into this internship I was thinking about doing marketing and more the aesthetics of business for my career path. After this internship, I now think that I am more drawn to the communications aspect of business. When in meetings I enjoyed more of the conceptualizing and discussion of CSU's impact more than thinking about designing what would show that idea. I feel that this internship has really exposed me to what my field of interest actually looks like. Even if some things are confusing for my future, I am now sure that the areas of marketing or communications are what I want to pursue.
While I was very much welcomed by the team and began contributing in many ways, I many times had no context for much of what I was doing. I would often time be filled in moments before a meeting or even simply after. This would make it challenging to know what to listen for when taking notes. I realized that it was important to research who I was meeting with or look at their collaboration with CSU on their website. One of my projects, a National Western Center partners matrix, actually helped me understand who some of the partners were and how they worked with CSU.
I feel that I was an important contributor to my office. During my first day, my mentor introduced my project to me. That morning I started thinking of what I could do with this youth coalition idea, but that afternoon we went to an event with youth involved with History Colorado and a leadership council. My mentor was presenting about the National Western Center and mentioned that I would be creating a youth coalition. They immediately began asking me what I was planning and how it was going to work, I had no idea what to do since it was only my first day. My mentor and I explained that it was only my first day and we ended up having an hourlong brainstorming session with these History Colorado kids. I took 5 pages of notes just from that conversation on my first day. From there I was able to incorporate my own youth perspective as well as the thoughts and ideas from the kids we talked to that first morning. Over my three weeks, I was able to complete a project that will actually be implemented in the fall as well as share my ideas and voice in many meetings. I bought a fresh perspective as well as a youth perspective. In large projects like the ones CSU are involved in, it is important to have different voices and ideas, that's why I think having highschool interns is important. We are able to contribtue our voice while learning about the fields we have interst in.
When going into this internship I was thinking about doing marketing and more the aesthetics of business for my career path. After this internship, I now think that I am more drawn to the communications aspect of business. When in meetings I enjoyed more of the conceptualizing and discussion of CSU's impact more than thinking about designing what would show that idea. I feel that this internship has really exposed me to what my field of interest actually looks like. Even if some things are confusing for my future, I am now sure that the areas of marketing or communications are what I want to pursue.
