Bowman Roach gained experience in data collection and analysis and sharpened his time management skills to support Santa Cruz County develop a five-year plan.
What kind of work did you do throughout your internship experience?
Throughout the internship with Santa Cruz County, I worked on developing public outreach materials and strategy to help the new local officials of the county prioritize its citizen’s needs and wants accordingly in a five-year plan. I conducted research on the environmental and economic impact of a possible expansion of a mine in the area and was also responsible for putting information about this information gathering project on the county website. This project would support the goal of learning more about their constituents to gain their trust.
What is the impact of your internship experience?
The impact of my internship has been positive since it achieved one of my goals of trying to make a difference in a community. While I was able to develop and learn new transferable skills to help me along my career journey, I know that people who live in Santa Cruz have been struggling with distrust of their local government in addressing their concerns. I hope that the work we did to develop a survey designed to capture their input helps them feel heard, and helps the community feel like a step was taken towards repairing that relationship.
If you worked on a big project, describe it.
The big project I worked on for the majority of my internship was developing a new survey to help the newly elected officials of Santa Cruz County create a five-year plan. This project required a lot of brainstorming and troubleshooting to get it right because there were so many factors to consider in not just the survey but its implementation. I’m not able to show it because we have not released it to the public yet, but it was satisfying to have it completed by the end of my internship and be ready to send out when it is time.
What is one skill you got to practice during this internship?
Throughout the internship, I have had the opportunity to learn and develop many skills that can help me as I continue in my career, but public speaking is one skill I have developed the most over this semester. I was the primary speaker and presenter in many meetings throughout the semester, explaining what I had created to help the county of Santa Cruz. This pushed me to grow in my preparation and speaking abilities even more because I had to make sure that I was speaking to my supervisors with confidence not only in doing the work but explaining it to others.
How did your Applied Humanities major coursework help prepare you for the internship experience?
Throughout my internship, there were many times when I recalled previous experiences and knowledge from my Applied Humanities coursework. One of the main experiences was my time working on in-depth projects that required creating media, collecting data, and researching certain topics. This was similar to the multi-phased projects we completed in many of my Applied Humanities courses. Another piece of useful insight from my coursework in Applied Humanities is the skill of creative problem-solving. Throughout the internship, there were a variety of challenges that required me to come up with solutions that were outside the box. My previous work in Applied humanities helped me bring useful insights to my internship.
What did you find challenging about your internship?
The most challenging part of my internship was scheduling meetings. The meetings would switch between hybrid and in-person modalities for me, which I appreciated because my supervisor was accommodating to my class schedule. However, the constant switching between the meeting types got more confusing as the semester got more difficult and we met more frequently. From this experience, I learned how to better manage my schedule and my time. To help me stay organized with everything, I started to write out all my work school as well as deadlines and meeting times to help keep track of my time.
What advice do you have for other students as they search for and begin their internship?
To other students about to start their internship, approach internships with an open mind and willingness to learn. First, try to establish specific goals for what you hope to achieve while working for the organization. It is also beneficial to ask questions and get feedback from supervisors and coworkers to develop your skills. I suggest taking intentional time to network with other professionals since these relationships may lead to future possibilities. Finally, having a good attitude and flexibility may help you overcome obstacles and make the most of your internship experiences.