Meeting my Internship Goals

The most important skills I learned from my internship were:

1. Communicating with the public about a change

2. Learning how to effectively communicate through a blog post

3. Being independent to run an event

Through working events at the local Farmer's Markets, I was able to learn how to communicate with the public effectively. I would reel them in by asking them questions, and finding out their background knowledge on our change topic. Then, I was able to adapt my communication to the individual, and enable them to be more interested in Local First Arizona, and it's change effort. I was very nervous in the beginning, especially when I began doing the events by myself. I wanted to make sure I was communicating with all the right words, and engaging people. However, I could tell my success by the amount of people I was able to sign up for the Local First Arizona newsletter. I was even able to get people interested in becoming a volunteer for the organization. Towards the end, I felt very comfortable with setting up our table at events, and communicating with the public.

Steve, my mentor, really helped me hone in on my communication skills through blog posts. I learned how to effectively communicate through a short blog post, and use key words to make my point give an impact on the audience, and also be interesting. These were great skills I can use in school, and at work. It was also really cool to see my work being viewed by the public, and being a part of the mission of Local First Arizona.

I would definitely say I met all of my goals from my first blog post, and even learned more than I hope. I can not express enough how thankful I was to experience the change effort, and the people of Local First Arizona. It was such a positive learning environment, and really helped with my education and communication skills.