The Intern Chronicles: A Public Policy Fellowship

We worked hard on our resumes, applied to every job posting, and stressed over interviews.  But it was all worth it to land our awesome internships!  This is a blog series to highlight the incredible opportunities we had this past summer beginning our careers.  If you worked at an internship this summer, contact us so we can feature your experience in an article! 

Cleveland, Ohio is not really known as a destination for college students seeking internships during the summer.  Though it might not have the same number of internships as other major cities, like Chicago, New York, and Boston, it has some amazing opportunities available if you know where to find them.  This past summer, I had the amazing chance to intern for the newly chartered and completely reorganized Cuyahoga County government, in the Office of the County Executive.  It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I wouldn’t trade for anything in the world.
 
Last summer was the inaugural Public Policy Fellowship program, and I was lucky enough to be one of eight fellows chosen to take part.  After a grueling application process (essays included), phone interviews, and background checks, I finally got the call about my acceptance.  It was both exciting and a huge relief; it was the internship I was hoping for and I was employed.  Thank goodness.

This fellowship was a unique experience in several ways, but most importantly, because it gave us the chance to actually have real input in a new government body.  We were a part of the changes, big and small, that happened every day.  I worked in the newly created Communications Office and was able to sit in on meetings, draft news releases, write speeches, do research, suggest policy changes and improvements, and work with some of the most amazing individuals I could have imagined.  I was featured in articles in the Plain Dealer (Cleveland’s largest newspaper) and my own local West Shore Sun for my participation in the program, and it was fun to see and experience both sides of the media coverage in government.  One of my biggest projects was to create a presentation for all the fellows for the TAP (Transparency Action Plan) Summit, which was a huge initiative focusing on transparency and open government in Cuyahoga County. 
 
Working on all of these projects was great, but the people I worked with are what really made my summer an enjoyable experience.  They made work fun, and I was excited to go every day.  Everyone was welcoming, excited to be working, and genuinely wanted our input about things.  They made sure that we knew how much of a difference we were making and how important it was.  I built lasting relationships with the other fellows and the other members of the Executive Office, and that’s not something that everyone can say about their summer internships.
 
Though I was surprised when I found out that I got the fellowship, I was even more surprised when I discovered that I was the youngest of all the fellows… by at least two years.  Everyone else was enrolled in or finishing graduate school, while I was an upcoming junior in college.  I was intimidated at first, but amazingly, this worked out in my favor.  I was able to gain a lot of useful knowledge and wisdom from people who had gone through grad school applications, grad school, and trying to find postgraduate employment, which was priceless in and of itself.
 
I learned so much about public policy, government, and life in general through this fellowship, that I would do it again in a heartbeat.  It really got me thinking about a career in public policy, which wasn’t something I had considered before, but found out that I loved.  It was a life changing experience and I am so thankful for everything that I gained from it. 

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