Ijeoma Anayanwu: Leading as the Intern
One way I believe the fellowship experience is preparing me for professional life is through the “passport” program that my supervisor, Sarah Chesson, has prepared for me to complete throughout the rest of my time at Cristo Rey. The program challenges me to complete four informational interviews, two site visits, be involved in at least one major Cristo Rey event, and complete an end-of-year presentation before I leave. The purpose of this program is to motivate me to take advantage of the professional network that the Work Study team has to find out more about companies, complete my own networking, and grow my confidence in professional settings. Additionally, the requirement to be involved in one major CRSJ event pushes me to work with people outside of Work Study and see what others in the school are doing for the organization and the students.
Another way this experience is preparing me for “the life beyond” is by challenging me to lead and complete my own project. In addition to support activities that I complete for my coworkers and for my department, I have taken on a “website revamp” project that I have worked on throughout the majority of my fellowship. This project has tasked me with taking an in-depth look at the CRSJ Work Study portion of the CRSJ website, researching this same section for other Cristo Rey schools, and then presenting a proposal for changes to the entire Work Study team. After getting feedback on these changes, I’ve had to come up with an implementation plan and monitor the results to ensure the results are the ones the team and I had envisioned. Having my own project to work on has allowed me to work on my leadership skills because I’ve had to request information/materials from my coworkers, schedule meetings, present in front of the group, all without the immediate monitoring of a supervisor. This is different from internship experiences in the past, where support activities were the majority of the work I was given.
Lastly, my fellowship has given me some experience with working in a corporate setting. Scheduling meetings, setting deadlines, and prioritizing tasks have all been part of the experience, which is ultimately transferable to a full-time job post-graduation. Even though I only work 10 hours a week, the shorter periods of time that I have to sit at a desk still give me some experience with managing my time and ensuring I stay engaged with my work despite sitting in one location looking at a computer for several hours. In school, classes are for a defined set of time, and then you are free to manage your time after that. But with a full-time job, you are challenged to stay engaged with your work for eight hours in the day, which has proved difficult for me in past internships. Having a year-long opportunity to help adjust myself to that lifestyle change is definitely beneficial!