Starting a new internship can be tricky, and I have definitely learned that through my start as an intern for the Office of Development at Longwood University. Transfering from being solely a student to also being an inern has proven to be a balancing act, yet very rewarding so far.

For the durastion of this internship, I will be assisting several different people in the office with various projects. I am assisting Ms. Bulifant by helping the class of 1969 narrow down ideas on their class gift that will follow their 50th reunion next spring. I am also helping the committee members reach out to their classmates to invite them to the reunion and help them encourage donations. I am assisting Mrs. Pairet with Donor Relations and have been tasked with thank donors via thank you note and phone calls, and also producing Thank You videos to email out to donors. I will assist other people in the office with updating our data base that contains everyone who is affiliated with Longwood, including alumni, faculty, staff, students and parents. I am also to assist with posting on social media accoounts to promote different events or new developments, including the Day of Giving, the Scholarship Dinner, The Richmond Symphony, and the launch of AcademicWorks, a new scholarship program that will be launching this semester.

My teamwork and communication skills are constantly being envoked at my internship. I am tasked with helping others achieve their goals to meet the end goal, so I need to use my teamwork skills a lot to get things done. My communication skills are constantly being tested because I am constantly contacting donors. I have to tailor my message to properly converse with them in a way that will make them want to continue to give donations to Longwood.

During my internship, I hope to strengthen my speaking ability. Through talking to donors, committee members, coworkers, and others about various different topics, I will be contiually practing my speaking ability so that I can appear to be more confident in the work environment. This will help transfer to other work environments in the future because I will have practiced throughout my internship.

I am confident that this internship will provide me with a lot of new knowledge on new topics. I will gain a new comfort in the workplace and will have experience to draw on. I am also hoping that I will gain some insight into the worlds of Social Media Marketing and Event Planning through various projects that I have coming up. I am really looking forward what will come through this internship this semester!