Name: Natalie

Junior

Major: Sociology

CFS Program: Field Studies in Public Health

As I go into week 6 of my internship, I am definitely confident that it was the best fit for me in continuing my professional development. I work at a small for-profit office with three companies that primarily do educational consulting, national searches for superintendents and principals, and put on leadership academies for principals and superintendents.

I’ve known for a while that I want to go into the education sector. What kind of job I actually hope to have in this sector is not as clear. Thus, my goal with this internship was to get a new perspective on the educational world and explore future potential job opportunities. Additionally, I wanted the opportunity to work in a more corporate, for-profit setting since they are pretty rare in the field of education. Even in the span of five weeks, I have already accomplished both of these goals. My bosses put a lot of trust in their interns and, thus, expect a lot from them. I feel as though I have been given the opportunity to make important decisions and that my opinion is valued.

Further, several of the projects that we have been assigned had takeaways that go far beyond the actual concrete goal of the project. At the end of a project, we will often debrief about ways we can use what we learned in these projects as we continue in our own professional lives. For example, in helping my bosses search for the best people to recommend to their client districts for education positions, I’ve learned a lot about how to make my resume stand out in a crowd of candidates. My bosses are truly invested in teaching me lessons about the real world, which can sometimes seem harsh, but ultimately will prove very useful for me as I seek to find where I belong in the education industry. I very much look forward to all of the additional professional lessons that the rest of my internship brings.