It was a really great experience. It didn't feel like it at the time, but looking back I learned a lot from this position. It was definitely challenging trying to balance school and the internship but I enjoyed the work because it was meaningful. I was in charge of relaying information to my superiors regarding COVID-19. The interns were required to do additional research on articles that were recently published, and to attend and write notes at meetings hosted by the CDC, Maryland department of Health, and other similar calls. My research skills improved a lot due to this position; writing papers and emails feels a lot simpler now. It felt good to have such an important role in public health especially within a community I can see direct change in, since I live in the Baltimore area. Lastly, the goals was to make you better and every month we would have professional development workshops which were helpful. My supervisor even reviewed resumes and sent us job alerts depending on our specific interests.
What I wish was different
I do wish the interns were able to work on side projects. Although the work was important, it sometimes felt monotonous so it would have been nice to work with different departments. I also wish, there was more interactions between interns. My internship was completely virtual, so this could definitely be the case as well.
Advice
I would suggest to stay in touch and connect with your superiors. As cliche as this might seem, my superiors genuinely wanted to see the best for all those working for them and eagerly want to help. Communicate any concerns you may have or questions. The goal is to learn, so it would be a waste not to take advantage of whats presented to you. And try your best to stay on top of your work, I suggest different planner apps and to add tasks to your google calendar to receive updates or reminders on your phone to stay up to date.
