I can’t believe it’s week 8 of the Fellowship program already! Even though I began my stint at the OEC two weeks late, the knowledge I’ve amassed makes it seem like a lifetime ago. At the same time, the great people I’ve worked with and the interesting experiences I’ve had made it fly by.

     My primary assignment last week was completing an interactive map prototype version of our green jobs database, a project that my boss hopes to eventually embed in the OEC website. This was quite labor-intensive, as I spent most of my week entering addresses, cities, and zip codes into the database and testing them on the maps, a process that required much trial-and-error. The end result, after I assured the website many times that yes, that address is in Columbus, Ohio, not Columbus, Georgia, was a fully interactive map of all green jobs in the database to date. There are 300-some points, each one with additional project details contained in a pop-up tab. Although the prototype is fairly basic I was still proud to have this concrete evidence of my work, something that I know will be of interest to my co-workers and the green-minded public. Additionally, I know that having completed this step will make the next intern’s life much easier!

     Speaking of my successor, my second project last week was beginning to compile a series of how-to’s for future interns. I have worked on many projects this summer, and most of those required educating myself on various online tools and programs. In order to shorten this process for future OEC interns, I took some time to type up instructions for things like map-building websites and sharing Google account access with other OEC employees, as well as “answer keys” to OEC jargon. Although the most satisfying part of this project is knowing that I am helping future interns, laying out the systems and tools I have taught myself to use over the last 6 or so weeks also gives me a sense of pride over what I have accomplished. I can’t wait to see what the next two weeks hold!