It has been a busy week. I have been reading research articles nonstop, interviewing partner organizations, and yesterday I was able to test out a new workplace meeting platform. I feel that my internship at the Siemer Institute has already been transformational. I enjoy the high expectations that my co-workers have for me because they align well with my expectations for myself. Rather than being micromanaged, I am in an environment where everyone has faith in my competence to do my assigned tasks and I am encouraged to seek help and ask questions. It’s hard to believe how quickly I have adapted to the roles and requirements for this position. In my last internship, an entire month was spent on my orientation alone. Yet here I am, 4 weeks into my fellowship, and expected to turn 80+ research papers and about 20 partner interviews into a 5-page report on best practices in 3 weeks. I will not be using all of those research articles, but they will make a great bibliography for reference later on.

Recently, I was able to pilot the website Zoho to see if it would be of use for the Siemer Institute. One of my tasks for this summer, which I had not begun due to unforeseen setbacks, was to implement a database of all Simer Institute partners, with descriptions of their projects and focus areas, so other partners would be able to connect with them. For example, if a non-profit in Oregon was interested in beginning a financial literacy group, they could use this database to find other groups that had already begun such a program and can communicate and exchange ideas in that way. I really enjoyed the look of the Zoho interface and I found it easy to use. I’ve presented the website to my supervisor as a viable option and I’m excited to see how I can bring our idea to life.