To: Dr.

Dana Mitra

From: Christopher Sosnowski

Date: 6/17/2020

Subject: Blog Entry #3 (Roles as an Intern)

Question:

Describe your main roles as an intern, and how your experience is going so far. What
are your day to day responsibilities? What are the responsibilities of your supervisor?

Response:

It only took about a week or so to understand my role and responsibilities as an intern

for Penn State Talent Search. Primarily, my responsibilities involve research. Each week or so,
Stephen and I will typically set up a zoom call and discuss what needs to be researched. For
example, this upcoming week I’m set to research the potential need for TRIO programs within
Altoona and Centre County. I’ll typically spend the week gathering census data, studies, and
articles that I think make a strong case for or against the target area, and then compile this
information in a memo that I send back to Stephen. We’ll usually discuss what I send his way,
I’ll highlight what I thought was of importance, and then it’s off to the next subject.

My day to day responsibilities vary greatly, which I believe is primarily thanks to COVID.
Typically as a policy intern, I would be reporting to the office every day. I would have fellow
staff members to communicate with, I’d be in direct contact with my supervisor Stephen, and I
would have a clear set of hours to work within. This, of course, is not the case these days.
Often my day to day will vary. Some days I have little to no work at all, and others I’ll find a
great source to use and I spend hours trying to set up a table and accurately sourcing my
information. It just depends.

I am feeling pretty good about my experience thus far. Working with data has been a lot
of fun, and insightful. I often find myself applying what I’ve learned at school to my work. For
example, I recently had to calculate the unemployment rate for certain target areas. The
process of accessing the American Community Survey data, comparing it to the Bureau of
Labor Statistics data, and following the recent trends of unemployment provided me with a
deeper understanding of unemployment in America than any class I have taken thus far.
Applying the memo format that I learned in EDTHP 394 to my work has also been incredibly
useful. Writing them for class I always understood that at the end of the day I needed to get a
grade and move on, but applying the format to real work and a mission makes me pay
attention to my writing and presentation more than ever before. Talent Search has been a great
fit for me, and it's always nice to know that at the end of the day, I'm playing a small role in
helping others acquire an education. I'm finding I would love to continue this kind of work into
the future, and that's a good sign.

That being said, my greatest challenge so far has been the distance due to COVID.
Some days I don't have much work to do, and these are the moments that if I were working in
person, I would love to step up and ask others if they need any assistance. With remote work,
this is made much harder. I have tried speaking up on weeks when I don't have much to do,
occasionally at our all-staff meetings. I'll mention that I am free to help, but I think the
understanding of the team is that I working primarily for Stephen, and since I haven't been able
to develop any kind of strong relationship with the rest of the staff, it's a lot harder to reach out
or to make a case for myself.

I sometimes imagine how exciting it would have been to have had a normal internship
experience. To have traveled to DC, to advocate on the Hill. To have met the talented staff, and
learn more about what they do. But then I remind myself how lucky I am to have an internship
at all, and in a way, I realize that today's circumstances have been a blessing in disguise. I'm
getting the opportunity to experience first hand how the world of education pivots under
pressure. How the professionals in the field adapt to uncertain times. I think this kind of
experience is more valuable than any typical internship experience would be, so for that
reason, I am incredibly grateful for the work I am getting to and enjoying every week as it goes
by.