My internship was completed during the Fall 2022 semester at South Carolina Rural Water Association, a nonprofit that works to serve rural water systems around the state (and my current place of employment). Internship activities were completed separately and without overlap of working hours. My supervisor was SCRWA’s Workforce Development Manager, Tara Friday. She manages the company’s statewide apprenticeship program, which aims to train individuals in one of four water or wastewater operator specialties.
The goal of this internship was for me to help promote the apprenticeship program as well as complete an online course that would serve as orientation for students of the pilot pre-apprenticeship program. I participated in multiple outreach events around the state on behalf of the apprenticeship program. I also brainstormed, created, and gathered both digital and physical artifacts that made up a “Career Fair Kit'' for company employees to bring with them to further outreach events. I was able to test and evaluate the career fair kit’s effectiveness at actual outreach events and add or change things accordingly. I created an Instagram reel about interning at the company for them to post on their social media and call attention to the experience of working there and the efforts they are making to participate in the community. Finally, I created an orientation course for the pre-apprenticeship program in ClassCraft, a gamified learning platform that I tested for the company. I really enjoyed interning for a company that I work for, because I was able to see the effect of my work play out after the internship ended and was able to develop my ideas and efforts further than I would have at another company.