07 Aug To be continued…

As the 10-week segment of my internship comes to a close, I am excited to report that my position has been extended for an additional year. There has been a lot of turnover at the office, and having the centennial celebrations just around the corner, I was offered to stay at the office as a set of extra hands. And this has been one of the greatest qualities of my time in D.C., being able to help in things that were often outside of my field of expertise. When the Social Media specialist had to leave the office for a week for a training program, I was tasked to create, schedule and monitor social media posts, something I had not done before. The same happened when the NPS videographer left for a week at the beginning of the internship and I had to cover events. My very first solo project was to film a press conference where the Director of the National Park Service, congress members, and two secretaries were going to speak; no pressure right? It has been very motivational for me to see that my supervisors and co-workers trusted me on pretty significant tasks, and I was able to perform successfully. It has also been very positive to meet the other LHIPsters in the D.C. area, as I got to meet people with similar interests and backgrounds. Although many of them are much more advanced in their respective studies, I was able to connect with them in both a professional and personal level. On my very last day I gathered with all the local interns and had our very last lunch together. To capture such occasion, we honored the long tradition of Lesly Caballero, una LHIPstera who specializes in the study and production of selfies. We did the same later that afternoon when we met with Stephanie Toothman, Associate Director for Cultural Resources, Partnerships and Science. It was great hearing her story of the different jobs she had in order to be in such an influential position today, and she took time to hear our stories too.