First Few Weeks at Elmwood Village

When I first received the internship position at the Elmwood Village Association, I wasn’t exactly sure what I’d be doing on a weekly basis. Come to find out, I’ve been doing a little bit of everything.

As a communications intern, I work along side my supervisor and a few other student interns depending on the day of the week. I am helping to evaluate proposals for their new website, and also creating a Request For Proposal (RFP) for the new site design. I have also written one of the “Shop Elmwood” newsletters, as well as a blog post about a day in the life of an Elmwood Village resident. I create new ideas for the blog in order to promote the village and bring outside visitors into the area. I also collaborate with other interns on various social media management projects.

In the beginning of the semester I told my supervisor that I wanted to end the internship with some work samples I could put into my portfolio. She agreed, and said that I could write a few newsletters and blog posts as the semester went on. I wrote my first newsletter last week and realized it wasn’t too bad. I collected information from different businesses in the village and put it all together on a website called Constant Contact. The newsletter got sent out to the village subscribers last Friday.

The blog post was done a little differently. She wanted the post to be a Q&A type format that featured an Elmwood resident, particularly a college student. I decided to interview a Canisius student that has been living in the village for almost a year. I was excited to be able to use my interviewing skills and leave the office to venture into the village for my work shift. I ended up meeting a couple of business owners and going into some of the shops that I had never visited before.

This internship has helped me to expand my network of professionals and meet new people in the village everyday. It’s really helped me to grasp the idea of what the Elmwood Village means to the Buffalo community and what the city hopes it will become in the future.