When asked to look back on my internship this semester, I truly cannot believe that my last day at my internship will be this Tuesday. Although I did start my internship later than most, I still cannot believe how these months have just flown by. I guess this is reflective of time in general, as it always seems to go by in the blink of an eye. Although I wish I had more time at The Buffalo News, I have truly enjoyed the experience and have gained so much valuable knowledge.
One thing that I have learned is to be more confident in my abilities and my choices as a professional in the workplace. There were a few instances over the course of the internship where I would warn my internship supervisor, sometimes jokingly, that I am not necessarily good at a particular task. Let’s take tying, for example. For some reason, ever since I was little, I have never been able to tie things very well. Learning how to tie my shoes was not necessarily a fun process. So, when I was given the task to tie string together around shirts that would be thrown to fans at the home opener for the Canisius Men’s Basketball team, as BN sponsored the event, I was very nervous. Although this is a simple task to most, it made me very nervous because I thought I was going to do a horrible job. However, afterwards, she said that I did a fine job and that there was no reason to be overly nervous about something so trivial. A great lesson I learned from this particular experience is that it is okay to make mistakes or not necessarily know how to do everything. If we knew everything, there would no place to grow or learn. Learning is a never-ending process. My supervisor told me that she is still learning and she has been working at The Buffalo News for over 40 years now. It is okay not to know.
Another valuable lesson I learned is the importance of building relationships. Although you have to be professional in the workplace, it is important to communicate with those you work with and develop a sense of camaraderie. I have met great people while working at The Buffalo News. We were able to talk about mutual interests like sports, music, food, and so on. Another fellow intern and I discovered that I went to high school with her best friend and we know a lot of the same people because we both grew up in the catholic school system in Buffalo. These fun, enjoyable discussions made it feel less like work everyday. I definitely enjoyed the people at this internship and hope to be able to keep in touch in the future.
Overall, I really enjoyed my first internship experience. I think it was a perfect first internship that allowed me to develop better communication and marketing skills. I hope to enjoy my next internship opportunity as much as this one.
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