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Albert Leung (Class of 2010)
Stepping off the SkyTrain, I find it's a foreign platform to me; it's Scott Road Station. The phone rang last week, and the executive director was on the line to inform me that the start of my internship would be sooner than expected. I had not taken this trip before so I left early as to not overestimate Delta's efficient transit system. Anticipation and Amp Energy Drink made for an uncomfortable bus ride as I entered the Burns Bog Conservation Society office as an employee for the very first time.
The moment I took my first steps into the office, the very welcoming Eliza Olson greeted me as she led me into the meeting room where seven other bright-eyed and bushy-tailed interns were seated. Standard introductions and miniscule credentials were passed around the table as I pondered the fact that these were the people I would be working with for the rest of my summer. I found that my beliefs and mindset in general differed from those next to me. My apathetic attitude towards conservationism was different from those who were studying how to prolong Mother Nature's agony.
After I met my fellow interns, Eliza gave us the rundown of her expectations and goals for the summer. I made sure to make eye contact with those in the room to survey how interested and attentive each person was, and I wasn't shocked to see the majority on the edge of their seats, enthralled by policy and procedure.
I spent the first day of the internship moving cabinets and rearranging file folders to suit the needs of the executive director and her accountant. The three other male interns and I had lots of time to compare stories and notes while lifting donated file cabinets. Over the next eight hours, we laughed, we carried, we grunted, and we trailed the office rug with our sweat rearranging the office furniture. When we completed our task, I was given my first assignment. Did it involve text and the use of the office's computer systems? Of course, it did. Did it involve anything I learned in my last semester in Print Futures? No, it did not. My very first assignment was to create promotional posters for four major events in the summer. I was told to keep in mind of how much ink was used and how the main readership for these materials would be those with weak eyes. After receiving my first project, I was just as confused about what a desktop publisher did as when I first stepped through the entrance before my initial interview. This is going to be one interesting summer, I thought to myself.
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Posted April 2010
