Reflective Post #12: The Conclusion of my Internship

As the semester quickly approaches its end, I am disappointed that my internship experience has gone by so quickly and is now complete. However, I am glad that I had such a positive experience as an intern at the National White Collar Crime Center, and I know that I have developed skills through my internship that will be very beneficial in the future. After learning more about my classmates’ internships, I began to consider which specific qualities of my site helped to make my internship a rewarding and enjoyable experience.

As an intern at NW3C, I felt that I was welcome within the organization and that I fulfilled a specific role in the curriculum development team. I feel that the friendliness of my supervisor and coworkers was a major contributing factor to my experience. Although I new little about white collar crime prior to the start of my internship, I did not feel intimidated by the topic or by the content of the documents that I was working with. Instead, I felt that the people that I worked with were encouraging and willing to assist me in gaining a better understanding of the material. As a result, I became quite eager to learn more about the organization and to find ways that I could use my professional writing and editing skills to help improve the documents created by NW3C.

In addition to the kindness of the NW3C staff, I also think that my prior education and experience in professional writing and editing helped me to make the most of my internship experience. I started my internship with the confidence that I had the necessary skills to work as a writer and editor in a professional environment. Still, I was not yet sure as to how I would make use of these skills. However, I soon discovered that the National White Collar Crime Center was an excellent place for a professional writing and editing student to gain valuable work experience. Through my internship, I was able to make use of the skills I had acquired as an undergraduate and also develop new skills in writing and editing. I am grateful that I had the opportunity to work with an organization that was such an excellent fit for my studies and interests and to also work with a group of people who were extremely helpful and encouraging of my abilities.