While the intern life is by no means the most extravagant, it’s a good time nonetheless! Here’s a taste of what I am currently doing and working on at my internship at the Illinois Leadership Center (ILC).

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7:45am – Even though I don’t have to be at my internship until 9am, I work the opening shift at on-campus job. So from 7:45am-9am, I am unlocking classrooms, working on tickets, and preparing myself for the workday.

9:10am – After a quick walk up across the Quad, I arrive at the ILC. I pour myself a cup of coffee (priorities), settle in, and go over my to-do list for the day.

9:15am – Since I am working a table for the MSW Field Education Day on Friday morning, I spend some time gathering the necessary supplies from around the office.

9:30am – About 15 minutes later, I settle in with the research team’s laptop and continue working on SPSS training through LinkedIn Learning (Lynda). While I did get a taste of how to use SPSS in my Program Evaluation course my first semester, this was a desperately needed refresher.

12:00pm – On Thursdays at noon, I hold down the ILC front desk while our administrative assistant takes lunch. I take a step away from my SPSS training to eat lunch. I spend this time looking over my resume and I end up working on edits for the entirety of my desk shift. (Update: My resume is really coming together!)

1:00pm – I’m back to my desk and I hunker down to finish the last bit of the SPSS training videos.

1:50pm – Hallelujah – I am FINALLY done with SPSS training! With this done, I pick back up on a new workshop I am developing all about communicating complex ideas effectively.

3:05pm – After running though a rough draft of my ideas and PowerPoint with my supervisor, she gives me some new ideas to think about adding, plus a book to provide a more solid framework for the presentation. I spend the next hour reading the book, reorganizing the PowerPoint, and adding information.

4:00pm – My last task of the day is to shadow one of our professional staff facilitate a Gallup StrengthsFinder workshop. Even though StrengthsFinder is something I am knowledgable of and comfortable with, it was nice to observe how he interacts with the students and get a refresher of the material.

5:35pm – We are off the clock and it’s time to head home!

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And there we have it – a very typical day of my life as a grad school intern! I am planning on doing a few of these posts as the semester continues on, so stick around if you’d like to see more about my day-to-day life.

Thanks for reading and check back soon for more.

Until next time,

Michaela