I cannot begin to fathom the many things that both my Sapphire internship and the WOW fellowship have done for me this summer. I want to begin this post by thanking both organizations for what they have done to enhance my learning skills while also adding to my work experience.
My defined learning goals mainly consisted of gaining experience in the creative arts field through my internship with Sapphire which I am happy to say I have achieved and cannot wait to use what I have learned during the rest of my time at Brandeis. Throughout the internship, my goals stayed consistent and did not waiver.
This internship has in many cases supported my career interest, which is to become a professor in English literature. One of my tasks during this internship was to go through the online submissions for one of Sapphire’s upcoming publications. It was this task that made me realize how much I love reading through people’s work while also deciding which pieces fit into the theme of the publication.
Another thing I have definitely learned while not only doing this task but also myself in the workplace is that balance between work and your life outside of work is key to achieving all of the goals you have set for yourself both in the workplace and in your personal life. Through this internship, I practiced scheduling consistently with the use of a planner, detailing how much of my time during the day I would dedicate to completing tasks for Sapphire while also setting time aside for myself.
It is working towards a balance between work and your personal life that I would recommend to a student who is interested in applying themselves to a summer internship like the one I had with Sapphire. If you can find this balance, then you will not only consistently gain new knowledge every day from your internship but you will also be enjoying your restful summer at the same time!
Something I would recommend if you are interested in a career in the creative arts is to develop strong confidence in the work you produce. It takes a lot of guts to display and accept critic of the pieces you develop, and I applaud those who did submit their work to the Sapphire organization because no matter whether we decided to accept or decline their piece, their submission was made based on the faith they had in themself and their work.
Completing this internship and knowing that I put my best foot forward in everything I did for Sapphire is something I am proud of. I know many rising sophomores who did not want to take on an internship the summer after their freshman year, yet that is exactly what I did; I did it for the experience. I would not have traded this summer with the Sapphire team for anything, because it has taught me so much about the world and about myself.
In conclusion, this summer was great, and I cannot wait to see how Sapphire’s new publication, which can be found on their website in mid-winter, comes out! Goodbye, and to the rest of my wow fellows, see you in the fall at Brandeis!!!
