I would say that I have had a wonderful time as an intern at Rising Sun. I admit is was a little odd at first being the only high school age intern in the organization, but I quickly adjusted. The only interns that I really interacted with were Joe and Eduardo. Joe is also a student at UC Berkeley and talking with him often made me think about how my college life will be at UC Merced starting this Fall.
I often think about how I will use the skills I developed at Rising Sun in college. I look forward to being able to complete all my work during college with my increased ability to focus on the task at hand. I will use my experiences interacting with new people to make some new friends.
Compared to my previous internships, I would definitely say that I have gotten the most out of Rising Sun. I constantly felt that I was part of a bigger organization were the work I did actually made a difference for them, that I was a valued member of the team. My time at Rising Sun has given me perspective of what a real job would be like.
In the beginning, I had a difficult time focusing and I had little experience talking to people I did not know. As the months passed, my focus for tasks has greatly improved with prompting from Taraneh, and my ability to interact with people I knew nothing about improved by having to speak with them at tabling events and presentations. The trial by fire method did have me nervous in the beginning, but I gradually adapted and continuously grew.
The staff were all very upbeat and I enjoyed being around them. Time in the office, while still maintaining a degree of professionalism, feels very communal and grants a sense of reliability to one another. Overall, I would recommend this internship to anybody wanting to get a good work experience and be able to help the community.
Roarii Anderson, Outreach and Marketing Intern, CYES Program
