Gracias City of Phoenix!

I am really grateful with the opportunity that the City of Phoenix has given me during this past semester. As a foreigner, being able to intern in the city government from another country is really valuable. I also believe it has been an incredible experience which I consider that has added an enormous value to my master experience in the U.S.

First, I want to thank my main supervisor, Toni, who is the Director of the Public Information Office and despite of having a very busy position, she always made time to listen to me and guide me in the work that needed to be done. She was also always willing to explain me how things work at the City and introduce me to people in other offices or departments. I also want to thank Jon, who was the person previously in charged of the program, and despite being in his new position in another department of the City, he trained me and he was always willing to help me and answer any of my questions. Then, I also want to thank Tammy, the new person in charged of the program, who recently started the position, and I have been working together with her a lot in this past month. Finally, I want to thank the rest of the people working at PIO, Alejandro, Rosalinda, Yvette, Sina, Joyce, Stephanie, Michelle, Margaret and Matt, because they helped me every time I had any doubt regarding of how things work at the City and also because they made feel comfortable working there. 

I am definitely looking forward to keep working with all of them next semester and also meet new people!

Dear Toni,

I really appreciate the opportunity of interning at PIO that you have given me. I had an amazing learning experience. Not only I have learned about PIO, but I’ve also learned a lot about how the City of Phoenix works.

Thank you for integrating me with so much enthusiasm to the office and showing me interest from how things work in the country I come from. I feel very lucky to have had the experience of working at a local government in the U.S.

Finally, I would also want to thank you for the opportunity of continuing the internship next semester. I am more than excited to see how the projects I’ve been working on will turn out in the following months.

Sincerely,

Natalia Cuneo

After 4 months

This internship at the City of Phoenix has been an incredible learning experience mainly because it has been my first job in another language, which I consider it to be a big challenge. I have not only learned about the program I am interning at, but also I have learned about how the Public Information Office works. Having had the opportunity to attend to the weekly staff meetings has been a great experience to learn about everybody else’s work.

I definitely think I have achieved the goals of starting to become more familiar with how a U.S. local government works, have a better idea of what my interests and skills are and finally being able to see in real life things I have learned in different school courses.

I am also very glad that I had the opportunity to interact with people from other departments and also learn from them. The fact that the program has a team conformed by employees from different departments makes it really interesting because you constantly hear different perspectives and suggestions about the projects we were working on.

One of the things I value the most about this internship is that I always had the opportunity to give my opinion and suggest ideas of the work we were doing. I think this is essential to keep interns motivated in what they are doing.

I am also very excited because one of the projects that I have been working during the whole semester, the request for sponsorship for the defibrillators located in different facilities of the City, is about to be issued and it definitely feels enthusiastic being part of this project.

I was recently offered to continue this internship next semester, which I guess is a good indicator of my performance during the internship, and this really excites me and motivates me towards the future.