Archive for April, 2011
Internship Experience: Takaruda Mutamba
The US Department of Transportation Entrepreneurial Training for Women and Girls Internship Program was an awesome opportunity to attend .I wanted some experience in the transportation industry and this just seemed as the perfect option to apply my classroom theory.
I was placed at Piedmont triad Partnership a Regional development organization in Piedmont Triad region of North Carolina which is a twelve county region. The Piedmont Triad Partnership which is an economic development program whose goal is to bring businesses to the 12 counties of the region of North Carolina.
My internship with the Piedmont Triad Partnership allowed me to work on the Governors Logistics Task Force Seven Portals Study Group where we studied the infrastructure for moving people, freight and information within the Piedmont Triad region which is a 12 county region with a population of 1.5 million people.
The research that we conducted in the 7 portals program was presented to the Governors Logistics Task Force to enable them to make decision of the best places to build and expand so as to attract businesses to North Carolina. It was eye opening to sit in the room where strategic decision making was been made that would affect the region for years to come and to see how decisions are made.
I worked on the 7 portals study project for the North Carolina Governors logistics Task force as a Research Assistant for the project. Dr. John Kasarda who coined the term ‘aerotropolis’ developed the idea that regions can leverage their airports for economic growth and the 7 portals project wanted to apply this concept to North Carolina.
The best expression that captures my internship experience would be embodied in the words of famous American astronaut James A. Lovell who said,’’ There are people who make things happen, there are people who watch things happen, and there are people who wonder what happened. To be successful, you need to be a person who makes things happen.” The internship allowed me the opportunity to be in the room with the strategic decision makers of North Carolina.
This internship has allowed me the opportunity to expand my focus and horizons and to look at the Piedmont Triad in a different manner. The internship was great because I had taken some classes in transportation infrastructure so I put into practice what I had studied in the classroom into the internship. It becomes more value added when I took the internship.
I wished that I had started the internship earlier in the semester so I could have worked on the internship longer. I had definitely found out that I prefer the field of transportation to supply chain. I definitely feel as though I belong to the field of economic development. I am challenged and excited in the field and this internship allowed me to grow professionally.
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South Atlantic SBTRC Women and Girls Internship Program 