My Experience: Courtney Griffin

Posted on May 31, 2011. Filed under: Internship Experience, Meet the Women |

Participating in the United States Department of Transportation Entrepreneurial Training Women and Girls Internship Program was one of the most important experiences in my college career so far. The experiences that I received as well as the people who I have met throughout this have all been so extremely wonderful. In order to get a full view of my time in this internship I want to start out by talking about my motivation in pursuing this internship.

My major goal is to be a lawyer but I knew that even though I wasn’t going to be in a law office I would most likely be exposed to some political aspects that could aid me at some point in time in a number of my classes. When I found out that I was accepted and I got my placement, I became even more excited.

My placement was with the Piedmont Authority for Regional Transportation or PART for short. PART is a business that provides transportation for the Piedmont Triad area of North Carolina that consists of about 10 counties. They provide bus transportation, vanpools, and carpools that are a cheaper way of getting people to and from their place of business while also creating a safer environment by producing less pollution. I liked the fact that I didn’t just answer to one person but I had the opportunity to work with multiple people and get to know everyone in some way. The job I enjoyed the most was helping in the production of a commercial that was being filmed on the first day that I was there. As far as I am concerned, this program over exceeded my expectations.

While at my work site my experience was one that was full of fun times, good people, and lots of laughs. I feel as though I worked to the best of my ability and I never had a day that I didn’t want to be there. I appreciated the fact that they were understanding of my school schedule and the fact that sometimes things came up at school that were beyond my control and I may have had to spend time taking care of them. While there I honestly learned that work does not have to be something you dread. On a daily basis you can come across so many people who dislike their jobs or who always complain about what they do but in this position I was my happiest. Even on my worst days when I was exhausted from spending hours studying the night before or doing homework while on the bus there I was happy when I walked through those doors. That is the most valuable thing that I took away from this, that I can be happy at work.

Being given this opportunity has opened the door for me to not be afraid of what is out there. I now know that I have the ability to step outside of my comfort zone and experience something new. As far as my future is concerned, this internship has not changed my mind about my career goals at all. I don’t think that I really learned as much about the government’s role in transportation as I wanted to though. I would have liked to be a little more hands on with the government part of transportation. Being that everything is affected in some way by the government I think that it would be something to incorporate a little more. Even with that aspect missing, however, I wouldn’t change a thing. This experience has been eye-opening and enlightening. Once again I thank you for the opportunity and hope that my insight will be helpful in the future. This will be a great internship for so many other students in the future.