Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, I stepped into the lobby at 8:55 a.m. and texted my supervisor that I’d arrived. While waiting to go up to the Center for Community Progress’ office, I double-checked my orientation email to ensure I was prepared for my first day. I was at the right address, I brought my laptop and headphones, I had my best business casual on …
… and I was half an hour early. I could’ve sworn I was supposed to start at 9 on the dot, but the bolded text of 9:30 a.m. said otherwise. My father, a U.S. Navy veteran, always said that to be early was to be on time, but maybe this was too early. I was fully prepared to nurse an iced coffee at Dunkin’ until my actual start time — I clearly could’ve used the caffeine.
Just then, the elevator dinged, and my supervisor walked out and greeted me. I tried to hide my nerves and smiled back before apologizing for having misread the time. But he only laughed.
“It’s okay,” he said. “Our intern last year did the exact same thing! So, we figured we’d come to the office early and make sure someone would be here for you if it happened again.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. The world hadn’t ended. I even had some extra time to settle in and get acquainted with my workspace before the day officially started. And what a day it turned out to be.
From a crash course in understanding Community Progress’ work and history, to diving into project meetings with other teams, to having lunch with everyone who was in-office, my first day catapulted me right into the action. I was surprised by how eager I was to keep up with the motions of an organization in full-swing; I thought I’d need some time to process everything or to feel at ease.
But the team at Community Progress tapped into a tenacity I didn’t realize I had. On day one, I was trusted to sit in on important conversations and to contribute to actual deliverables, like the newsletter or a local press contact list. I wasn’t just some afterthought that they could throw busy work at to keep occupied. They had confidence in me from the start. That, in turn, gave me the confidence to ask for more assignments, to integrate with the work atmosphere, to take on new challenges and ask lots of questions along the way.
And I asked a lot of questions; Community Progress set up “Get to Know” Zoom calls with someone from just about every team, from technical assistance and fundraising, to human resources and even the CEO herself. (She insists that I call her Kat and gives me a big hug every time she sees me in the office.) On each of these calls, I got to probe the minds that drive Community Progress and start building a personal rapport with the team.
That good feeling I had on my first day has only grown in the three weeks since my internship started. I’m so blessed to work with an organization that values me, teaches me important skills, and includes me in something bigger than myself. I’ll never view myself as “just” the intern again; I’m part of the team, no matter how short my time here may be.