As I was trying to decide which internship offer I would pursue – I received a phone call that I was offered a spot as a 2025 Frank Karel Fellow for this summer, and I immediately had to say yes. Being in Washington D.C, during a pivotal moment in history:political polarization, world wars, and individuals who urgently need our help for advocacy, I knew this would be my home for the summer. Although I did have my doubts starting off if I had the experience to do this. Coming from a Political Science background – I have had experience in policy analysis and management, meeting with stakeholders, literature research, and direct contact with advocacy for others. Yet, I have never had prior experience in a role centered around public interest communications. I feel like for the first time in my life, I was stepping into a role where it genuinely was out of my comfort zone. This came with new territories: Not knowing which organization I was going to be matched with, where I would live, and who my cohort would be composed of.
I am here now to say that all the worries and doubts I had coming to DC have now been erased out of my mind. Being matched to the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg Center was the best option for me as I clicked so much with my supervisor, as we have similar areas of passion. This comes with talking about current news, world wars, traveling, diplomacy, and mentorship that has helped me so much as a student who is entering their last year of undergraduate studies. The Bloomberg Center is Johns Hopkins’s space in Washington D.C., right across from Capitol Hill. It is focused on areas such as: policy, business, academics, and nonprofits to find solutions to global challenges, where it is entirely focused on policymakers, the community members in the area, and the experts that Johns Hopkins has to offer. It is special as it is the first to focus on a multidisciplinary approach, where ideas can flow and be connected between different disciplines from public health to business to the arts.
The first event I was invited to attend as an intern, to meet my supervisor and communications team, has been by far the most spectacular experience thus far that I will always remember. I was invited to the 2024 Robert J. Collier Trophy Ceremony – this award given annually for the greatest achievement in aeronautics/astronautics in America. The Applied Research Laboratory (APL) at Johns Hopkins received this award, and I got to see my team spearhead the event, where I saw the interviews take place with the Director of NASA, while also meeting the Director of the National Aeronautic Association to talk about how truly special this award is. The APL team is in charge of the Parker Solar Probe, where essentially, it is the first spacecraft to fly into the sun’s outer layer, to study the sun’s corona, solar wind, and understand particle acceleration, while also taking the closest picture to record of the Sun. This included hearing from the team directly, speaking about the tribulations of this project, and navigating it all, especially pushing through the failures. I will say that as technically my first day of being an intern, I saw the video that was shown to everyone in the theatre that the team made, where it illustrated the start of aviation and aeronautics: the Wright Brothers, and how the rubber band powered helicopter sparked their curiosity to create the first ever powered airplane. Seeing the way these visuals were captured together, it was truly inspiring how a video can create emotion, goosebumps, and complete awe in the history of aviation, to later achieve going to space. What was special to see was hearing: “What would the Wright brothers think now of the discovery that APL made?” I met two astronauts while taking notes at the event, and it again was such an honor to be invited to an event like this. It reminded me that academic institutions, especially like Johns Hopkins, are researching and proving what is possible, where it is breaking advancements in different fields.
Working here as an intern has given me opportunities from pitching my own content ideas to write for the Bloomberg website, attending interviews on experts/artists on certain topics, working on the external media list for Bloomberg as this building is new (only 2 years operating), and will be learning videography/photo skills which are important technical skills to have, working at any nonprofit. My coworkers all have different lived experiences, where their journeys to be working at Bloomberg are different, with different disciplines, and I have been able to learn from each individual’s niche area of interests. I have been given the freedom to tie my interests, where I am working closely with editorial to learn everything that is needed in the writing field. It makes me excited as being a journalist has been a passion of mine I have thought about, and hey, maybe one day working as an foreign correspondent could be in the books for me! I am excited to continue to learn more technical skills from my co-workers, while also attending other events from cyber warfares, to congressional briefings on artificial intelligence, to learning more about America’s drug shortages, and ultimately, how Johns Hopkins has actually made a website tracker to share this data with others. This organization is truly a nexus for academic experts, world leaders, policy makers, and students to all work together from different disciplines, and I am honored to be here learning something new every day that I attend my internship!