In my Why DukeEngage Seattle essay, I quoted a friend who gave me a glimpse into his yearlong stay in the Emerald City. He described Seattle as a city where “rain becomes a quiet companion in the Pacific Northwest, where down-to-earth is the only direction, and innovation springs from every local coffee shop.” I didn’t really give much thought to those words at the time. Looking back now, Seattle has been that, but so much more to me. I’m really not even sure how to begin describing my Seattle experience, because so much has happened in the short time we’ve been here. Watching fireworks from Gas Works Park, hiking in Pack Forest, and dancing to Dillon Francis at Capitol Hill Block Party are just a few highlights.
Those experiences aren’t even the best part of my time in Seattle though. My work this summer has been incredibly rewarding and given me a reason to stay here. I am interning with a non-profit called Year Up Puget Sound. We have a yearlong program where students spend six months in the classroom and six months at an internship. The idea behind our name is to give our students a "year up” by teaching them the hard and soft skills needed to gain better career opportunities after they graduate from our program.
My time at Year Up has been such a blessing. I work in the Devo department (pronounced DEE-voh, short for development) with a team of four awesome ladies: Ali, Janice, Dannielle, and Liz. I’ve learned so much from each of them, but especially from my supervisor Janice. She’s so on top of everything and amazing at delegating tasks to our team, so I’ve really been trying to learn by example. I'm always busy, but never bored. My main responsibility as an intern is to help plan events and manage logistics, but my tasks have also ranged from mail merging to making a video for our first Volunteer Appreciation event. It's been six weeks already, but I still feel like there's still so much to learn and still so much to do.
Those experiences aren’t even the best part of my time in Seattle though. My work this summer has been incredibly rewarding and given me a reason to stay here. I am interning with a non-profit called Year Up Puget Sound. We have a yearlong program where students spend six months in the classroom and six months at an internship. The idea behind our name is to give our students a "year up” by teaching them the hard and soft skills needed to gain better career opportunities after they graduate from our program.
My time at Year Up has been such a blessing. I work in the Devo department (pronounced DEE-voh, short for development) with a team of four awesome ladies: Ali, Janice, Dannielle, and Liz. I’ve learned so much from each of them, but especially from my supervisor Janice. She’s so on top of everything and amazing at delegating tasks to our team, so I’ve really been trying to learn by example. I'm always busy, but never bored. My main responsibility as an intern is to help plan events and manage logistics, but my tasks have also ranged from mail merging to making a video for our first Volunteer Appreciation event. It's been six weeks already, but I still feel like there's still so much to learn and still so much to do.
The best Devo team: Janice, Dannielle, Liz, Christine
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The cafe in Capitol Hill where I wrote this blog.
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Christine Shen
Duke Student '15
Duke Student '15
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