Friday, August 2, 2013
By:
This summer went by way too quickly, but then again, I say that almost every summer. It’s weird to think that in a few days, we’ll be done with our internships.
Given that this is the last week of “real” work (i.e., before presentations and closing stuff), I’ve spent the week trying to finalize at least a few documents. I’ve also been thinking about the website design. David (AAPT’s website guy) drafted a new design based on what I wanted to include that reduces the clutter and list-like look of the current Policy section. I’m excited to keep working on the website! On that note, I’m hoping to do my “master’s thesis” for my public policy degree with AAPT (thesis is in quotes because it’s not a traditional thesis, but more of a white paper or policy analysis). Working with AAPT for the “thesis” will give me more time to continue my work from the summer, and I want to see this project through. From the Summer Meeting, I learned that people are interested in advocacy, but most aren’t sure how to start. I want to help with that start and enable members to advocate for science education, and so I want to stay with AAPT.
In addition, I’ve worked more on my final presentation. I had half of the final presentation from the AAPT Summer Meeting, but I modified the second half to include more of the “final” products than an extended example of building an advocacy strategy. I decided to include lots of screenshots of the documents I’m creating, and that forced me to finish designing several of the one-pagers.
Finally, to avoid getting bogged down in the “things I’m going to miss” list, I’ve instead worked on the list of “things I definitely won’t miss.” Most of these things are (unsurprisingly) Metro-related: waking up early, the long commute, the busy trains, the odd train operator who tries to use a sing-song voice when announcing stations… It’s not a terribly long list, but it’s still something to occupy my mind. And now, back to finishing this presentation to show one of my mentors this afternoon before our official practice sessions next week!
Christine O'Donnell