By: Rocelyn Miller
I am currently interning for my second year with the Dodge City/ Ford County Development Corporation. It is really hard to describe exactly what goes on at the Development Corporation. There is always so much happening at one time. The main thing that the Dev Corp does is help grow and develop our community. The girls at the office all do different things, but they somehow always work really well together.
Technically, I am the Development Corporation Apprentice, but I work mostly with REWA. REWA stands for Rural Education and Workforce Alliance. We bring different educational opportunities to this part of Kansas because there is not a 4-year college in this quadrant of the state. We work alongside many 4-year universities including Fort Hays State University and Newman University.
During my internship, I have lots of responsibilities. I do a lot of updating websites, clerical work, attending meetings, meeting new people, making phone calls, and organizing in the office. I also help put on different events in the community. Last week, Main Street Dodge City put on our Main Street Festival. During the festival, the other intern that works at the Development Corporation and I helped set up the vendors, made sure they all had water, took pictures, and helped clean up the festival afterward. It is interesting to see the backside of events that go on in the community and how much work they take to put on. We both got to speak on the radio last week. At first, I was really nervous, but it was kind of fun. We talked a little bit about our internship and Ogallala Commons. It was a really good experience for us.
I started my internship during Christmas break this year and even worked through spring break. During spring break, we had the 3I show in Dodge City. The 3I show is an event for vendors to showcase their products or services. We set up a booth to promote our Dodge City Has Jobs Website. One of the things that we are trying to get more of in Dodge City is a workforce.
My communication goal for this internship is to gain better phone communication skills. Sometimes I struggle with talking on the phone, but since I do it daily at the office, I am hoping to get better at it. My leadership goal is to take on more projects by myself instead of always working under someone. I would like to be in charge of a project. My professional networking goal is to meet more community members and learn what they do in our community. I am so excited for the rest of the internship!
