I remember when I was first going to start my internship with the City of Plainview, I was so nervous, and I did not want to start. However, now that I have completed just about everything, I am very sad yet grateful that was able to do this awesome experience. I learned so much from it and felt like I was even able to grow as a person. I definitely met a lot of great people throughout this whole experience. My supervisor and coworkers were so helpful and patient with me when it came to anything I did not understand.
Throughout my internship I learned a variety of things such as payroll, bank statement reconciliation, bond interest allocation, accounts payable input and check processing, Laser Fiche, utility billing, review of budget documents and procedures, much more. Many of the things I may not remember exactly how to do, but I was able to see how it is used on a daily routine and when is the correct time to use them. I was able to see first hand how many of the things my professors at WT talk about during lecture, which I found neat to finally be able to understand how it is used in real life situations.
I was glad to have been able to achieve the three goals I set for myself to accomplish throughout my internship. My supervisor and Tammy did an excellent job at helping me achieve my communication goal and explaining almost every little detail that goes into creating the yearly budget and how it is prepared. Other than utility billing, I can say that I understood the budget process well enough to go explain to someone who had a simple question about it. My leadership goal was to volunteer for organizations with the City of Plainview, which I did at the Fair Theatre Summer Movie Days. It always brings joy to my heart to see little kids so happy about even the simplicity of watching a movie with their friends and family. For my networking goal, I was able to reach out to the City Manager of Hart and ask him a few questions about how things get done in Hart versus how they are done in Plainview. I was astonished by how different a small town runs things compared to a bigger city. I am sure Lubbock and Amarillo’s policies get even more complicated than even just Plainview.
Overall, I enjoyed my experience working through Ogallala Commons for the City of Plainview. I feel like I have definitely chosen the correct career path for myself. I am forever grateful for everybody who has been apart of this journey in my life.
