Internship Reflection Paper

Wyatt Goldman

Spring 2023 Public Health Internship

Professors Ernest Kanijing and Helen DuPree

6th of March 2023

 Introduction

My name is Wyatt Goldman and I am a senior at Georgia college and state university

pursuing a bachelor's degree in public health. This semester I had the pleasure of working with

the Baldwin County emergency management department. They work on a local level to best

prepare the city of Milledgeville in the surrounding area for a variety of natural and man-made

disasters. This can include things like earthquakes, wildfires and flooding. There was recently a

deep freeze at the beginning of January this year and hundreds of thousands of dollars of water

pipes were destroyed and needed to be replaced. While not unprecedented it did present an

unexpected issue and there are now stronger protocols in place should this happen again.

The office is staffed by a few department employees but many of them often work in

other departments as well. Given that Baldwin county is relatively small it is not budget

conscious to have all of the positions staffed at all times. When a severe emergency rocks the

area they leap into action and are responsible for a variety of emergency support functions, this

includes things like fire fighting, communication, transportation and energy.

The history of this department is a little tough to track due to the fact that it has existed

under several other county organizations. Before it became its own independent entity there was

some manner of emergency preparedness council or committee that had existed since the early

1980s. It was formed just after the creation of FEMA and GEMA, these are the federal and state

wide agencies that deal with emergency preparedness and responses. At a local state and federal

level these organizations exist to serve the public when unexpected disasters hit. As we’ve seen

in recent years the weather patterns are getting more extreme and more violent storms are

occurring every year. hurricanes like Sally and Katrina ravage coastal cities and leave tens of
thousands of people displaced from their homes. But having a strong coordinated body we can

ensure that a minimal amount of damage is done and that recovery is faster every time.

Description of Experiences

My role as an intern was limited. I was mainly relegated to tasks that did not require

certifications or a higher level of specificity when it came to plans and data. That does it mean

there was not a wealth of experience gained from this but it was only scratching the surface of

what goes on behind the scenes. One task that I found myself doing quite often was compiling

data into documents for the Director to look over and use. This data included things like past

severe weather events and lists of local hotels and their contact information that could be used as

temporary shelters during a time of emergency. It’s a type of work that I enjoy doing because it

is relatively low pressure and I could take my time and do it thoroughly and well. This led to an

enhanced experience because I felt like I was doing good work for a cause that meant something

and would be helpful.

Later in the semester I was able to get slightly more involved in the process as I had to

complete my project for the internship. The county's emergency response plan was being mildly

edited and I was a tertiary adviser to this. My actual input was fairly limited but I was able to

look over the files and then be sure that everything was in its proper place and that all of the

information and data that we were using was good. It was exciting to know that something I’ve

worked on will likely be implemented in the future because disasters always happen, we just

never know when.

One of the most difficult parts of my internship was tracking down a lot of different data

sets. Unfortunately tons of data is locked behind paywalls even if the data was gathered by a

public entity. We see this a lot with data collected by the national weather service being taken
and locked away by companies like AccuWeather. When it comes to emergency warnings and

things of that nature it is vital that everyone have access to it as quickly as possible regardless of

their ability to pay for it. It was a mix of personal philosophical and financial challenges that

limited my ability to do my job as well as possible.

Perception and evaluation of internship

Overall I do think that the internship meets my expectations. They were not very high or

specific in any category, I went in ready for any and everything so that I wouldn’t be

disappointed no matter what happened. Over time I grew to better appreciate it and as I found my

niche it was easier to get through the day by day. I like to think that the organization was

receptive to my ideas and contributions however the nature of the organization is pretty stagnant.

Plans are made and changed from time to time but rarely is there any seismic shift in the content.

When we did do some moderate changes my input felt tertiary to everyone else’s and I can

understand that given that I am an uncertified intern. If I had all of the proper classifications it’s

likely that my input would be taken with a bit more credit.

I felt like the supervision at my site was excellent. If I had any questions about anything

my supervisor was always available to answer them in an expeditious manner. My supervisor

also did a good job of making me feel welcome, this department is fairly insular as they don’t

have a lot of turnover and it is a pretty small number of people so it was nice for them to make

the effort.

My experience could’ve been improved by allowing a deeper look into the field and the

things that go on behind the scenes. I completely understand that my lack of qualifications help

me back from this and that if I were to pursue a career in this field it would change but it did feel

like I got a slim view of the entire thing. I do think a career in this field would suit me. It deals
less with direct interaction with the public which I feel is where I would be best suited, behind

the scenes role as either an emergency planning commissioner or some kind of public health

analyst I think would be fantastic options for me personally.

Internship preparedness

This is an interesting series of questions to answer because I personally feel like the

academic portion of school does very little to prepare you for having an actual job. Of course

learning how to do research properly and finding the correct information was useful but the

wealth of facts and other things that we learn in classes were simply moot when I started

working at this internship. That's not to say I’m unhappy with knowing everything that I know,

I’ve always enjoyed learning and knowing a wide variety of things but I don’t feel like my class

has fully prepared me for the rigor of an actual work schedule.

A number of courses from Dr. Butler and Dr. Francis prepared me very well for the

research aspect of this job. All of the classes they teach are very research intensive and teach you

how to quickly find good sources of information and to quickly compile them into a concise and

legible document. so I’m very thankful to both of them for preparing me for that.

As pessimistic as it may sound I believe that the school should do a better job of

preparing students to endure both underappreciation and monotony. There are going to be a lot of

times in your working life where your efforts go under noticed and you don’t feel like you get

the recognition you deserve but that that is OK and sometimes you just have to either keep

pushing forward or try to find a new place. As for the monotony, it’s something I believe not

enough people are fully prepared for. We may complain that School feels like the same thing

every day but there’s always a mild variety and what happens. However, the working world is
sometimes the exact same day 12 times in a row and it can be very disheartening to younger

people who are used to variety.

Internship performance

I would say, and I hope that my supervisor would agree with me that I did well during my

time as an intern. Unfortunately my lack of certifications left me with a fairly narrow scope of

things that I could do. However, whenever I was given a task I would always do it to the very

best of my ability and overtime my work became more efficient and higher quality.

The differences between an academic schedule and a full-time schedule were a little bit

jarring at first and I do feel like my performance was not as good as it could’ve been at the

beginning because I wasn’t used to quite the same level of routine. Typically my school days

would be no more than three hours of class and the rest of it would be studying while my

internship was 6 to 8 hours of consistent work that required a lot more energy. I did like that

once I left the office my day was over and I didn’t have to worry about papers and other projects

save the ones I had to do for this class.

I also struggled a bit with the work ethic that I have built for myself. When you’re in

school there’s always this push to do better and better things as time goes on. However in the

working world it seems like overachievers are either taken advantage of for their passion or they

are stifled because of a company's growth project. Sometimes growth that is too quickly can

inflate and damage a company if it is not properly regulated. There were times where I had to

take a step back and realize that I should do the work that I was assigned and not try to make a

massive production out of it. Learning to fall in line and simply do what I was told was a tricky

transition. Of course this won’t be in every situation, sometimes those that stand out are
rewarded and recognized for what they’ve done but there are a lot of other places with those that

stand out or simply hammered back into place.

Personal/professional insight and benefits

On a personal level I thoroughly enjoyed my time. This was actually a bit of a surprise to

me a few weeks in due to the fact that I had not expected much enjoyment out of this internship

because I had to pick it a bit last minute due to some complications with other sites that I wanted

to go to. But as time went on and I began to enjoy the work I realized that this was a career field

that I am both interested in and would find rewarding. My only issue is the compensation that

goes along with it. Working in the public sector often does not pay particularly well and due to

some personal reasons I won’t delve into making a certain amount of money is very important to

me. Looking back I should have considered that a bit more prudently when I picked Public

Health as my line of work. There aren’t many jobs in the field that pay quite what I’m looking

for but I’m sure with either some extra time in school or enough experience I can eventually get

where I want to be.

Professionally, everyone I worked with is great and I made some great industry

connections if this ends up being what I want to do. I have several people that would put in a

good word for me anywhere that I went and given that one of them is the Director of the Baldwin

EMA can only hope that his recommendation could carry me a fair way. The office culture that

they have was quite enjoyable. Everyone there seemed to be very friendly with each other and

there was not a very rigid code of professionalism that needed to be followed at all times.

Everyone knew what they needed to do and so long as they did it in the time allotted they were

free to be themselves and I really enjoyed that.

 My internship here was an invaluable experience that I will remember fondly for many

years to come. I got experience, made friends and made industry connections that will see to it

that my future is secure. All things considered I do not believe it could have gone better and I am

very thankful for that and I wish everyone all the best.