Everyone in the WAMPO office is very friendly, resourceful, and positive. I could tell that they were genuine and truly wanted to help find my intern partner and I job opportunities in the future. I enjoyed taking on the challenge of creating visualizations through videos and graphics to represent the metropolitan transportation plan in a more tangible way. I entered this internship with basic Premiere Pro video editing skills, but creating a total of 7 videos in collaboration with my intern partner vastly expanded our skillsets in video creation. Through trial and error (along with some greatly appreciated creative license), I had the opportunity to learn how to create basic animations using graphics I built in Canva and transferring them into the Premiere Pro program. Working for WAMPO has greatly built my confidence in video editing, and I know in December I will be leaving with a more passionate outlook on how the transportation system in the WAMPO region works and what we can expect to see in the future. Through the interviews we conducted, my partner and I were also given a few networking opportunities! We were able to meet with a gentleman who had worked on Lucas Film Productions and who is now working with VR video. Hearing from other perspectives about the job market when it comes to video creation was inspiring and motivating, to say the least. Plus, I really appreciated the option to work remotely -- juggling this internship along with my other job and weekly babysitting was a huge help to keeping my schedule at bay!
What I wish was different
The only aspect that would have made the video creation process more efficient was if my personal computer could have stored more data than it did. Installing Premiere Pro on my laptop definitely hindered my video creation process from being the quickest it could have been, however in a way I was able to put more thought into the design aspect of the graphics I created. So all in all, it worked out well!
Advice
It's crucial to step outside of your comfort zone every once in a while. I was initially terrified of not being qualified enough in my previous experience to take on an internship like this, but as I went, it motivated me to learn more on my own and to apply my own creative thinking when parts of the work were challenging. I was also concerned about having an intern partner who I would divide the work with, but this entire process taught me the value of working together, sharing ideas and concerns openly, and fostering a willingness to support the ideas the ideas of your partner -- even if that sometimes means setting your own aside. I'm extremely grateful for this experience and I hope others get the chance to build on their skills through this organization and others like it!
