The Lessons I’ve Learned

For my internship with Apache Junction, I have learned an exorbitant amount of beneficial information. I am very grateful for the amount of effort that the city manager’s office and other employees within the City of Apache Junction have offered to support me in my master’s of public administration (MPA) internship.

As a student, I pay for my internships because I believe in the power of having real world experience to apply what I am learning in the classroom. I have accomplished that basic goal, but more specifically I will address the three goals that I wrote about in my very first blog:

1. To learn the many ways that the CIP fits into the overall budget plan and to find the best fit from the options I will research for AJ
2. To build professional relationships and get to know the roles and importance of various persons within the city manager's office
3. To prepare myself to be a budget analyst and a future leader in city government

For simplicity’s sake, I will address whether I have accomplished these goals so far in a list of three corresponding comments:

1. This first goal of the CIP is actually one of the main goals that has not come to fruition. It is quite ironic that the primary project I thought would be consuming my time is barely a blip on the radar. Instead, I am editing and organizing the content of the city’s budget book, collecting and creating organizational charts from all the city departments, and doing research for other important managerial issues.
2. I have definitely been able to build good professional relationships and learn about the importance of many departments in AJ. I am offered many opportunities for quality time with both Assistant City Manager (who is actually acting as the interim City Manager) Bryant Powell and Assistant to the City Manager Matt Busby. They both are previous interns, know where I am coming from, and want to help me have the best experience possible at AJ. I have also come into contact with multiple department heads with my projects and it has been very rewarding to learn about everything the city does and how it functions as a whole.
3. I do believe I am much more prepared for the next step in my career likely as a budget analyst or perhaps even an assistant to a city manager. I want to be involved in local government in the future and I will be able to use my experience in AJ to talk about my skills and knowledge as a future leader and administrator.

The most important thing I have learned from this internship is that I like the job of working in the city manager’s office and is something I can see myself doing for years to come. I enjoy the challenge of communicating with many people with various personalities and multiple types of issues at once. I thrive off of difficulty and excelling in potentially stressful situations.

Although I do not know if I want to work in city government all of my life, I see it as a next step to bigger and better things. And as long as I keep learning, I’ll keep growing not only in my career, but also as a person.