Student SPHere 2008-09

If my weeks are going to be so jam-packed and stressful this semester, they might as well go fast! And they certainly have so far.

I’m getting a little better feel for my classes at this point, and I think my initial assessment will probably prove to be true: They’re going to be hard, stressful, practical and awesome. I admit I’m not looking forward to SAS. I’m scared of program evaluation. I’m still trying to figure out exactly how and why to make a logic model. And the mere idea of creating Access databases to use for reporting stories makes my brain shut down.

But I am 100 percent sure that I will learn a heck of a lot by May.

My internship at the Star Tribune is going well, and I’m getting a little more into the groove every time I work in the newsroom. (Example: At first I was terrified to talk on the phone in a huge, silent room, surrounded by veteran business reporters; now I’m on the phone most of the day.) The first assignment I got turned out to be a non-story, so we’ve changed the topic slightly and I got back on the horse. I’m not expecting my first real story to be groundbreaking or anything, but it’ll be nice to get one under my belt.

And my exciting news for the week is that I was offered and accepted a position in the Minnesota Department of Human Services’ Executive Pathways Internship Program for the summer! I’ll be working full time in the DHS communications office, which handles media relations, internal communication, much of the external communication, some budget and legislative issues and more for the whole agency. Yikes. I’m going to use it as my public health field experience and, as it’s 400 hours, I might even do it for more than the required two credits. I’m excited – too bad it’s four months away!

Needless to say, I’m very much looking forward to the weekend. I definitely need to do some work and clean my disaster of an apartment (first thing to go when things get stressful…oops), but I definitely want to check out some ice and/or snow sculptures if there’s anything left of the Winter Carnival.

Happy Friday!