Balancing Patience and Determination in Media | Endowment Intern Sarah

Sarah with other interns

Over the past few weeks, I have been writing a great deal. Between blog posts for ETV’s website and county summaries for Knowitall Media, I have been writing more in a day as an intern than I do in a week as a student.

As a result, I have come to further enjoy the research, writing, and editing processes. I am now not only a better writer but also a faster writer. A task that would have taken me an hour or two to complete a few weeks ago now takes me about 30 minutes.

In addition to sharpening my writing skills, I’ve also learned a great deal about working in media in general. I’ve come to the realization that success in this field requires persistence. All of the interviews I have set up so far have resulted from sending multiple emails before receiving an initial response. At times I felt that I was nagging others with all of the emails that I sent, but I had to learn to move past that trepidation in order to reach my ultimate goal.

However, this determination cannot come at the cost of patience. Occasionally, obstacles will block a person from accomplishing even the smallest task. Last week, I needed to troubleshoot a program for a few hours in order to convert and upload a file – a task which would usually only take 30 minutes. I felt frustrated because I knew that if the program would simply work normally in the first place, I could focus on completing my other assignments.

However, I realized that this frustration was not helping me to solve the program or work on any of the projects I would have completed, had the program continued to run. Frustrating moments when things fail to operate smoothly occur in every job. I can’t prevent these moments, but I can choose my attitude towards them.

I am grateful for the skills and lessons I have learned in my short four weeks here and am eager to develop more as an intern in the next few weeks.