For the duration of my internship, one of my projects has been creating an informational pamphlet to encourage apartment complexes to recycle. This week, I worked on making edits to the information based on feedback from a couple of community members. The regional manager of Furnished Rental Apartments and a board member from the Kansas Organization of Recyclers both emailed back suggestions for the document.

Making the changes this week just made the project seem more real to me. Even though the pamphlet may seem like a small thing, to me it is exciting to know that my work will be used in the community. The packet is about 10 pages and includes information about what to consider when creating a recycling program and what can be recycled. I’ve learned a lot about recycling and I hope I can inform the community in some way about what I’ve learned. I can name things like the container locations of Ripple Glass containers because of my internship. Overall, I have truly been able to accomplish tasks as a city worker would.

My experience with the city has been nothing but beneficial. Not only have I met dozens of city staff members and community members but I have gained an invaluable understanding about the importance of local government. I would encourage anyone to seek an internship related to some sort of career interest (more on this later).

In the coming weeks, the recycling packet will be sent out, and I hope the people in charge of the complexes will respond by creating recycling programs.