Running Head: MY INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCE

My Internship Experience

Rebecca Doleac

May 15, 2019

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I never understood why internships were so important, especially when I already knew

what I was going to do with the rest of my life. My teachers, advisors, and my family always told

me to do as many internships as I possibly can throughout my college career. However, I did not

quite listen to their advice. But, even though I only did one internship, this is my experience.

During my senior year, spring semester, I completed an internship at the Deaf Independent

Living Association (DILA), and I was their communications and marketing intern. Like most

people, I had no idea who DILA was and what they do for the community. Therefore, I used my

resources and did extensive research on who they are and what they do, and it was then when

realized it would be a perfect match for me. DILA is a non-profit that assists deaf individuals

along with developmental disabilities, and they offer residential, community, supported

employment services, and much more. I thought that this could be perfect for me because it fit

right in to the communication aspect and this could also help me expand my communication

skills with the deaf community. The reason why I chose to apply to DILA as an intern is because

I grew up in a deaf family, my first language is sign language, my career goal was to become a

sign language interpreter, and I wanted to gain more experience with deaf people in the

professional aspect. DILA’s goal is to expand community awareness about Deaf culture and

bridge the gap between deaf and hearing people. I connected well with their goals because my

whole life I felt like I was trying to reach that same goal with my family and the community

around myself. This inspired me so much and I wanted to help this movement in any way I

possibly could for the Salisbury community. The main points I will cover are my communication

skills, things that I accomplished at DILA, a mistake I made throughout my time at DILA, and

how being an intern at DILA completely changed my career path and goals in life.
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When I first was hired, I felt extremely comfortable being their communications and

marketing intern because of my past work, life, and college experience. I have done tons of door-

to-door marketing and was confident in my ability to communicate with people effectively. I also

have communicated with deaf individuals my whole life, whether if it was my family or people

that I have met through volunteer work at Gallaudet University. Also, I have taken

communication courses all throughout college varying from interpersonal communication to a

communication gender and culture class. I knew that the deaf culture was different from the

hearing culture, and I was expecting that it would be the same here at DILA. However, during

my first week I became very nervous, because I have never had to communicate with individuals

that are deaf along with having various developmental disabilities. Which I honestly did not even

consider would be an issue until I walked in the door. I never thought about the culture

difference and how the communication skills would be much lower. DILA serves clients that

have multiple disabilities that I have never had to experience beforehand. When I first started

introducing myself to clients, I could not understand them and I felt like my communication

skills were lacking. This made me want to work harder in my communication skills, especially

because I wanted to become a sign language interpreter I needed to be able to adjust my

communication skills to people who might be on a lower or higher spectrum than myself. This

was one aspect that frustrated me a lot because I never have had to adjust my communication

skills to be lower, and I was not taught on how to do that. This was one of my top priorities being

an intern at DILA, because not only did I want to communicate with the clients effectively, I also

wanted to better understand different communication skill levels. Throughout my time at DILA,

I began to realize that the way the staff communicated with clients was not too difficult. Imagine

speaking to someone with a developmental disability, all you do is just shorten your sentences
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and make it easier for them to understand you. The only difficulty that I had with this and

translating it to sign language was the fact that I did not sign American Sign Language (ASL), I

grew up signing English Sing Language. ASL already has the tendency to shorten up sentences

and get straight to the point, whereas I grew up signing exactly how I would speak aloud. During

my time at DILA, I learned how to adjust my signing abilities so I could better speak to the

clients. For example, instead of signing “do you need help with something” I would just sign

“help” and simply point to what they were struggling with. It took me some time to adjust to it,

but as I slowly did I gained a lot more confidence when talking to the clients. Which in turn,

made them more comfortable around me and the relationships continually grew. Anyone can be

amazing at talking and getting their voice heard, but sometimes it is how well you can

communicate with someone. The whole purpose of communication is to build relationships,

whether that may be a personal relationship or a work relationship. That is probably one of the

biggest things I got out of taking various communication classes and interning at DILA, because

it is all about understanding someone and learning how best to communicate with them

effectively. I am extremely grateful that I was exposed to that kind of communication level at

DILA, because without that I do not think I would have ever understood the true meaning of

communication and how effective it can be with various relationships. The understanding of how

to communicate at DILA whether it be with clients, coworkers, or for the organization allowed

me accomplish many things at my time there.

In most cases, the reason you get hired anywhere is because the organization thinks that

you are a good match for them and can bring new ideas to the table. I believe I brought many

fresh new ideas to DILA, which I am very proud of. One of the biggest things I did was make

their online presence bigger and more attractive to the eye. For example, I made their flyers and
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online posts more likeable to the eye by adding colorful themes, while of course sticking to the

main point of what they advertising. I felt that their posts needed more life in them to attract new

donors and even potential new clients. The only people that were looking at their website and

Facebook were people that were already involved in DILA, but they needed to reach a new

market of people in the community. Another huge thing that I am proud of was the expansion I

made for their Interpreting Network of the Eastern Shore (INES). A few years ago, they had to

close that part of DILA and have reopened it back up but they were not receiving as many clients

as they wanted to. With my past work experience and communication experience I felt very

comfortable going business to business marketing INES and creating a higher level of brand

awareness. I visited businesses in Salisbury, Ocean City, and Delaware ranging from doctor

offices to even funeral homes. Most times, businesses do not even think of having an interpreting

agency’s contact information for their business and when they do need an interpreter they usually

have no idea who to contact. By going door to door I could spread INES’s name and contact

information for businesses to contact when require an interpreter for their client. Businesses

might not ever contact DILA or they may call them in the next week needing an interpreter. The

whole point of getting INES’s name to them first is that they will remember my visit to their

business and not call a competitor. As of today, I know of one business has already contacted

INES for an interpreter. This may only be one business but at least that one business chose to use

us because of the information that I provided. DILA hired me as their intern because of certain

skills I have and they knew I could bring new ideas to the table. Although I have these skills and

a lot of experience I am sure they knew I was going to make a few mistakes along the way.

I feel like in any job or new experience you go through, there is always some mistakes

made and I feel like that is inevitable because you are constantly learning and trying new things.
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During my time at DILA, I tried to do something new and I failed, and through that failure I

disappointed myself and I feel like the organization as well. My biggest project was to make a

Go-Fund-Me page for DILA to start expansion into Frederick County area, Maryland. DILA

plans to open a new facility in that area because the deaf community is much larger there that

require assistance. My ideal goal for the Go-Fund-Me page was to raise about $300,000 to get

this process started. I have never started a Go-Fund-Me page, so I did what anyone would do and

I researched the website to see what pages made the most donations and how they set it up. I saw

in my research that pages with videos speaking to their cause made the most donations, so I

decided to make a video to showcase DILA and what services they provide. I have never shot a

video or edited one either, so I decided to reach out for some help. I reached out to a peer of

mine to ask for help shooting a video, she has her own side business and works with multiple

people so I thought it would be a good fit. I decided it would be a unique point of view if we

filmed one of the clients that DILA has worked with, to show their improvement and how deeply

DILA can help someone get on their own two feet. We filmed the video of the client at his work

and his home, and all went very well, she said that she got some great footage. However, soon

after she kept saying she was too busy to edit and put together the video and then stopped

replying all together. I felt that I let down the organization, my boss, and myself. This was my

biggest project, and I was unable to see it through which made me feel inadequate. My boss did

inform me that they are going to find someone else to put together the video with the raw footage

that she shot, but it still makes me feel like I did not do a good job. If I could do it all over again,

I personally would have tried to draw up a contract with the person shooting the footage or I

would have tried to learn how to film and edit videos myself. I think that the issue was that she

was doing this as a donation to the organization and she did not prioritize DILA within her other
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work and there was no way for me to say that she was obligated to see this video through. Even

though the outcome of this project disappointed me, it provided me with a lesson which is to

always be prepared for the worst but expect the best. I was not prepared for the worst, and I only

did expect the best. But, every failure is a learning lesson, which I will take with me when I

move on to the next step in my career path.

Reflecting back to when I first began DILA, I remember being so excited because this

was the first step for me in my career path. I had focused my whole college career on wanting to

be a sign language interpreter. However, I used to think that there were no classes in Salisbury

University or companies in Salisbury where I could expand my skills and gain real-life

experience which always made me struggle. But, I had finally found a place where I could

expand my skills and knowledge for that field. I remember all my peers and family members

kept telling me that this internship will be perfect for me and that it will teach me on what it

takes to be an interpreter. Everyone including myself, was so excited for me to take the next step

in my career path. But, as the weeks passed during my internship I started to realize that my sign

language skills decreased but my social media marketing skills increased. I kept hearing stories

about how interpreters were not treated very well by clients and how that pay could be uneasy

with multiple companies. Those stories shook me to my core because I was so confident in my

career choice but there were so many factors pulling me in a different direction. At first, I was

scared about the thought of switching my career path so suddenly. But, I realized that if I am

good at something else, then why not explore that option. I soon realized that it was okay for me

to focus on a new direction, and still have those sign language skills in my back pocket. This

realization helped me focus on something else that I thought I could excel in, considering my

whole life I thought that the only skill set I had were the ones I was born with. This internship
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helped me discover something else that I was truly good at, as well as increasing my overall

confidence. Marketing used to just be in magazines, newspapers, and on the television. But since

technology has gotten so advanced and almost the whole world has access to the internet, people

can market anywhere. As I started to enhance my skills on social media marketing at DILA, then

I realized just how important and effective it is. Since DILA is such an unknown resource here in

the Salisbury community I knew that their online presence needed to be stronger. People care

about important and meaningful organizations, and that is exactly what DILA is. At this stage, I

knew that I needed to change my career path to marketing. Throughout my life I have maintained

a passion to assist people and change people’s perspectives of different cultures. With social

media marketing, it is so simple to get your message out to the world. The current wave of social

media marketing allows individuals and companies to swiftly spread their message to the world.

I want to help a company change their brand and how people think of them, and especially for

non-profits because most the time they are overlooked. When I was younger, I always used to

say “thank god my parents are deaf, because if they were not I would not have a job”, but

throughout my internship at DILA I am proud to say that I have found a new passion and it is

one that I think I can execute. I have obtained skills that I have learned on my own, and I am

confident that I will get a job in the future where I can show just how skilled I am in this new

field.

Every semester I take classes, and almost always they don’t leave an impression on me,

inspire me, or instill real passion in me. During these fifteen weeks at DILA, I have learned so

much through the organization, my boss, and the clients at DILA. If it was not for DILA and its

clients I would have never been able to expand my communication skills, put them to work, and

truly understand the meaning of communication. I have also learned so much about myself and
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what I truly want to do with the rest of my life. I have found real passion throughout my

internship DILA, although it was not interpreting, it was about helping to spread a message on

just how important this organization is for the Salisbury community. DILA helped me discover

skills that I never knew I had, and for that I am so thankful for this experience. I used to think

that internships did not matter, especially if you knew what you wanted to do for the rest of your

life. But, I was proven wrong. Internships show you so many different things about yourself and

expose you to things you probably would have never had the chance to experience. If it was not

for my internship at DILA, I would be entering a work place that I did not truly enjoy. Working

is a part of life, and most will say they hate their job. But, I want my life to be filled with passion

and DILA has given me my true passion in what I want to do with the rest of my life. With this

experience, I am certain that I know what I want to do and that I will find the career path that I

am meant to be in. In retrospect, I wish I took the advice given to me that emphasized the

importance of internships. With this newfound knowledge, I will explain to others my profound

experience while promoting the ability to learn outside of the classroom.