Ginny Brooks Externship Reflection
Carrie McGowan
Image
UVA Student, Ginny Brooks, and her reflections on her internship at The Aspen Institute.
Image
The Energy and Environments sector of the Aspen Institute functions like a family. The close-knit team of 8 or so comfortably and seamlessly transitions from conversations about their New Year’s resolutions and barre class to incredibly orchestrated environmental summits and forums. When Joy and I arrived on Monday, we were quickly incorporated into the team’s usual tasks. Joy and I settled into their small team meeting room for the week; this meant that phone calls with speakers or team meetings became meetings that we were now a part of.
" the most meaningful part of the week was the coffee chats with a few of the individual team members. "
On our first day, we joined the rest of the Aspen Institute in their first day back from the New Year’s break— a day characterized by email catch up, two or three-person meetings to remind one another of impending deadlines, chats about vacations and family, and lots of coffee. Joy and I were given various research assignments throughout the week. The first was about water access forums and proposed cities. After thorough research on water issues facing the US, we
proposed 5 cities in different US regions with distinct water challenges and presented it to the team. Later, we were given natural gas-related questions to research and set to it. The task, like many at Aspen, was familiar to us as UVa students. Both Global Studies and environmentally focused students, Joy and I were confident in our research and formatting abilities and produced a brief and informative fact sheet for the team.
We produced a few other well-researched briefs for the team, but the most meaningful part of the week was the coffee chats with a few of the individual team members. They taught me the following:
- You’re not stuck where you end up. There’s pressure to stay somewhere for a year or two, an unspoken commitment. Kate, a CU Boulder grad, emphasized that this isn’t the reality— if you don’t like it, apply elsewhere. It’s not worth being unhappy to fulfill a fabricated requirement.
- Get your foot in the door. Kitty, a Middlebury graduate, started at the Aspen Institute this past summer. She knew she wanted to work in DC, so she applied for their fellowship in Aspen. When the staff from the Energy & Environment office visited over the summer, she took the opportunity to meet with them. Now Kitty works in development for the EEP office and is where she wants to be.
- The people you work with are important. Anna, a brown graduate currently in a Masters program, talked about her path to Aspen. She, like Kitty, started in a short term Aspen role as a fellow in the Aspen Strategy Group and worked her way into the EEP office after the end of her fellowship. She’s currently doing her masters in DC while she works and what makes this realistic is her team. Anna mentioned that the program director, Greg, is encouraging and understanding.
The week was honest. We were not presented with an orchestrated week of impressive meetings and presentations or given projects that would never be used; instead, we saw how the office functions in its natural state. I now have a better understanding what I’m looking for in my post grad career and hope to stay in touch with the incredible people at the Aspen Institute.