Unfortunately my internship is over along with the semester. Right at the time that I’m getting really comfortable work at the office it comes to a end. It was a nice experience and I would do it all over again if I could. Some last things I did in the office were I had to do a lot of errands for the campaign. The coolest two that I had to do were go to the bank and pick up pictures. This doesn’t sound very thrilling but when you think about that I made a single deposit at the bank for $25,00 which is the most money that I have ever held at one time. I was excited that they trusted me with that amount of money. Also getting the pictures was nice because I got to approve the print of them which show a little trust in me again. Overall the day was once again filled with getting things ready for events. I’ve become very efficient at doing those types of tasks.  

This week was really cool. I didn’t do anything out of the ordinary but three different congressmen came into the office. They had a big meeting with Mr. Pence. I wish I could have sat in on the meeting just to listen to how they talk to each other behind closed doors and what about. That would have been a great experience to see how the “elites” actually work with each other. I did have the opportunity to be the first person they saw in the office which is important because you are the first impression. I put a few things together before the state dinner which is a huge event in Indianapolis with about four t five hundred people.  I’m planning on going back again to work because this has been a really busy few weeks for the campaign. I wish I could be there over the summer when it’s in full swing. 

weekend worrier CS 490 blog

I had a short weekend shift at my internship this week. I had to go in and help get ready for the busy weeks that are coming up for the campaign. The organization has multiple dinners coming up that we send representatives to with material to pass out the attendees. I went in with the person in charge of planning the events and started to fill bins with the things that will be needed at the events. It was nice to work with a higher up worker who plans events and find out what he thinks is important on his end of the campaign. I look forward to going in this week and finding out how the events went for the group.   

Further elaboration of my last post. I learned how to manage myself without other supervision. I was in a area all day where it would be easy to slack off and drag out the work. I felt as if I could meet their goals and also surpass them it would leave a great impression and show that I care about the organization. I think I should that to them and am hop full that it didn't go unnoticed. It's important that they can trust me on my own even if it's a simple task like I've had this week.

Signs Sings Sings

This week I put together over one thousand signs for the campaign. I didn't mind doing this at all. I sat outside with another intern and just played music while doing it. I think we made the other employees jealous because we had the time to enjoy the nice weather and get a little sun on our faces. 

GS 490 Blog

This week was back to the basics. I was in charge of plugging information from possible donors into a data base so that they may be contacted later about events or donations. The office is running really smoothly because everyone is doing the same job over and over again just to different people and counties in Indiana. It’s almost like an assembly line if you think about it. Someone sets up the events, another gets the names at the events, someone else compiles the names (AKA me), and then others contact them with information. It’s very efficient this way but makes for some long hours.  

CS 490 Blog Elliott Stewart

This week I had the opportunity to do something different outside of the office. The campaign has been distributing yard signs across Indiana. I had to pick up the signs and drive to four different counties in Indiana dropping them off to county coordinator so that they can distribute them to the people in that area. It wasn’t much work just about five hours driving and finding the drop off place. They have had people doing this for the past few weeks for every county in Indiana. It was fun in the morning when I did some logistics work trying to find the best routes and plan on when I could meet the people to drop the signs off. It was kind of nice because the campaign reimburses your gas by the mile so I ended up getting more money then I actually spent on gas.  

Elliott Stewart (CS 490)

Its been a little different pace at work. With the other interns back and forth from their spring breaks some of the normal stuff that is taken care of the other days was passed onto me. I didn’t mind because it was a good change of pace. I had to do a lot of errands at work just getting things for future events. I wish I could have this internship over the summer because that’s when the election will pick up and things will become more exciting because more people will be paying attention to the election. I do enjoy seeing what all goes into putting on a campaign of this size. I think it’s something that I could do a career or I would at least like to start out doing it after college. I would like to work on a national campaign so that I could potentially travel across the United States. I’m thinking in a few weeks things at the office will start to pick up and go more into its full campaign mode. Some things I do like about right now is that they are trying to raise money and it’s cool to see the different ways they try to raise the money. I don’t think I could ever be in that part of the campaign because I don’t like asking for money but the people here are very good at what they do and it’s kind of admirable.Its been a little different pace at work. With the other interns back and forth from their spring breaks some of the normal stuff that is taken care of the other days was passed onto me. I didn’t mind because it was a good change of pace. I had to do a lot of errands at work just getting things for future events. I wish I could have this internship over the summer because that’s when the election will pick up and things will become more exciting because more people will be paying attention to the election. I do enjoy seeing what all goes into putting on a campaign of this size. I think it’s something that I could do a career or I would at least like to start out doing it after college. I would like to work on a national campaign so that I could potentially travel across the United States. I’m thinking in a few weeks things at the office will start to pick up and go more into its full campaign mode. Some things I do like about right now is that they are trying to raise money and it’s cool to see the different ways they try to raise the money. I don’t think I could ever be in that part of the campaign because I don’t like asking for money but the people here are very good at what they do and it’s kind of admirable.

  

Elliott Stewart (CS 490) blog

With more and more events going on during the month of March I find myself being doing more independent work at the office. Personally, I don’t like working alone because it seems boring. I like to be able to interact with others that are doing similar work. Lately I have sat in a cubical doing work on the computer and answering phones. I understand the need for this but it’s definitely not something I could do for a career. I enjoy that ability to bounce ideas off of others so I can produce the best possible work. The work that I’ve been doing hasn’t been to challenging or open for me to really mess up so it’s not necessary for me to work with others. Hopefully it will soon go back to how it was at the beginning of the internship.     

Elliott Stewart (CS 490)

This week was a little slow because most of the work was out of the office stuff. Many of the employees had to attend dinners and banquets so didn't come into the office much. I was mainly in charge of doing the daily tasks of the office.

I did get to over hear some really interesting conversations between a few different people. Mainly there was a lot of talk about future fundraising and how much they expected to earn in the upcoming months. It’s really intriguing to listen to people talk about multimillion dollar exchanges like they aren't that big of a deal. It's a aspect of campaigning I've never been a part of and listening to it made me interested to possibly working with the fundraising department.   

Elliott Stewart GS 490 blog

This week at my internship has really slowed down. The congressman that I'm representing has lost his competition for the primary. The other guy who was going to oppose him dropped out because he didn't complete his petitions to be placed on the ballet. Those very same petitions I have been working with during my time  as an intern. That made me realize that the work I'm doing at first might not seem extremely exciting but its very important to the overall goal. 

Now that we don't have to worry about debates with a same party candidate, the campaign is starting to focus on the future goals for when the election starts to heat up. There is a lot of talk about fund raising and planning events for public recognition. I've kind of went back to the normal work answering phones, doing trips to the post office, and interring and interpreting data. I’m still enjoying my time during the internship and I would recommend to everyone to take the opportunity to work in their field because it’s helped me see what life after college would or could be like in the real world.  

4th post (GS 490)

This week was a little more exciting because we had to have all our petitions in to the secretary of state’s office so our candidate could be put on the ballot. The other candidate that was running for the republican nomination didn’t get the requirements in so he didn’t get placed on the ballot. The election will be slowing down for a little because it’s really far away from now and the person I work for is a congressmen and he needs to be in Washington D.C so all his attention isn’t on the election right now. This last Saturday our campaign got to eat with Mitch Daniels which was really exciting. I got my first chance to do some kind of independent research and that was really motivating that the higher ups would trust me to do important research for them.

3rd Blog (Elliott Stewart GS 490)

This was my third week at my internship. The past few times in the office haven’t been overly exciting but the work I’m doing is still important. I have been entering important data about different supporters across the state. This is necessary so that the campaign can contact supporters and let them know about events in their areas. Also I have been running errands for the office to different locations. Mainly I have been in charge of putting important information into envelopes and making sure they will get to the proper locations and in time. This has actually made me double check my work because we send out a lot of things to all over Indiana and to Washington D.C. A lot of the stuff we send is time sensitive so if I messed up the address or shipped it wrongly the info wouldn’t make it to where it needs to be. There should be more events coming up that I hope to get involved with on the weekends like fundraising diners.  

2nd Blog (Elliott Stewart GS 490)

I’m now starting to become comfortable with common tasks handed down to me on day to day bases. When answering the phones I confidently respond with the proper greeting while getting the information from each caller to determine what to do with them. It feels good to be confident and I think it projects to the people who come in to the office. I hope they feel that the information I give them is correct and they can count on it.

One thing I did especially like this week was when I started to eat lunch with the whole office and got to talk with them about other topics other then work. All of us are up to date on current affairs and especially dealing with politics and it’s very interesting to be able to discuss the issues. I do get to do this in my classes but it’s not always so in-depth because the teachers don’t want to be bias and they also have their points that they have to make.

Something I do need to work on learning the names of all the employees better. With it being a campaign everyone is in and out of the office and from meeting to meeting. I can tell I’m doing better with the workers that I work with directly but I still need to look up some names or ask about them. I look forward to the upcoming weeks because the campaign will start appearing at more events and I will have the opportunity to attend some of the events.    

Starting Out (Elliott Stewart GS 490)

I'm currently in my second week of my new internship and would like to describe the steps I took to receive this great opportunity. First was the process of actually finding the right internship for me and one that would put my skills to good use. This at first wasn't a easy task. I would look all over the internet trying to find a position that would work around me still being a full time student and that would also be within driving distance from Purdue University. I research and was disappointed that I could find anything that would fit my criteria. Then a good friend of mine informed me about the internship that I'm currently in today.

I looked into the opportunity and found that it would be a great fit for me if I could get it. I found the requirements of the application and started working to update my resume. That's one thing I would tell everyone in college to do, build a resume now with your highest achievements, then when it comes time to apply for a specific internship you can tailor the information to better show how you would be a good fit for that position. I sent in the resume and cover letter the intern supervisor and waited to hear back.

I got a call from the office about four to five days latter asking if I could come down for an interview. I set the time and date and began to think of questions they might ask me and how I would answer them. Also I came up with questions that I had about the internship to make sure it was right for me. After the interview I was offered the position and I told them I would have to think about it over night. It was a big time commitment for me and I needed to make sure I could revise my class schedule to allow me to take the position.

I started the internship last week and on the first day I started right in with organizing ballots that had to be sent out that week. This is a very important task because there were about sixteen thousand signatures that need to be organized into counties of Indiana and then verified for authenticity. This obviously took me the first couple days to do.

This week is a little less hectic and now I’m being shown around the office and how to do daily tasks that need to be done while doing other jobs. For example I was shown how to work the printers, intercom, phone system, and other tasks that will be necessary for me to know. I’m really enjoying my position right now and I’m looking forward to the weeks to come.