On the first day of my internship, Haig Hovsepian and William Bairamian described this program as intense, demanding, and more or less difficult considering the responsibilities given to the interns and expectations from them onto us. Needless to say, I did not believe them and thought it to be like any other internship I have been a part of. My thoughts were a little misleading. It isn’t so much that the internship itself is difficult, the work and workload is completely doable. The difficult part is learning how to deal with a loosely structured program in which no one is looking over your shoulder or reminding you deadlines.  At least I am learning more than just Armenian-American affairs – I am also developing tools that will help me throughout my college career and life. Hooray for time management.

There is also this sense of accomplishment with each task being completed. Aside from the weight off my shoulders at the completion of an assignment, in retrospect, the work the other interns and I have done here at the ANCA-WR has somehow impacted the Armenian-American community. One becomes aware of how such a small group of people make such a difference without even realizing it. It is a different feeling in its own.

While reading up on news reports and researching the many policies and issues, every once in a while a news story comes out concerning something – before thought to be merely just a project – you completed the other day for the public to see. A sense of importance is then felt, regardless of whether or not your name is on that press release, because you know that you were a part of something that mattered.

In the end, It is the goal of this internship to offer opportunities for Armenian-Americans to become much more actively involved within their communities regarding Armenian-American affairs; however, you do not truly realize how involved you really were until the end when you begin to reflect on your time there.