Dr. Kanthak and my fellow intern, Jess, have been great to work with this semester, yet my own overcrowded schedule and burnout have made for rough waters. But a smooth sea never made a skilled sailor! What remains of last semester’s ATP/ACRI cohort is a busy group of people, so scheduling and updating each other on our various projects has been some of the most difficult work. Early in the semester, I was tasked with scheduling a bi-monthly meeting for all the faculty and students to share updates, and there was one 30-minute period in the work week that was free, but only for the majority of our cohort members.

The other work I’ve found to be the hardest has been the task that seemed the most mundane, but may be the most helpful to future ACRI cohorts: clerical work and organization. After only 2 years the ACRI Microsoft Teams group has already amassed an amount of files that may seem overwhelming to new members, so it was my task to organize them all and create a table of contents to guide future cohorts to what information may be most helpful to them. I don’ t deny that this task was simple on the surface, but I think that’s what made it hardest to work on. It didn’t feel important, so I kept putting it off to complete other work that gave me a more immediate sense of success and accomplishment. After a few weeks and many opened and closed Word documents it’s finally done! (And I’ve definitely grown a deeper appreciation for all administrative assistants, secretaries, and receptionists).

Jess and I are currently working on the final report of this year’s project to be submitted to the ACRI, our biggest task so far. The information the ACRI will be requesting this year has not been released yet, but we are working based on the assumption that it will be similar to what was asked of colleges and universities that participated last year. We’ve been returning to the work that was completed last semester, and asking our fellow students and our instructors to reflect on their experiences, specifically the problems they encountered and their recommendations for next year. Once we pass our draft along to the instructors to be edited and made ready to submit, I’m not sure what my next task will be. Dr. Kanthak is very creative and a big thinker, so regardless of what assignment waits around the corner, I have no doubt it will be an engaging challenge!