Week 1: Introduction

Hello, my name is Don Rapier and I am a rising sophomore at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem North Carolina. Next week I will begin my summer internship at Environment Georgia, a citizen-funded political advocacy organization dedicated to researching sustainable practices to better serve the environment, in Atlanta.

While I previously believed I wanted to major in Politics/ International Affairs, I have come to the realization that I would actually rather create an interdisciplinary major that encompasses the fields of education, policy, and sustainability so that post-undergrad I can have the skills needed to teach and craft environmental sustainability policies. Thus, I am extremely excited to be working with Environment Georgia this summer as this will be the first time that I have researched and devised policy plans to better the community on an environment level.

To my knowledge, I will be given the opportunity to be involved in all the facets of the organization’s work: which includes working with the media, researching problems or solutions, lobbying decision makers, building coalitions and organizing the public. Specifically I will be meeting with the EPA (Environment Protection Agency), Georgia’s Public Service Commissioners, Professors, and many other state leaders to lobby on renewable energy production.

Throughout this internship, I hope to become a better writer and organizer so that I can use the skills learned these next few months to better help me with organizing clubs that I am in throughout the year. It will be a long summer, but I am excited to be doing something that I have a passion for.