Week 7: Back from vacation, and excited to get back to work!

Hello All!

After a much needed vacation to Chicago last week, I am excited to be back at Environment Georgia! When looking at the organization as a whole, there is a lot of independent work done by individuals that eventually ends up culminating in a collaboration.

Each week, interns sit down with the program direct and she assigns us tasks that we should be working on throughout the week. Sometimes the tasks are new, other times they are just “check-ins” about previous tasks. I enjoy the idea of working alone because it allows me to focus and hone in on my work so that it is done more efficiently. But on the other hand I enjoy coming together at the end of a project with my “piece” to the larger plan. I feel as though the collaboration that happens within the office is a good way to build skills for potential work-place environments post-college. Rather than all working together, when we all work on different aspects of a project, it helps to project move more quickly so that we can reach the deadline.

While we work mainly independently, we are not separated physically within the office. We bounce ideas off of each other, share ideas, and sometimes help with each others work if we are finished with our own. It makes for a comfortable dynamic that teaches us, in my opinion, valuable team building skills.

For this week, I am mostly excited to be reporting back information from the DNR or Department of Natural Resources meeting that I attended before going on vacation. The meeting talked about amending Georgia’s laws on how to deal with the disposal of coal-ash ponds that are a risk to Georgia’s drinking water. The meeting was important, because it seems as though Georgia is interested in placing higher restrictions than what is recommended by the EPA, meaning there would be less of a possibility for contamination.