We just wrapped up the third year of our GIG summer internship program! This signature program combines Xtern's deep roots in our community through volunteer & civic organizations with our desire to provide greater professional pathways to our local college graduates.
We've continued to partner with Campus Greensboro via their Summer Fellows program, which is a great cultivator of young professional talent within the Triad. And our fully-paid summer interns continue to spend their internship creating and enhancing technology for the City of Greensboro Parks & Recreation Department.
The internship focuses on two work-streams:
1. A public-facing dashboard that aggregates all kinds of data about the City of Greensboro's rec centers, helping the department demonstrate its value to various stakeholders, such as city council, grant-making agencies, and the public: https://gigsgso.com/
2. An employee-facing survey platform that department employees can use to easily create surveys to capture data in circumstances where there is a dearth of information. Having more data would demonstrate ROI for facilities, programs, and events, which is especially helpful for the department's national accreditation.
This summer's internship work focused primarily on the second work-stream, with lots of enhancements to overall user experience. As more department employees become onboarded to the tool, it's important to understand all the use-cases, but also keep things neat and tidy. Additions of things like user groups help with that.
As in year's past, the internship will conclude with a wrap-up presentation. This is a huge professional development opportunity to speak in front of a crowd of stakeholders, explain your work clearly and concisely, and answer questions/respond to feedback.
There's more to come in year four and summer will be back again before you know it!