INTERNSHIPS
Reports
An inspiring, unique and interesting internship experience
2021-09-17
梁凱棋
Leung Hoi Ki
匯賢智庫
Savantas Policy Institute
香港
Hong Kong
I worked as a project research assistant at Savantas Policy Institute. I was mainly responsible for a proposed plan for revitalizing Hong Kong community parks. I worked with my friends to draft questionnaires, conduct field trips, interview park users, analyze data, and brainstorm some creative ideas, etc. Finally, we finished the final report and the presentation. The one-and-a-half-month internship ended. I would miss everything about the internship.
Looking back on the first day of my internship at Savantas, I felt nervous when I first visited the office due to the unknown in a new environment. Fortunately, there are kind and amiable seniors and other interns in the office who quickly made me feel relieved. They are very friendly and willing to share their unique and interesting life experiences with me. They taught me many things, for example, how to deal with people in a more mature way, etc which benefited me a lot. The knowledge is very useful.
During the project, another intern and I dedicated our "first time" to this project. In the beginning, my partner and I conducted some research on the community parks in Hong Kong in order to find three most suitable parks to be the examples of the park revitalization plan. Finally, we selected six parks for field trips. We also interviewed the park users for their experience in parks during the field trips. This was our first time to have the field trip and interview others.
I encountered people who wanted to interview me on the street, but I have read news about the fraud of interview, so I dare not accept the interviews. Gradually, I am used not to responding any interviews on the street at all. However, this time I changed my role to be an interviewer instead of an interviewee. I realized that interviewing others requires a lot of courage, because many people are alert and would refuse to accept the interview just like what I have done before. This internship gave me a chance to push myself and become braver. It made me not afraid of being rejected again and again. Instead, I became braver after the interviews. Finally, we successfully interviewed more than 12 park users, which made me experience the joy of success after so many failures. Since then, I have become more courageous and no longer be afraid of talking with strangers or being rejected by others.
Overall, this internship gave me the valuable experience which is interesting and rewarding. I think it is worthwhile for everyone to participate.
