Interning At Clearly Innovative: Weeks 2 & 3
The first two weeks of my internship with Clearly Innovative have been a blast!
Over the past two weeks, my work and contributions to the team have been directed at two main areas.
For the majority of the week, before the relentless Washington, DC heat and humidity kicks-in for the day, I undertake a morning commute to Clearly Innovative’s downtown offices and work on various projects and tasks. For the other portion of the week, I travel to the Georgetown Day School lower/middle school campus to assist fellow instructor Vincent Quarles in teaching a summer camp course created by Clearly Innovative’s tech-education arm, Luma Lab.
Previous work Clearly Innovative has done for the NAACP Image Awards.
While at the downtown offices, I have already tackled a hand-full of tasks. These duties, ranging from website and app requirements documentation to drafting responses to client requests for proposal (RFP’s), have started to provide me with a great inside-look into how a successful tech company such as Clearly Innovative operates. Two main projects that I am following the development of are the redevelopment of the NAACP Image Awards nomination system and the redesign of the Arundel Community Development Services’ website. I have also started to work more closeely with Clearly Innovative developers and I have learned about new tools such as Ionic, an open-source framework for developing hybrid mobile apps using web technologies.
One memorable assignment that I completed took place early last week when I was tasked with drafting a Letter of Interest, on behalf of company CEO Aaron Saunders, for a speaking engagement. Working late into the evening after everyone had headed home, senior solutions provider Kwasi Frye and myself put the finishing touches on all of the required documents. After a Staples run to retrieve an envelope and a blue-inked pen (required to fill-out one of the forms), I then completed the final stretch of the process: delivering the files to a nearby FedEx shipping-center, minutes before closing, to have the package shipped via Priority Overnight.
FedEx Priority Overnight cutoff time is 8pm. Receipt printed at 8:06pm. #Winning
The other portion of my week is devoted to supporting and assisting at Luma Lab‘s 2015 summer camp at the Georgetown Day School location. Luma Lab’s mission is to create a world where people from underrepresented backgrounds can have a seat at the digital table as creators, innovators and entrepreneurs.
Me working with a few Luma Lab campers to create a mission statement for their mobile app idea.