Working at LAUSD for the summer

This past summer I had the pleasure to work at the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) headquarters in Downtown Los Angeles on Beaudry Avenue through the Superintendent’s Summer Scholar program, as an intern for the Office of Communications and Media Relations.

Selection into the program was very competitive with only 15 rising seniors being chosen out of over 450 individual applicants from through LAUSD, with each of the 15 scholars being placed in one of 15 departments.

For instance, when I was applying you could send up to three applications to three different district departments with students choosing from departments like food services, special education, procurement, government relations, and general counsel.

I only sent in one application to the Communications and Media Relations department because, as an aspiring journalist, it’s the one that appealed to my interests in writing and journalism.

When going through the application process I completely thought I had no shot seeing that I was competing with juniors from all over the district for a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Once I actually started working, my supervisor informed me that one-fifth of the applicant pool, approximately 90 students, applied to be an intern for the Communications department, which absolutely blew my mind. To be selected from such a large number of applicants is insane and also a prime example on how important it is to write good personal statements and interview skills when applying for internship programs.

I started the internship with an orientation that acquainted the 15 of us with the entire 29 story building which we’d be working at alongside 3,000 other LAUSD students. I specifically worked in the 24th floor, which situates the Board member offices, the Office of the Superintendent, Government Relations, and Communications.

Being able to work in such an important floor was an amazing experience to learn from professionals who run the district and truly care about their jobs is truly fascinating.

During my internship I did a myriad of things like interview district officers, write articles for the LAUSD Daily, help with the district’s’ Communications Plan, and cover events for social media.

For example, I covered the Board Member Inauguration, taking pictures of them while they gave speeches and later writing copy for a social media post on the event. I also helped write news releases about district initiatives. It’s very cool to create content and see it posted on social media and the LAUSD website.

As part of our internship, the program coordinator and Special Assistant to the Superintendent, Robert Newman, led Brown Bag Lunch meetings on Thursdays, where we met with college representatives, spoke to college students and learned professional job skills. Working for LAUSD was super insightful being able to see how the district provides services and how things trickle down to schools.

Aside from working I also became extremely good friends with some of the other scholars who were apart of the program. It was really insightful to meet students from all parts of the district and to see the things we have in common even though we come from entirely different parts of Los Angeles.

Ultimately, being a Superintendent’s Summer Scholar was a surreal experience and gave me insights on education, and furthering my passion in journalism and media. If any of you guys want to apply the following year I’d be happy to help!