Internship Report: Mireille Uwase Cyuzuzo

Published March 25, 2021

Introduction
I have been granted an opportunity to do my internship at International Service Center (ISC), from March 01, 2021, to March 18, 2021. I had to complete my tasks within the period of my internship, which was 90 hours. I had a schedule of 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM from Monday through Friday. However, my schedule turned out to be flexible due to the capacity in the building and school responsibilities. On Monday 8th, Tuesday 9th, Monday 15th, and Tuesday 16th, I had to
work from home because of the capacity limit in the building. On Friday the 5th, I came in late, and on Friday the 12th, I took a longer lunch break; both days were due to school responsibilities. On Wednesday 10th, I had to leave immediately due to an emergency that needed my immediate attention. These changes are the ones that pushed my internship from ending on March 15th to March 19th
.
Narrative
The major task that I had to complete in this internship was to design four informative brochures of the USCIS forms that ISC offers assistance to their clients to file. These forms were: N-400 (naturalization application form), I-821d (DACA application form), I-765 (EAD application form), and I-912 (Fee waiver application form). The procedure of completing this job required me to follow these steps:

  • Visiting the USCIS website to get the needed forms, their instructions, and read their information;
  • Reading thoroughly the instructions to filter out information that the client needs to know before coming to start an application process. (These included the purpose of the form, who can apply, eligibility requirements, and documents to have at hand.);
  • Putting myself into the client’s shoes, who has to complete the form so as to gain more understanding of the form. This was done through the zoom meetings I attended;
  • Summarizing the information that I found crucial in order to fit in the brochure;
  • Designing my brochure;
  • Sharing my work to the whole team for feedbacks;
  • Adjusting my final works according to the comments I got.

Besides the brochures, I had the opportunity to attend two trainings: History of ISC and Interpretation trainings.

Analysis
This internship enabled me to put into practice what I learn. As a Creative Art student majoring in Creative Writing, this internship was a good fit for me. I was able to use my writing skills by summarizing the instructions and using simple terms. I was also able to use my art skills by designing the appropriate brochure for each form. Lastly, my creativity was
augmented for it was highly needed to complete my task. Furthermore, I gained work experience, teamwork experience, and communication skills from this internship. Being in an office, knowing that I have to read the weekly memo and following the assigned task of the day gave me a clear image of how the professional world looks. I also
gained teamwork experience by working with Abolfazl (who was an intern too) and doing other teamwork assigned tasks. I also improved my communication skills because we communicated through emails, hence I improved my formal writing part.


Conclusion
I generally enjoyed and appreciated my time at ISC. Though I always had to walk an hour from my home to the office and another hour from the office to my home, the experience gained was worth it. I was able to enhance my knowledge and gain work experience. ISC is a good place, but I observed few things that I would recommend:

  • Firstly, it would be great if on the board of attendance a small space would be created to hang the emailed memo, every Monday. This will improve communication (especially the weekly memo); thus, it will be guaranteed that whoever attended, also read the memo.
  • Secondly, creating ISC social media accounts would help to spread the word faster and easier to the public.

    Doing these changes, I believe will contribute to the ISC’s betterment.

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