Notes from the Field: Else Drooff ’18

Else Drooff ’18 interned at Voice of America (VOA)/Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) for the Summer 2017 term. The following is an excerpt from her internship report.

The Broadcasting Board of Governors is an independent federal agency whose mission is to inform, engage, and connect people around the world in support of freedom and democracy. VOA is one of five U.S. civilian broadcast networks that fall under the purview of the BBG.

After spending time in all the regionally-focused newsrooms (i.e. Africa, Southeast Asia, South America, etc.), I am so glad that I will be taking Professor Wheelan’s Global Leadership Policy in the fall. I was also inspired to sign-up for Professor Kang’s Learning and Education Across Cultures after spending two weeks with the Learning English crew. Throughout the rest of the year, I plan on taking several more advanced GIS/spatial analysis courses because my basic skills in GIS were so highly valued. On a few occasions, I created maps to complement the articles and presentations that my bosses were making. Spatial analysis is becoming more and more relevant to different fields, like multimedia journalism, and I want to be one of few that really knows how to utilize spatial analysis for different projects.

When I was filming ESL instructional videos for the Learning English team, I (re)discovered that while I do not plan on pursuing an acting career anytime soon, I am extremely passionate about educational opportunity and designing curriculum. Ultimately, my internship experience reinforced my academic interest in education policy, and I plan on applying to jobs within the education field, as well as applying to Teach for America during my senior year at Dartmouth.

This past Spring, I participated as a Student Ambassador for the Management and Development Leadership Program (MDLP) at the Rockefeller Center. During my internship, I thought back to a few of my MDLP sessions (mostly the ones with Professor Sargent) about my Meyers-Briggs results and tips for proper internship etiquette. I will also note that I participated in D-Lab (Dartmouth Leadership Attitudes and Behaviors) during my freshman winter, and I distinctly remember talking about how much I value education in my small discussion group. Even though I have changed so much in the past few years, it is nice to know that my core values and beliefs have essentially stayed the same. If I were to give one piece of advice to future Rocky interns, I would advise them to set 2-3 goals for the summer and stick to them. There is so much to learn in each internship opportunity, but you cannot do it all, and trying to do it all will only detract from your overall experience.