Mya Oyler

          At Animas High School, a graduation requirement is to complete a 3-week long internship of our choice. To begin the process of finding a mentor, we researched businesses and organizations in the community that interested us and interviewed 2 or 3. Through this, we learned more about the things we were interested in and got more contacts of places that could offer internships. We then began to search for internships where we could log at least 90 hours of work time. This process taught us how to communicate in a professional and mature manner. The goal of LINK Internships is to find something that we might want to do as a career. As a Junior, I am beginning to think about my future so it is increasingly important to figure out what I am interested in. This internship has helped me to feel my interests a bit more and potentially rule out things that I am not interested in.         

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         LINK internships are something I’ve been looking forward to since I was in eighth grade, with it being one of the things that made me decide to come to AHS. Since we were freshmen, we’ve been building skills that would help us obtain internships and even careers later in life. Although I came into the internship with skills in certain areas, I learned a multitude of new things that will help me succeed in the future. 

 

          Before our internships, we built skills that helped us to be able to reach out to adults in the community in a professional manner which was useful for obtaining our internships. Once we got through this initial step, I noticed that I had more applicable skills than I thought. I did my internship with Gregory, Golden & Landeryou which is a local law firm. During my internship, my day-to-day work consisted of reading and reflecting on complicated legal documents which I felt I was adequately prepared for with skills from Animas. I felt comfortable interpreting the text and I knew how to annotate it to deepen my understanding. I also wrote a lot of reflections on my mentor’s writing which I felt confident doing with my experience reflecting on readings for school. One of the assignments that I felt my skills were applied in was my Mediation Memorandum in which I read a mediation statement and asked questions about the writing, analyzed it, and rewrote a section in my own words. In this assignment, I was able to demonstrate my skills as well as become familiarized with legal documents. 

 

          Going into this internship, I knew I was interested in law but I did not have a very deep understanding of the legal system or the different types of law. I got a very in-depth explanation of not only the different types of law, but I also got to see the full process of a lawsuit from start to finish. I got to see all the different documents that go into a case and the order they are used. Aside from learning about the legal system in general, I have found that it helped me to grow as a writer. Prior to my internship, I have always considered myself to be a good writer, but I really struggled with writing introductions and conclusions. My mentor noticed this in my writing and was able to give me guidance to improve this. I think overall my writing has improved, but more specifically, my ability to write professionally. 

 

          Through my internship, I don't feel like I ran into any major obstacles that I had to overcome. The only thing that was difficult for me was having my mom’s boyfriend as my mentor. He is a pretty big part of my life and it was difficult having to maintain a more professional relationship while I was at my internship. I felt some level of rebellion with him being a parental figure in my life and it was much easier for me to disagree with him than it would have been if I had a mentor I did not know. Despite these obstacles, I am ultimately grateful to have had him as a mentor as I always felt comfortable asking questions and was not intimidated by the environment. 

 

          Gregory, Golden & Landeryou, specifically my mentor, Daniel Gregory, did a great job of hosting me as an intern. I was given tasks that were not only hands-on and engaging but also helped me to learn and grow. When I started the internship, I wasn't really sure how much hands-on work I would be able to do considering attorney-client privilege, but my mentor got consent from his client which allowed me to get a full overview of her case and do work that was applicable. I also got to participate in a mediation which was a very real-life experience. 

 

          Law has always been something that I was vaguely interested in, but I was not sure if I wanted to pursue it as a career. After going through my internship, I realized that law is something that I am really interested in.