Hard Work Pays Off

By Janine Goetzen

The feeling of seeing your hard work payoff is indescribable.

Last semester, I started an unpaid internship working to prepare for the WorldLink Youth Town Meeting – a conference bringing together high school students from across Southern California and Mexico to listen to guest speakers present about global issues. Six hours a week, I’d come in to the office that I shared with my boss and co-interns. It was great, but dealing with the usual wear and tear of an internship was especially rough when – every second Friday – my friends with jobs would get their paychecks.

I enjoyed the job a lot, but I didn’t get to see what my work was accomplishing. The conference we were helping prepare was January 21, which seemed so far away in October. But just last month, my co-workers and I finally got to see the fruits of our labor.

The day began with an opening workshop where posters I had designed were prominently displayed. All day, I watched people walk around with tote bags that I had designed. And as I attended different workshops and interacted with the students and speakers, their passion and drive for creating global peace was so impressive and amazing that I was struck by how lucky I was to have been a part of it.

Maybe the feeling isn’t indescribable. Actually, I can describe it in one word—rewarding. I had a rewarding experience, and though it’s over now, I know it’s going to stay with me for a while.