For this entry in our Where Are They Now, we caught up with former Editing Internship Program intern Berenice Hernandez and interviewed her about her life and professional career since graduating from Florida State in April of 2021. She majored in English with a focus on Editing, Writing, and Media because of her love of writing and desire to learn more about all the different mediums of communication.
Berenice applied for the EIP internship because the responsibilities within the internship were areas that she knew she had wanted more experience in, especially communication. In addition, her major had taught her numerous skills related to writing and editing which the internship would build upon and allow her to improve. One of her favorite aspects of the internship was “being able to help others in my major find job/internship opportunities that they would benefit from” due to the EIP’s online database of possible editing and writing related internships. Berenice’s semester working with the EIP was also her last semester at FSU, and she stated that “Finishing off with an internship helped put things into perspective and mentally prepared me for what a job after graduation would be like.”
After graduating, Berenice began a job search by looking for openings online. When describing the search, she stated that it was not a linear process; even though she applied for many positions, not all of them responded. She learned that this is a natural part of any job search and that she shouldn’t be too hard on herself for it. Her tenacity paid off, however, when she received an opportunity to work as a Grant Manager in Disaster Recovery for the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO).
Since graduating, Berenice has been working full-time in her position with the DEO. This role has her managing federal grant funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for “the use and implementation of various subrecipient programs.” She went on to state that “The subrecipients receive grants to address long-term recovery needs for housing, infrastructure, mitigation, and economic development.” She works directly with local government subrecipients and assists them in administering the grant as well as maintaining compliance with all applicable HUD and DEO regulations.
The EIP internship’s focus on communications and working with others have greatly helped her in her current occupation. Communication is one of the main components of her job, and she works with others through a manner of outlets, be it in person, over the phone, through email, or on video meetings. Berenice also completed her EIP internship remotely, which helped her get acclimated to communicating and working with others through digital media. Berenice’s job has her representing the DEO and she must “maintain a professional standard when communicating with subrecipients,” and the digital communication skills she learned during the EIP internship prepared her for this.
Overall, Berenice says that she has had a great post-graduate experience. While the adjustment from coursework to job responsibilities was somewhat jarring at first, beginning her post-graduate professional career is an exciting milestone for her. She continues to focus on learning as much as she can about federal grant management and is eager to see where it may take her in her career path. Between her job search and beginning her first professional role, Berenice has learned that “you don’t always have to have everything figured out, however you do have to make sure you put yourself in a position where you can succeed, and the rest should follow.”
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