Mahsa Dardashti

TFLA, HR Coordinator

Mahsa Dardashti is a graduate student at Alliant University majoring in Organizational Psychology. An intern, she joined the Transportation Foundation of L.A. in May 2005.

We live in a world filled with stereotypes. People argue that we need stereotypes to help simplify the world. As with everything else that has stereotypes, so does the idea of an internship. It’s not uncommon to find that many people think working as an intern is just doing meaningless busywork; and if you hold such a stereotypical view, visiting the Community Redevelopment Agency and the City of L.A.’s Bureau of Sanitation (two departments that take part in the Real Time Internship Program) will completely change your mind.

These Real Time Internship Program (RTIP) interns are assigned major short-term and long-term projects, they attend meetings with professionals, and travel to different sites on a daily basis all of which have major impacts on the community. A day in the lives of these interns is anything but boring and mundane. 

Josh Rohmer, special projects intern at the CRA states that his position “feels more like a real job, than an internship” and how can it not be with the real world experience these interns are obtaining. The RTIP Interns at the CRA and Bureau of Sanitation come from diverse backgrounds and form teams that are extremely effective, showing how much diversity can increase productivity in an organization. The Real Time Internship Program places students from various disciplines, including engineering, architecture, planning to computer science, accounting, human resources, and many more into life altering internship experiences. Although students come in with various educational backgrounds, their learning experiences enhance and exceed their education.

Jonathan Littrell, states that he “came in knowing law, but learned about planning and government.” When asked what projects you are currently working on, Jason Masters of the CRA states, that “there are so many I can’t limit my answer to one project.”

The learning possibilities are endless. When asked what have you learned from your internship, Ha To at the Bureau of Sanitation had a long list. She states that she has “gained a great amount of interpersonal skills, computer skills, learned about office environments, and has been able to take part in many training courses offered by the company which have contributed to her growth.”

Talking to the internship supervisor at the CRA, I learned that after completing their internships, many of the interns are offered permanent positions because of the professional level knowledge and experience they’ve attained.

Even after spending only a day with the students in these departments, it isn’t hard to see the special bond they share. It is almost as if they have exceeded the boundaries of co-workers and are now more like family.

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