Caitlin Hughes

Serving as an intern at Legal Services Law Line in Burlington, Vermont, was supposed to be exactly what I wanted. The non-profit legal organization has ten attorneys on staff, and serves low-income Vermonters in myriad ways, just as I hope to do in years to come. As the only intern for the organization, I imagined myself busy and engaged. However, I found that, because no one attorney was supervising me, I had no monitoring and I found myself without anything to do in the first few weeks. There were 100 reasons why I could have felt inferior in the work place, and I was anxious about asking the staff for things to do. Only by acting with agency and seeking out guidance and tasks from my colleagues was I able to participate in meaningful work. I picked up advice about my career path from attorneys who had similar aspirations, and I was even able to spearhead my own project and work directly with clients. Once I decided to go after what I wanted, I was able to turn my internship into what I had been looking for all along. Never fear / change.