Meet Emi­lie, one of the interns for the Bright Foun­da­tion. Emi­lie is a sopho­more major­ing in bio­med­ical engi­neer­ing. In her free time, she likes to golf or prac­tice tarot card read­ing. Some­thing she has learned out­side of class since being in col­lege is that every­thing is best in bal­ance. Scroll down to read Emilie’s full inter­view to dis­cov­er what she means by ​“bal­ance” and what her role is as an intern for the Bright Foundation.

Why did you decide to apply for this internship?

I applied for this intern­ship because I saw it as an oppor­tu­ni­ty to not only expand my skill set and improve what I have to offer in a pro­fes­sion­al aspect, but to also give back to a foun­da­tion that has helped me in more ways than I can describe. I knew this intern­ship would teach me things I would not learn oth­er­wise since I am a bio­med­ical engi­neer­ing major who nor­mal­ly would not spend this much time on cre­at­ing con­tent and con­nect­ing peo­ple across plat­forms. I have already learned so much from the peo­ple I work for and with, and I enjoy it so much that it does not feel like a job!

What is your role as an intern?

My role as an intern is Face­book and web­site based. I focus on pro­duc­ing con­tent and help­ing form con­nec­tions between schol­ars. With this, I prac­tice tech­ni­cal writ­ing by cre­at­ing posts and arti­cles for the web­site and Face­book page. I also aim to help schol­ars form con­nec­tions by gen­er­at­ing con­ver­sa­tion starters or blog posts with top­ics to dis­cuss. I real­ly enjoy hav­ing the con­ver­sa­tion top­ics I intro­duce to either be some­thing that can improve holis­tic life or a top­ic relat­ed to a key idea of the Bright Foun­da­tion such as work, save, invest, give. 

How do you deal with stress or what helps?

I deal with stress by tak­ing about ten min­utes to myself a cou­ple times a day or when­ev­er I am feel­ing over­whelmed to prac­tice mind­ful­ness. I shut out every­thing out­side or ​“in the world”, lay down with my eyes closed, and take some deep breaths. When I am stressed, I tend to get neg­a­tive, so as I am tak­ing this time to myself I think of things I am grate­ful for and lucky to have because it brings me into the right mind­set again.

How do you like to spend your free time?

If it is nice out I love to get out­side and golf. In my home­town, I live near a golf course so golf­ing has always been some­thing I love to do with fam­i­ly, friends, or even by myself when I just need some me time. How­ev­er, if I only have a bit of time between my class­es I like to prac­tice tarot card read­ing. I received a deck as a Christ­mas gift and have real­ly been lov­ing it so far.

What is some­thing you have learned out­side of class?

I have learned that every­thing is best in bal­ance. If you work too hard you get burnt out and end up not enjoy­ing what you are doing. How­ev­er, if you give your­self too much free time, you will fall behind in class­es, and it will only lead to added stress. Because of this, it is best to have time each day for school and relax­ing. Not only does this help with your men­tal health, but I notice I tend to per­form bet­ter on my school­work because I am not spread­ing myself too thin. I make sure I include time for both of these things by time block­ing my sched­ule. I will write down the times I plan on work­ing and what assign­ments I will do dur­ing those times, but I also block times for myself to do what­ev­er I please!