March 20th, 2012

Today I did an interview with Christina on KDUR for the 'Moment of Inspiration' show, I think it was called, where we talked about what inspires us, and what a leader is, and how to be a good leader.  This was a really great experience, and if you want to listen to the show, it is at 9:00 Friday the 30th of March on KDUR!  Also, I think that the show will be posted on their website for those of you who can't listen in at that time.  After that, I went back to Christina's office, where I continued to work on my master calendar for the USA Pro Cycling Challenge.  Then, I went to a liscensing board meeting, which covers the liscensing of both liquor and medical marijuana.  This meeting was especially interesting, because it covered the relocation of Rocky Mountain High (which used to be right next to AHS) to a downtown location.  A lot of people didn't want them to allow it to relocate there because of image, safety, and other reasons.  Although the company had solutions for all the issues posed by the community members, their application was denied.  I then worked on my project a little bit, and then I ate dinner with my sister.  After that, I went to the City Council meeting for about two hours. 

Mentor Interview

Here it is! The mentor interview with the Mayor of Durango, Christina Rinderle!

March 19th, 2012

The first thing that I did today was go to Grace Preparatory Academy with the mayor to tell them about the Mayor's Youth Advisory Commission and hand out application packets.  After that, I returned to Christina's office with her, where I continued to work on many different things.  One of these things was the monthy progress report template that I had begun on Friday.  I completed that, the tips for creating the progress report, other general organization tips, and a quick guide to dropbox.  Once I had completed that, I emailed it to Sherri who will critique it and tell me what needs to be changed or improved on it.  I also compiled the information that I had gotten from Sherri over the weekend about some new tentative dates of events and such so that it will be easier to input into my spreadsheet - which I plan to do tomorrow.  Then it was about time for the lunch that I had planned with Christina, so I headed down to Ken and Sue's.  There, we ate (a really good) lunch, and talked about lots of different things, like what I needed from her, what our other plans were for the rest of the week, and other general topics.  Then we went back to her office in order to do my mentor interview.  The interview went smoothly, and I recorded it (I will post this recording once I get the cord to attach it to the computer).  I then went to Sherri's office for another Cycling Challenge meeting about the housing for all the different aspects of the race, and that was about it for the day!

March 16th 2012

Today, I realized that I couldn't really do that much more with my project where it was, because I had to wait on other people's dates and times, and those simply weren't ready for me.  So I remembered something that had occured to me the day before at the LOC Meeting.  Everyone seemed like they were on different pages - some had total control, knew what they were doing, had it all organized and knew what to do next.  Others however, had no clue what they were supposed to be doing and seemed lost and unorganized.  Also, after the meeting, they all had to do progress reports, and just like the chairs, the reports were varying and very unspecific.  So I thought that I would come up with a new template for the progress reports that would come out before the meeting, so that everyone knew what they needed to do, what they had done, and where all the other committees were.  I got about halfway through this when Daniel came in, and asked me if I could help him take surveys for his project downtown.  I told him I would, because it was a beautiful day, and I had made a lot of progress.  So we each took about 50 surveys and went downtown, where we walked along, getting people to take them.  After multiple hours, we finally got the needed hundred.  That was about it for the day, but I plan on continuing the template next week. 

March 15th 2012

Today, I worked on Mayor's Youth Advisory Commission stuff for the first part of the day, until about 9:30.  Then, I went to an LOC meeting, where all of the co-chairs from all of the cycling challenge committees meet and discuss where they are at, where they need to go, and what they need from everyone else.  Then, we went into breakout sessions, where the co-chairs of the committees grouped up and discussed what they needed from one another and how they could help one another.  After that, I went to lunch and we discussed the bike challenge more.  Next, I just worked on my project and on Mayor's Youth Advisory Commission stuff until about 3:00.  Then, I went down to Christina's office, and we discussed where I am at in the internship, our plans for the following week, and other interesting topics.  Later tonight, at about 5:00, I will attend the Chamber of Commerce after hours with Christina. Tomorrow, I don't have any meetings, and so will probably get off earlier than I usually do, which will be a nice change.  I will go between the Mayor's office and Sherri's office working on my project and on other important things pertaining to the pro cycling challenge. 

March 14th, 2012

I began the day today by fulfilling my Student Ambassador duties with helping to set up the Soup for the Soul event that will be held tonight to benefit cancer patients.  About halfway through that, I had to leave in order to attend the Green Business Round Table luncheon presentation from the ex-mayor of Gainesville, Florida.  This luncheon was very delicious, and the speech by the mayor was very informative.  She talked about the initiatives that her town had taken to improve their footprint on the environment, and how we could implement many of the same ideas in our town.  Then, after that, I went to Park Elementary with the Mayor, where we talked to a third grade class about what makes Durango a community, and what her role in the government is.  They asked a bunch of questions about her and about me, and we answered them.  Then, afterwards, they all wanted our autographs, which was really really cute!  That was about it for my meetings and events for the day, but I worked somewhat more on some of the other aspects of my internship on my own.  In addition, I finished a lot of my Mayor's Youth Advisory Commission work that I had been meaning to do for a while.

March 13th, 2012

Today was my second day interning for the mayor of Durango.  The first meeting I had to go to was bright and early at 7:30 in the morning.  It was for the La Plata County Economic Alliance, and I attended it with the mayor.  In this meeting, there were reports from all of thee sub-committees and from citizens, and from representative groups about the state of the city currently, financially and growth-wise.  After that, I went on a conference call about the Pro Cycling Challenge Gala, and learned about all the aspects surrounding that event, and the logistic of the tent and how many people are going to be there, and how many tents there needs to be and all of the things relating to this.  Later on today, I will be going to another meeting about the Pro Cycling Challenge Gala at the Sorrel Sky gallery, going over even more of the details of it.  After that, I will go to a City Council Study Session with the Mayor, after which I will go to the Mayor's Youth Advisory Commission meeting.  Today I also began my work on coming up with the schedule for the actual days of the event.  We got them all formatted, and a few dates even put in.  Once I finish this, I will put the information on a areal map of the college, so that people can see what is going on at what times and what days and where in an easy format.  Tomorrow, I hope to finish filling out the chart, or at least collect all the information for that chart.