Leon Belegu's Internship Comes to an End
As written by Leon
My experience as a Summer Data Management Intern at the Alaska Afterschool Network has been both fulfilling and immensely educational. Over eight weeks, I had the opportunity to contribute to various projects, develop new skills, and collaborate with an incredible team.
During my internship, I worked on several key projects. Initially, I focused on getting familiar with the team and the systems, particularly Salesforce – their database management system. My first project was optimizing their Google Tracking Sheets to improve the Network’s ability to collect and analyze AmeriCorps STEM Coaches’ student engagement data. I created formulas using my linear algebra knowledge to automate calculations, which had previously been done manually.
Another major project involved working in Salesforce to generate data reports. These reports are crucial as they enable the Network to understand how afterschool programs are running and identify any resources they might need. From these reports, I built a data dashboard to highlight key information such as the total number of afterschool programs, the percentage of programs that offer meals, and graphs illustrating the comparison between summer and school year programs, as well as programs that provide services to military connected families. This information is essential for internal understanding of afterschool programs in Alaska and can also be used externally to promote the importance of afterschool programs for children.
In addition to my Salesforce data visualization work, I focused on cleaning up the database by removing duplicates and importing new information. I successfully extracted fresh data about Alaska public libraries and schools using a Python script to scrape information from the Alaska Department of Education & Early Development website. This script used BeautifulSoup for data extraction and pandas for data manipulation. I then imported this data into Salesforce, ensuring it was properly structured and cleaned. Clean and updated data is important as it ensures that all reports are based on accurate information.
One of my final projects was developing the Network’s new website through SquareSpace. I migrated all the new information and images onto the pages of the new website and designed new, modern layout schemes for every page. Making the pages easy to navigate and making the information accessible to users were the primary goals, so getting feedback from the team was an important step in creating the best designs.
Throughout my internship, I created documentation for everything I worked on to guide the team in the future when I am not there. This documentation ensures that the team can continue to benefit from my contributions and understand the processes and systems I developed. I also acquired new skills and applied my academic knowledge to real-world projects. I improved my proficiency in Salesforce, Google Sheets, and various programming languages, including Python. I learned how to write efficient web scraping scripts and clean and structure data for import into databases.
Collaborating with the Network team was a valuable experience. The team was supportive and open to my ideas, which made it easy to integrate and contribute effectively. I faced challenges, such as ensuring data accuracy and integrating new features; however, I overcame these by working thoroughly and seeking feedback from the team.
This internship has helped me grow both personally and professionally. I learned how to manage my time effectively, communicate with team members, and apply my academic knowledge to real-world projects. My advice to anyone considering an internship at the Alaska Afterschool Network is to embrace the learning opportunities and don't be afraid to ask questions. The team is incredibly supportive and willing to help you succeed!
Leon’s internship was coordinated through build4good an initiative at New America. https://www.build4good.tech/student-experience/