First Impressions

As I dragged my lazy feet through puddles of murky water this morning, all I could think was “Where is Northern Avenue?” I wandered around for about an hour, passing ocean front restaurants and the World Trade Center building decorated with flags from across the globe. I eventually did find Northern Avenue, but 212 – or any numbers in the two hundreds for that matter, was nowhere in sight. The salt water aroma was unmistakable as I walked past the Fish Pier and a sign that read “Fish Tenants only”; I assumed that no office buildings would be there. To my surprise, the very building I had been searching for all morning was right on the pier – about as close to Boston’s illustrious harbor as you can get.

My first assignment as a Communications Intern was to familiarize myself with the Save the Harbor website and what our mission is. I found this blog and read through some old postings to get an idea of what exactly I’ll be doing this summer. Pictures from past events especially caught my eye, particularly the “Cupid Splash” into the freezing February harbor, the bright smiles on children’s faces holding fish they caught, and the sandcastle contest on the beach. As an avid beach lover myself ( I’m Long Island born and raised) I felt like I had made the right choice in accepting the internship.

After playing around with the Save the Harbor Facebook page and publications, the other interns and I were called into the office to meet our bosses and have our first meeting. I was still a little unsure of what all of my responsibilities would be, but my boss Bruce explained it in simple way that seemed to answer it all: “Communications is everything.” And it really is – to keep up the success that Save the Harbor has had with cleaning Boston’s beaches we need to spread the word to as many people as possible.

When the meeting was over, two of the interns and I were told to explore the area to find pictures and other inspiration for the blog we’ll be writing all summer. We were allowed to take pictures of anything we wanted, and yet I found that almost all of mine were of the tall ships in town for the Expo. Although I’ve lived in Boston for the past two years, I never had the chance to spend a sunny day by the harbor, and I’ve never seen anything like the one particular white sailboat that became the star of my photo shoot.

Finally, we were told to start putting together our blog. Overall, my mind is filled with all of the possibilities this summer holds; experience and skills for resume building, meeting new people and making new friends, and hosting fun events on the beach. I can’t wait to see how all of our hard work will teach thousands of Bostonians why we must continue to keep our harbors clean and sparkling blue.