New experiences are not unfamiliar to me. After completing one year at Emerson College, new experiences have become second nature for me. Emerson College is located in the heart of Boston; a vibrant and fast-moving area, full of diversity, engagement, and creativity. My home during college off-season is Raymond, NH, an area where trees outnumber people 10 to 1, full of wheelbarrows, two-star Chinese restaurants, and turkeys. This drastic shift in my environment upon moving into college was jarring, however, I learned quickly the do’s and don’ts of my new home.
I learned that everyone in the city walks as if punctuality is a matter of life and death. I learned that there are more restaurants than Teddy’s Lounge, home of the most average pizza. I learned that running is much easier when you are being chased by a flock of confused and hungry pigeons. I learned singing loudly in the car only gives way to glares from the middle-aged men making their way back to Brookline on the Green Line. College in Boston gave way to new experiences such as these daily, and in doing so allowed me to fine tune my adaptiveness to different environments.
Experiences are moments for learning and growth, and this is exactly what I will strive for during my time at Cookson Strategic Communications.
My first day, and most likely my first several weeks, has been and will be filled with these experiences, from which I will be able to learn how CSC operates.
Do: Bring a sweater. It is subarctic temperatures in this office.
Don’t: Drop a feather on the ground. I do not believe there are any feathers in the offices of CSC, however, if there was, I would advise keeping a tight grip on the aforementioned feather. The noise radiating from that feather colliding with the carpeted ground would pierce the silence within these walls.
“Oh, the people here at CSC are quiet?” you ask. Absolutely not. Every person I have met in my short time within this office has greeted me with a smile and a conversation. Dia, my supervisor at CSC, has a full page of notes just from our conversation, and let the record show that I have felt welcomed by every member of the staff. So why the quiet? Hard work drives the members of CSC. This attitude is infectious, the unspoken dedication to projects is apparent, and the spark of creativity is lighting a fire which blazes through the office. I have been in this office for 3 hours, 180 minutes, 10,800 seconds. I have seen these traits in members of CSC in this short amount of time, and I look forward to the remaining 224 hours I will be in the office this summer.
This first day at Cookson Strategic Communications is not like any new experience I have had in the past year. With new experiences come discomfort, however, I have only felt comfortable at CSC in this short amount time. My time here is for the pursuit of intellectual growth, and with the vast array of projects CSC works on, I have no doubt I will expand my working knowledge of the communications field.
I will also bring a sweater tomorrow.
Kevin Serrano is a summer intern at Cookson communications.
