Internship: Board of Councilors Meeting and The Carters!

Korrin B.

June 26, 2010 - 9:30 PM

For the past week, I have been helping to organize The Carter Center's quarterly Board of Councilors meeting. The Board of Councilors is a leadership advisory group that promotes The Carter Center amongst the community. At the meeting, Carter Center staff and President and Mrs. Carter give updates on The Center's activities throughout the year to its board members. The Board of Councilors has many important business leaders and community members from throughout Atlanta and is meant to create a strong connection between The Center and the State of Georgia.

It was my job throughout the past weeks to deal with attendance and to make sure that everyone attending the meeting have a name badge made for them. We use the name badges to later take attendance after the meeting when they are returned. This gives The Center an idea of who is coming and if attendance is remaining high. Along with the board members, the meeting also invites various guests, donors, interns, Carter Center staff, and local summer associates of accounting and law firms.

The couple of days up until the actual event were all about the details and making sure that everything was in place for the Friday meeting. Come Friday, I had to quickly become the morning person I am not. I arrived at The Carter Center at 6:30am to set up for the event and to greet the law and accounting summer associates who were coming early for a presentation from one of our Center's staff members. After their presentation, I helped guide them to their area in The Center's Chapel room where the Board of Councilors would be meeting.

While waiting outside of the door going into the Chapel room, I was approached by none other than Mrs. Rosalynn Carter. She asked me if I was an intern and shook my hand. I managed to get out a, "Nice to meet you." It was definitely one of those surreal moments.

Next, I headed up to the balcony seating to watch the meeting with some of the other interns. There was a speaker from the health program who talked about a current health project in Ethiopia, then a man who talked about current issues with peace progress in the Middle East, and finally, a statement from President Jimmy Carter. President Carter talked a little about everything, but certainly focused his concerns on Israel and Gaza. It was definitely interesting to hear him speak and I could not get over the fact that he was right in front of me. He also answered a few questions from the audience and then called the meeting to end precisely on time. President Carter is very much into staying on time I have learned.

After the meeting, I helped to collect the name badges from people leaving and then headed back to the office to begin compiling them into an attendance list. There were over 200 people who attended the meeting. I got a break at lunchtime though when we all headed back over to the main center for the annual Fourth of July Carter Center staff potluck. This was a great event because it gave me the opportunity to meet with some people from around The Carter Center that I usually would not have much contact with. I also got the chance to chat with my supervisor a bit more, which was great. President and Mrs. Carter also attended the potluck and said a few words to the group. They are such sweet people and incredibly humble. I loved watching them leave the potluck walking hand in hand!

By the time I got home after this long day though, I was exhausted and certainly ready for a nap! This weekend is time for some well-earned relaxation.