Leah DeBartolo

Responsibilities

I was in charge of the Instagram page so I would do daily posts, stories, and interactions with the property's Instagram page. I would also create monthly resident events for our tenants to come down and enjoy and interact with each other. Creating a month in advance for specific days and knowing who will be working and what supplies we need was also something that I would in charge of. I was able to buy fall decor and decorated the model unit for tours so they felt in the fall mood. Creating "You've been BOOED" door game and distributing it out to tenants was something that I also did. Resident appreciation week was a 5 day event that I created to showcase a different thing each day to show appreciation to our residents for living here. Sending out emails and texts about events was also another thing that I did. Visiting each resident door with a box of cookies was something we did in September to show that we are grateful and that we wanted to talk with each person to see how they like living here. Creating surveys for residents to fill out was a weekly thing for me since we like to get feedback about the property, events, food, and any activities that we do for them. The responsibilities changed weekly since we always did different events and coming up with new ideas for tenants as well as workers was a daily task. Creating the table scape and event for DIS and WelcomeFest was also a task that I did to get our name out there and collect leads for people who are looking to rent an apartment in Ames. Going to campus to set up a table to hand out free stuff and collect leads was something that I would coordinate as well with the workers and events we would host. This position was helping the leasing manager with creating events and helping execute the ideas. We worked hand in hand to make sure that residents were happy with the things we were doing and asking them what we could change or what improvements we could do.

Accomplishments

Gaining friendships and experience. While working I was able to connect with my coworkers who helped be gain knowledge of not only events but other things as well including life, work, and friendships. My greatest accomplishment would have to be getting to plan events for residents and seeing them come to life. From ideas on paper to going and getting the supplies to posting on Instagram and sending out emails to get residents to know about the event and then hosting it. Seeing residents come to it and interact and get feedback was a great feeling. I was able to get feedback and change my outlook on certain things that I have learned in the classroom because what you learn in the classroom and in real life is very different.

What advice would you give?

Do not be afraid to try new things and get out of comfort zone while doing our internship. Make connections and build your network. If you feel like you are caught up with your work and could take on more responsibilities, ask! Ask if you can help with anything else or sit in on things to see how things work even if they have not planned for you to help. Get permission first but definitely push yourself.