Co-Op/Internship Portfolio
Welcome to my Co-Op/Internship portfolio. This portfolio showcases the work I have done throughout the Co-Ops and Internships I have had thus far, including materials such as grant writing (LOIs), marketing material, reports, and more.
Co-Op Experience (Student Orientation Leader): Final Project
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Summary
For this Final Project, I was tasked to describe my co-op experience as a Student Orientation Leader at the University of Cincinnati Blue Ash from March to August 2025. I was tasked to describe my experience, and how I can tailor it towards future professional opportunities and experiences. This project demonstrates my ability to tailor my experiences to another professional opportunity and how this position provides skill sets that will be relevant for the rest of my professional career. I wanted to focus on my goals, work summary, future career goals, and final reflections in regard to this position. I learned that networking with other professionals during my time as a Student Orientation Leader will lead me to further opportunities. For example, connecting with Briana Harper, coordinator of UC's Student Alumni Council. |
Reflection
This experience was incredibly important to me because it has opened many doors for my professional development and for developing my skill set. For example, I never imagined to network with Briana Harper, and that I was able to leverage this experience as a Student Orientation Leader into landing my next role (Fall '25) as a Peer Career Coach. I have networked with many of the faculty and staff across various departments at the college and have even participated in a new faculty welcome day and a grievance panel. These experiences have led me to meet many incredible professionals and people who are rooting for me as a student. As a fun fact, I was going to be one of the next Student Orientation Coordinators at UCBA; however, I had to turn down the position later because of a Co-Op opportunity. |
*The following ePortfolio pieces below were from my position as a Technical Writing Intern at CareStar in Blue Ash, OH. The pieces below are in conjunction with COOP 2000 (Co-Op Experience A&S Pt. I) and ENGL 4107 (Copyediting & Publishing Internship).
*As an additional note, you will have to "download" these files (click "Download File"), which will NOT download them onto your device, but instead, will display in a separate pop-up window that'll show up as a PDF.
ENGL 4107: W.K. Kellogg Foundation LOI Rough Draft
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Summary
For my first grant-writing task, I was asked to tailor an LOI for CareStar Community Services (CSCS) to apply to the W.K. Kellogg Foundation's Letter of Inquiry. I wrote many examples of potential project/funding request names, and I had to write my first-ever funding request. The second page shows highlighted text that corresponds to the highlighted questions. This project demonstrates my ability to write a successful LOI for a foundation. I focused on sticking to the character count while answering the questions as effectively and straightforwardly as I could. I wanted to focus on experimenting with my writing and applying for this LOI, and I learned how to incorporate narrative into this LOI. |
Reflection
Although this LOI was rejected within 24 hours because CSCS was not within their regional scope (I apply for grants on behalf of CareStar Community Services, which is CareStar's sister organization and non-profit affiliate), I did learn the basics of what a grant could look like. There are many things grant writers have to consider, such as regional scope, the cost of the project, the narrative (with appropriate data/statistics), and much more. This LOI draft taught me to look more closely at the regional scope and to see whether they've given any money to organizations/non-profits in Ohio, if anything. This LOI draft also introduced me to the balance of narrative and data/statistics with such a limited word count. |
ENGL 4107: Notes on Award Winning Grants
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Summary
After I wrote my first LOI, my supervisor wanted me to focus on the language used in top-notch grants. One resource that I continue to use throughout my experience is GrantStation.com, a website I use to find grants with our regional scope (Scioto County and other surrounding counties) in Ohio, with minimum awards of $50,000, and values, goals, and a mission statement that align with CareStar. This document presents my close reading, research, and notes on winning grant proposals from the Winning Grant Proposal Competition (2025) hosted by GrantStation.com. I lean into award-winning grants and what makes these grants top-notch, and to refine my skills in grant-writing for the next LOI.
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Reflection
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ENGL 4107: Proofing Notes for GA Aging-Services Non-Nutrion RFP Document
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Summary
A lot of my tasks involved proofreading my own work several times and trying to understand my writing from the lens of a general audience. However, several times during this experience, I had the opportunity to proofread and provide feedback on a full-length Request for Proposal (RFP). My main responsibilities were using the CareStar VIG (Visual Guidelines, a style guide for how words/acronyms in the healthcare industry were supposed to be used), proofreading, copyediting, and fixing grammatical errors. In short, this document contains my extensive proofing notes for an RFP tailored to Georgia's Aging-Services program, in which CareStar was involved. |
Reflection
I loved this project a lot! Although I don't have the RFP with me, you'll see my proofing notes and how I handle proofing such a document. This document was also up to 110~ pages, which was very daunting at first. This also taught me that the healthcare industry has a myriad of acronyms and terminology that would make someone (like me!) who isn't used to the industry VERY confused about what they mean. During my experience, I still proofread my own work a LOT and ask one of my co-workers or other supervisors to read and give feedback on my work. You can never improve as a writer without feedback and advice on what you've written, and since LOI/RFP documents can be quite lengthy, it was incredibly important for me to continue sharpening my grant writing. |
ENGL 4107: Grant Station Research Portfolio
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Summary
This document contains all of my notes, research, and the most important tips and tricks for navigating GrantStation.com and writing grants in general. I wanted to be even more comfortable and confident with writing grants, and I wrote on topics such as writing winning grant proposals, proofreading strategies, editorial approaches to grant writing, and many more. I was tasked with creating this writing project to show the tips/tricks of writing grants. This prepared me and got me started contributing to CareStar grants. My supervisor went so far as to show this document to the President/CEO of CareStar, Pamela E. Zipperer-Davis, and stated that it will serve the department well, especially for incoming Technical Writing Interns in the future. |
Reflection
This was one of my best pieces of work. Upon hearing that my research portfolio was presented to the President/CEO of CareStar, I felt such a heavy sense of accomplishment. I was also VERY happy to hear that my document would serve (from now on) as an introductory document to incoming Technical Writing Interns (for the future), in order for them to gain more of a sense of what it means to write grants. All of the information in this research portfolio was from GrantStation.com, which has LOTS of great writing strategies, tips, and tricks for approaching grants. This monstrous document took me quite a few days to curate. During my role, I have done several writing project developments, such as this one, which will serve as an example of my work for CareStar and for myself. |
ENGL 4107: Moderna Foundation LOI Rough Draft
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Summary
For this LOI, I chose The Moderna Foundation. This LOI is one of my best-curated pieces. Throughout my time at CareStar, I had some issues with developmental editing (i.e., my narrative not easing into or meshing well with data/statistics) and with finding relevant statistics/data through CareStar's company database. My supervisor kept urging me to proofread my work more carefully and to write less, as he believes less is more meaningful in his eyes. Based on all the feedback I received over the past few months, this LOI is my best draft thus far. My supervisor even went so far as to say that the only issues with this document were a few miscapitalized words (style guide) that allowed him to edit CareStar's VIG. |
Reflection
I went through a LOT of emotions with this LOI, and I struggled to write this. When I turned it in, I wondered if there was anything I might have missed or done differently. I proofread this document several times, made sure I didn't embellish any data/statistics, developmentally edited and copyedited my work throughout various rough-draft stages, and even met with my supervisor twice so he could read my work and share his thoughts. I took a LOT of time in curating this LOI. One challenge I tried to balance throughout my writing is how MUCH to write. Finding this balance throughout my time at CareStar was difficult and was something that I've wrestled with. During my time, I found that getting feedback was crucial to becoming a better grant writer. |
ENGL 4107: Internship Report
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Summary
For the Copyediting & Publishing internship course, I was required to complete an internship report. This internship report encompasses some contextualization of where I had worked at the time (in this case, CareStar) and some of the job responsibilities I performed during my role and time at CareStar. A large chunk of this internship report includes a weekly log where I log my hours and the things I did each week. |
Reflection
Completing this internship report has been one of the most challenging aspects of the Copyediting & Publishing internship. During this internship, I performed many responsibilities that a typical grant writer would in a part-time or freelance kind of role. This encompasses the responsibilities of a Technical Writing intern for the healthcare industry and exemplifies my experience and time I had at CareStar. |
*The following ePortfolio pieces below were from my position as a Marketing Intern with Learning Grove.
*As an additional note, you will have to "download" these files (click "Download File"), which will NOT download them onto your device, but instead, will display in a separate pop-up window that'll show up as a PDF.
Learning Grove: Social Media Post Drafts
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Summary
During my time as a Marketing Intern for Learning Grove, there was ample opportunity to learn the style of Learning Grove's social media posts and the kind of non-profit organization that Learning Grove is. These go hand-in-hand with the graphics that I have created for these social media posts when I make some designs in Canva. Please feel free to read through some of these drafts to get a better sense of the marketing style that Learning Grove has. |
Reflection
I'm beyond grateful that I got the opportunity to work with Learning Grove and to perform most of my responsibilities remotely. I had the opportunity to work with Learning Grove in my photography and filmography skills in stepping into the classrooms at Learning Grove to get a better sense of their pedagogy and their teaching philosophies. There was a lot of social media content and captions that were created thanks to my contributions during my time as a Marketing Intern at Learning Grove. |
Learning Grove: Brief Newsletter Article
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Summary
During my time as a Marketing Intern for Learning Grove, there was opportunities to create newsletter and internal communications for the Learning Grove team. This is just one example of the multiple newsletters I curated. Not only did I focus on creating text for Learning Grove's NaviGo Career Camps, but I also chose images to include within this newsletter as well. During my time, I also secured a $500 grant (One by One grant) and Cincinnati Reds tickets (Donation X). |
Reflection
There was so much opportunity to use my writing skills within my role, and I'm glad that I was able to leverage my grant writing skills to Learning Grove to also help them secure a few mini grants. This is not the only example of the newsletter or internal communication piece that I wrote during my time as a Marketing Intern for Learning Grove, though this surely demonstrates my competency and ready to attack mindset when it comes to marketing a non-profit organization within the Greater Cincinnati and Covington area. |
