End of Internship Article
By Samantha Millison, Office of Process Improvement Intern
May 5th, 2023
As my internship with the Office of Process Improvement (OPI) at the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) comes to an end, I am reminded of how thankful I am for the opportunities that I have been given and the people that I have met over the course of this unique internship. From the very first day up until the last, I am positively overwhelmed by the amount of support and encouragement that I have received from the OPI team. Words cannot express how immediately welcoming and empathic the team was when my internship began, and what an incredible team I would be part of.
From left to right: Kayley Smiley, Samantha Millison, Kaitlin Girtin, Stephen Barela
I will never forget how special my internship experience was, starting from the very first day. When I arrived at CDOT Headquarters I was kindly greeted by Gary Vansuch, OPI Director, and the rest of the intern team. As part of tradition, we all took a friendly photo in front of the Colorful Colorado sign to solidify the memory of my first day. The fun continued as I was guided on a tour of Headquarters by Gary; the amount of CDOT knowledge that he has amazes me to this day. Eventually I was taken to Intern Alley, where my intern colleagues and I would be working. There was a sign in my cubicle that read ‘Welcome, Samantha!’, and I had no doubt that CDOT would be a place that matched the comfort of home. Throughout the rest of my first day, I was able to meet Michelle Malloy, OPI Program Manager, and become better acquainted with my team as well as CDOT as a whole.
From left to right: Gary Vansuch, Samantha Millison, Stephen Barela, Kayley Smiley, Rebekah Roux, Roxane Olvera, Michelle Malloy, Kourtnei Osborn, Corey Neimeyer
The amount of opportunities and experiences that have accompanied my internship are astounding. One major opportunity that I was engaged with for all of my time at CDOT was working in collaboration with the Division of Transit & Rail, also known as DTR. Not every intern gets the chance to work in two different departments, so as I look back, I realize that I was a lucky intern to be able to do so! In addition to the inspiring projects and people from OPI, there were also exciting projects and people from DTR that have impacted my internship. As I was able to experience OPI work, people, and fellow interns, I was able to experience DTR in a similar fashion. I was welcomed to the DTR family during a team outing at Punch Bowl Social. I conversated with staff and other interns over lunch, then later showed off my killer bowling skills!
Two of my proudest efforts with DTR focused on onboarding and organization, which I believe are crucial to having a strong, productive workforce. I dedicated myself to revamping the DTR onboarding process, by creating 30/60/90 day onboarding plans for DTR and all of its respective branches. The plans serve as a guide to orient new employees efficiently and effectively by breaking down the orientation process into three segments of 30 days, 60 days, and 90 days after new staff is hired with accompanying milestones to be completed by the end of each segment. Additionally, I dedicated myself to improving the organization of the division, by engaging in a file management initiative with DTR intern Tegan Gough. Tegan and I went through both physical and virtual DTR files, where we identified, described, labeled, and assigned them to appropriate DTR branches and personnel. Then, we established ongoing scheduled times with the assignees to better own their files and keep them organized moving forward. Both of these projects took a great deal of effort, time, and collaboration, and I am confident that they will have a lasting impact even though my internship will eventually come to a close.
From left to right: Samantha Millison, Rebekah Roux, Kayley Smiley, Stephen Barela
In addition to my achievements from DTR, there are also endeavors from OPI that I take immense pride in. One project that I devoted myself to was a Meeting Management Initiative for CDOT, to help make meetings more efficient in terms of cadence, size, time, and resources. I really enjoyed this project because I felt as though the reason for the effort was relevant to me, and it is likely relevant to many other employees as well! I was able to engage with this initiative from the very beginning, and I plan on seeing my efforts come full circle before my time at CDOT is done! Another awesome project that I was able to be a part of from the start is the Federal Boulevard Transit Reliability Project, where multiple agencies plan to implement Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) along the corridor by 2030. Words cannot describe how meaningful it was for me to participate in and facilitate BRT because it is a project that I will be able to see 10 years later in action, and I have the satisfaction of being able to say that I was involved in the initial planning sessions of the effort.
Along with the ability and support to engage in purposeful projects, I also have been given numerous exciting opportunities that give me the chance to step away from my cubicle at headquarters! Some of my most memorable moments involve giving presentations and intern outings. As part of the OPI team, I joined my colleagues on delivering multiple presentations about change management and project management. Not to pick favorites, but our presentations for the Colorado Lean Network (CLN) and the Project Management Institute (PMI) were wonderful experiences for me. The PMI Symposium is a day that I will never forget because not only did I successfully represent OPI in front of hundreds of people, but I also earned a PMI Symposium token and a CDOT Leader Traveling coin! I can confidently say that experience was the peak and the best part of my internship. However, I am also very grateful for the incredible intern outings that I attended over the course of this past year. Alongside many amazing interns, I visited several cool places: the Colorado Transportation Management Center (CTMC), the demolished Central 70 viaduct, Denver International Airport (DIA), and the Eisenhower-Johnson Memorial Tunnel (EJMT). These visits were really eye-opening for me because I was able to get an “insider look” of all the places we ventured to, and they were great chances to spend time with other CDOT interns.
PMI token, CDOT Leader Traveling coin
As I look back on my internship experience over the past year, I am so proud and thankful to have worked with the OPI team. This internship has certainly helped me to grow as a person, and has given me both intangible and tangible things that I will take with me moving forward. I walk away with new and enhanced skills, a Prosci Change Practitioner certification, some impressive memorandums from numerous institutes and agencies, and so much more. However, the most important thing would be the relationships I made and the network I will forever have. Gary, Michelle, and the whole OPI team have ensured me to confidently feel that wherever life takes me, I will always be connected to CDOT. Over the course of my internship, Gary has frequently claimed that he is one of the most fortunate people… however, I believe that I am a strong competitor against his claim. I can proudly say that I am one of the most fortunate people, simply because I had the experience of being an OPI intern for CDOT.