Our intern, Lindsey Jacques, is moving on to great things! We conducted an exit interview with her to share her experience with us and to celebrate her journey forward.
Tell us a bit about your internship (for school credit, policy and/or policy, how long).
This summer I was lucky enough to spend 11 weeks working with the policy side of operations at Circulate San Diego. As a legal intern, I worked primarily with Maya, Colin, and the other legal intern Kaitlyn.
What was your favorite part of the internship?
My favorite part of the internship was learning about such a wide variety of very interesting topics and getting to work with such knowledgable and kind people. Even through zoom, everyone at Circulate created such a welcoming and open environment and I’m truly grateful for everything they taught me along the way.
I also feel very lucky to have been able to work for a group furthering a mission I am passionate about. It was such a unique experience to be able to learn about land use, housing, transportation, and policy in such a hands on way. I have always had a strong interest in the policy side of the law, and the time I spent at Circulate really solidified that for me.
What did you learn from the internship?
Over the summer I had the opportunity to conduct legal research, call into City Council meetings, draft letters of support, and analyze legislation just to name a few. It was great having frequent meetings with Maya, Colin, and Kaitlyn to be able to learn from them and hear about their projects. I was also able to attend various committee meetings, mobility certification meetings, and hearings where I was able to learn from people outside of Circulate as well.
From mobility to housing and local government, everything I learned was super interesting! It was great being able to learn about so many different topics that all intersected. I truly feel like I look at housing, transit, and city planning in such a different way after learning more about these systems over the past few months.
One thing that will definitely stick with me from this internship, especially during such a difficult time for so many, was seeing first hand that there are some very smart and passionate people working very hard to help others and promote equity through policy right now.
What are you doing next, and what are your career goals?
In the fall I will be starting my second year of law school at USD while working as a legal writing TA and an associate editor for my school’s International Law Journal. My main goal with my career is to help people through law and policy in some capacity. This internship definitely solidified my interest in land use law as well as policy work, so in the near future I would like to explore opportunities in these areas. I’m also interested in environmental law, real estate law, and I may want to go into politics eventually, but I am definitely keeping my mind open to different possibilities and any new opportunities that will allow me to learn more about my interests while continuing to help others.
