My STEP project fell under the internship category and was with the United States Government. I performed office work, occasionally assisted agents with various aspects of their cases, and worked special events.
During this project, I learned a lot more about what happens behind the scenes to protect this country. I also came to appreciate the sacrifices that many employees who work in the national security sector make daily, which better helped me determine what kind of career I want to pursue in the future. Throughout my experience, I was also able to learn more about how to protect myself in everyday life, and various aspects of criminal behavior.
Interactions with members of the public and government employees have helped in the transformation. Interactions with certain individuals from the public have opened my eyes to some of the harsh realities of the world and with guidance from federal agents, I have learned how to behave during certain real-life situations.
During the course of my experience I got to participate in multiple events with individuals in the government who hold or previously held positions of power and got to witness what goes into events where those types of people will be present. These experiences helped me further develop situational awareness and further understand the nature of various threats and dangers. Working in the events to a limited degree opened my eyes to more careers that I was previously unaware of.
Financial crimes are prevalent in our country. Learning more about our currency and financial crimes has helped me learn various ways to protect myself financially. Not only am I able to better protect myself, but I can now better help my friends and family with financial related security measures.
This experience is helpful academically because I can apply real world experience/knowledge to my courses, some of which relate to national security. Personally, the transformation from this experience has helped me in more ways than I can explain. Aside from the ways it has helped me that I described above, it has given me the ability to meet individuals from many agencies in the government and network. No pictures included, thank you for understanding.
-Grant Warner