Diary of an Intern

------------LIVE | LAUGH | LOVE---------------- This blog serves as a requirement for the completion of the course AMAT 198 (Practicum).

[myinternexperience]

CERTIFICATE OF COMPLETION

All hard works and sleepless nights finally paid off. Thanks be to God!

[myinternexperience]

This is my Daily Time Record (DTR) signed by our director, Sir J.B. Beltran. I can’t believe that I survived five weeks without having late and absence. I’m so proud of myself. 

[myinternexperience]

TERMINAL REPORT

This is the final output that was submitted to the department. It contains my accomplishments, my assessment to the training period and my observation and recommendation to further improve the department.

[myinternexperience]

This little machine made me responsible enough to respect time. This is such a great achievement for me for not having late. Good job to me! :)

[myinternexperience]

Thank you PRIDO for guiding me through out the internship period. Let me express my gratitude by giving you these wonderful gifts. 

[myinternexperience]

GET HIRED: UNIVERSITIES AND COA PARTNERSHIP

A Concept Paper concerning the ways of how universities connect to COA. 

[myinternexperience]

FIFTH WEEK

The activities/ tasks assigned to us this week are almost the same to the past four weeks. We file and release data/memorandum to other office and we also read their past research papers, concept papers, memorandum or circulars in order to be familiar to the formatting, way of writing, and the context of these pertinent data. Counter-checking of documents is also made to avoid errors before the releasing of documents. Moreover, we were assigned to do some research that will assist them on their on-going study. This part really gave us so much goose bumps because we felt so appreciated and trusted to have us in their study. They also let us join their focus group discussion again and this time, we’ve been more cooperative than the last time. For this week, we had three brainstorming sessions. These brainstorming sessions are indeed a draining yet satisfying activity.

As the highlight of the week, we, my co-interns and I, constructed a concept paper which aims to connect universities to Commission on Audit. This is expected to be an application of all the lessons imparted to us in the department. Fortunately, we were able to execute it properly. For the first night, we applied the strategy of the department during brainstorming sessions. We exhausted all possible issue, cause and effect of the study and how to address such problem. Before the night ends, we were able to make an outline of our paper. For the second night, we used the outline to construct our paper. By the next morning, the paper was edited, polished and submitted to our supervisor.

This is the last week of our training. We felt happy and sad at the same time. Happy because we learned a lot, especially me because this is completely different from my undergraduate course, and sad because we have to bid our farewell to our second family- the PRIDO-PIDS department.

As a parting and thanksgiving to the department, we gave them a remembrance which is coffee beans. This is because we have observed in our five weeks of internship their love for coffee. They have a coffeemaker in the office and they always order coffee beans from different places. Aside from that, we accompanied the roast to sweet coffee beans with a sweet ube yema cake. Lastly, my mother suggested that I should give them something that they could use and keep so I bought them every one of them a remembrance. It is pleasing to see that they are so surprised and happy having these things.

Before my last day ended, they gave me my certificate of completion and I could not be more delighted to have these hard works and sleepless nights to be finally paid off. Thank you PRIDO for such a wonderful experience! I will always be your proud trainee.

�:�s,8

[myinternexperience]

These are coffee beans and ube yema cake. We decided to give them coffee beans because everyone in the department has this peculiar love for coffees. They even buy coffee beans to different places. Ube yema cake is given to them because it is sweet and it is a good complement to the taste of the coffee. These serve as our token of appreciation and thanksgiving to the department. Thank you for such a wonderful experience, PRIDO! 

[myinternexperience]

So this is the continuation of our concept note making. We are all stressed and in dire need of sleep but we still have paper to finish so we have to do it first. By this time, we made it sure to finish this so that we can have the chance for the revision when needed. Fortunately, we are able to finish the paper before going home and we just made it finalized the next morning. This was taken at Starbucks, Commonwealth. It was such a great job for all of us. Cheers!

[myinternexperience]

This is our first night in making our final project which is a concept note that aims to support the study on COA’s attempt to reach out to universities in relation to the employment needs of the commission. It is such a tiring activity yet so satisfying that we are able to apply what we have learned in our internship period. This is taken at BO’s Cafe, Katipunan.

[myinternexperience]

This is our next brainstorming session. It was a blast and enjoyable activity because we were joined by the two directors in the department. After the first topic has been discussed, they bought pizza to lighten up the environment due to heated discussions. While eating, we proceed to another topic. It is indeed a stressful activity but I found these sessions really interesting. For me this is my favorite day in my internship period.

[myinternexperience]

Selfie to this statue in front of COA main building.

[myinternexperience]

Lunch break at COA canteen.

[myinternexperience]

FOURTH WEEK

Yey! We’re nearly going to an end.  By this time, we are more familiar and cultured to what the department is doing so the employees are now confident to engage us in their on-going project. We are tasked to do some research about the said project and we felt so grateful for being part of the team. We conducted our brainstorming in the conference room and my co-interns and I felt so happy to be part of the study. The room has the pictures of the commissioners of COA, table, and a board that could actually print! At first, I thought that Kuya Paul, the employee, was just kidding when he said that the white board can print. But when as he showed us, we all got so amazed. With this very conducive place, our interest for the topic arouse and made us crave for more. As our supervisor enters the room, we got even more excited that we were given a chance to cooperate and listen to their discussion. We were amazed to the way she asked different questions and offered numerous ways of attacking the problem.

Aside from that, we are even tasked from time to time to counter-check or find some errors in the paper works that they are doing. We carefully review documents to have a quality output before presenting it to the heads.  Moreover, file management such as sorting files and putting tab labels in their research print outs are always assigned to us in order to have an easy access to the document. We enjoyed designing these tabs that will match the scheme of the file.

We are also tasked to encode data from a good book regarding accountancy and management. While typing, we also read and understand every content with the hope of understanding its concept. Fortunately, the author of a given book are able to impart his knowledge not only to accountancy literate people, but also non-accountants. Few chapters are typed which I think will help the department in their future studies and researches.

Four weeks has passed and I am hoping for one more week of learning and enjoyment.

[myinternexperience]

Our very first Focus Group Discussion (FGD)/ Brainstorming session. I just took pictures while we were on a break. As soon as they invited us to join, we felt so excited and flattered that they are willing and interested to hear our voices and opinions even though we are only trainees. With this opportunity, we tried our best to contribute to the discussion so they will not regret to have us here. 

[myinternexperience]

PRIDO people usually place foods or drinks that they want to share to others. Usually these are bread, pizza, chocolates, and candies. With these people, you will never be hungry. Thanks for the treat!

[myinternexperience]

Selfie with the COA logo at the lobby of the main building. I think this is the biggest logo of COA.