Welcome to Traces of Capitol Hill, Tracy Parco's weekly blog about her experience being a fall intern for BRAVO!. We love our intern blogs and hope you enjoy following Tracy!
Week 11
November 9 - November 13, 2015
This last week we held our final event for the season, the Whitman-Walker Health Gala, which took place at the National Building Museum here in DC. This semester we worked on several events, all with very different purposes and designs; however, they each provided me a varying outlook on the events industry. This final event, though, I think was one of my favorites as it brought everything full-circle and allowed us to end our season with a client that we have easily spent the most time with during our internship with BRAVO! Over the past few months, I feel like I have really gotten to know the Whitman-Walker Health team, and had the opportunity to see them grow and evolve as an organization.
As Nancy mentioned this past week, which really resonated with me: it is our job to take care of our guests and to pay attention and cater to their needs. We are constantly adapting during events to ensure that our client and their respective audience are enjoying themselves and are getting the most out of their experience with us. This concept, in my opinion, is very applicable to any career in the service industry as it is essential to understand the needs of a client and to address them. Where BRAVO! excels, however, is that we not only acknowledge and address needs but we do our best to exceed them—and that has been very clear to me throughout the last couple months.
Taking a much-needed break from the city, I spent a long weekend with my family in Richmond, Virginia, watching and cheering on my mom as she ran a MARATHON, my dad as he ran a HALF-MARATHON, and my brother as he ran an 8K. Even though I may not be as talented or athletic as any of them, having them on this side of the country for a couple days was a nice vacation from reality for me and gave me the final push to get through the remainder of the semester. I’m incredibly grateful for this semester in DC and all of the amazing people I’ve met and experiences I’ve had, but I think as the holidays start to gain some traction in the coming weeks, I will be ready to head home to California in December!