June 11, 2025 • 37 mins
What brings bright, ambitious college students to spend their summer working in local government? In this eye-opening first installment of our "Intern Series," we sit down with Maddie and Luke, two standout college students from the University of Georgia spending their summer working with the City of Milton. They share what inspired them to pursue public service, from a passion for civic storytelling to a drive to strengthen communities through thoughtful research. Their enthusiasm, paired with a deep sense of purpose, sets the tone for a season of growth, connection, and meaningful work.
This episode also highlights what makes Milton’s internship program unique: hands-on experience in every city department, involvement in real projects, and a front-row seat to how local government serves its people. From planning major events to working with residents, Maddie and Luke are getting a crash course in public service. We’ll catch up with them later this summer to hear how it all turned out. Until then, listen in to get to know the faces behind the future of local leadership.
With the community in mind, this podcast explores the stories, people, and initiatives that make our community unique. Each episode offers insights into local government, highlights Milton's history and future developments, and showcases the vibrant arts, culture, and sustainability efforts shaping our city. Join the conversation, celebrate our community, and discover how we're building a better Milton together.
Do you have an idea for an episode or would like to request a specific topic to be covered? Email Christy Weeks, christy.weeks@miltonga.gov
Learn more about the City of Milton at www.miltonga.gov.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Welcome to Milton and Maine, the official podcast for
the city of Milton.
We want to bring you closer tothe heart of our community
through stories that inform,inspire and connect.
Each episode offers abehind-the-scenes look at the
people, projects and prioritiesshaping Milton, covering
everything from local governmentand future development to arts,
culture, sustainability andpublic safety.
(00:28):
Whether you're a resident, alocal business owner or just
curious about our city, this isyour front row seat to what
makes Milton special.
Welcome back everyone.
My name is Christy Weeks, I'mthe communications manager for
the city of Milton, and today'sepisode kicks off something
we've never done before.
It's the Intern Series.
We've welcomed a couple ofcollegiate summer interns to the
(00:50):
city of Milton and before theydive into the day-to-day of
local government life, we'd liketo sit down and get to know
them.
So today you're going to hearwhat brought them to the city,
what they think they're gettinginto and maybe even what they're
secretly hoping they don't haveto do.
Spoiler, we're not above givingthem spreadsheets, but there's
(01:10):
also a lot more to thisexperience than paperwork, so
think of this as a time capsule.
We'll be checking back in withthem at the end of their
internship to see what lived upto the hype, what surprised them
and whether local governmentmight actually be their thing.
But for now, let's meet theteam, and we're going to start
(01:33):
off with the one who'sorganizing all the shenanigans,
and that is the key shenaniganleader, emily Salerno.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Hello, hello, that's me your shenanigan queen, if you
will.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
You are the director, the shenanigan director, that's
me.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Who else do we have with?
Speaker 1 (01:47):
us.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Hi, my name's Maddie.
I am going into my junior yearhere at the University of
Georgia.
I am studying political scienceand public relations, and I am
joining the city of Milton thissummer as a comprehensive summer
intern.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Wow, welcome and.
Speaker 4 (02:03):
Hi y'all.
My name is Luke and I'm arising sophomore at the
University of Georgia.
Like Maddie, I'm also studyingpolitical science, but I'm also
studying international relations.
I actually interned with thecity before as a public works
intern in high school.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Oh, that was last year, right.
Speaker 4 (02:17):
Yes, I interned last January through last May, so
about five months.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Wow, well, welcome back.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
Thank you, glad to be back.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Something good had to happen.
It brought him back right.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
It's a fun place.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Absolutely All right.
So what we're going to startwith is I want to know how you
ended up with this particularidea that this was the space you
wanted to spend your time andgo a little bit more into your
majors.
I know you both gave us a roughoverlook, but let's start with
(02:50):
Emily.
I know you're not in collegeanymore.
It's been a long time, it'sbeen a hot minute, but tell us
about this intern project.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
This internship we've had for a few years now.
I always say it's much morethan a coffee internship.
We have so many departmentswithin the city that do so many
different things and untilyou're able to really work with
them all and do a deep dive, youhave kind of a very broad
understanding.
So our goal is to have ourinterns be able to touch every
department within the city,whether that's just doing a ride
(03:24):
along day with police or amajor project with our city
manager's office.
They work here for about 10weeks, roughly 200 hours, and
they've really done a lot ofmeaningful projects that we've
been able to implement evenafter they've left.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Very cool, very cool.
And how many years have youkind of taken the lead on this?
Speaker 2 (03:45):
So this is my third set of interns, so I've been
around the block a few times.
Um and the pro.
The program just continues togrow every single year.
The talent that we have tochoose from is the hardest
decision I think I make all year.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
So that makes me wonder how many applications did
you get this year?
Speaker 2 (04:02):
So we received 25 applications, yikes, we narrowed
it down to a few interviews andwe picked our top two.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Wow, doesn't that make you all feel special?
Absolutely.
It should it should?
I mean, that's a whole lot morethan I thought.
I mean, I'm not going to lie.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
So the interview process for me was very
interesting.
I've grown up in Milton myentire life and it was always
something I heard about.
I heard about it from myfriends that were grades older
than me and ahead of me I hadpeople that were always very
interested in it, so it wassomething that I wanted to do,
and then I knew this summer Iwas going to be home.
I wanted to be home for mylittle brother's graduation and
(04:41):
I have always loved publicgovernment and working with the
public graduation, and I havealways loved public government
and working with the public andbetween public relations and
political science.
It's a great combo of the twowell, yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
So that leads me to the question is what in your
mind, what's your ultimate pick,where?
Where do you see yourselfwanting to end up?
Speaker 3 (04:59):
because those are two very specific programs yeah, so
over the years this hasdefinitely changed.
I started off wanting to go tolaw school.
Then got to college andrealized you need to read like
200 plus pages a day and mybrain's just not meant for that.
So, yeah, easy for law students,not easy for me.
So I came into the idea ofwanting to tell a story, and
(05:21):
that's always been somethingthat I've enjoyed in life.
So wanting to tell a story, beit for local government, and
help tell the story to thepublic, tell the story of what
we're doing, tell the story ofhow we get here and tell the
story of what the work goes intoit, and even be the person that
tells the story of thingsaround the community Telling the
story of, be it in working inpolitics and in government,
(05:43):
telling the story of officemakers and of people in office
or legislators, and telling thestory Even today.
It was really exciting.
I got to talk to a whole bunchof local businesses regarding
our 4th of July festivities withRed, white and New, and it was
super fun because I got to hearthem and they're like we love
City of Milton, we'd love towork with y'all, like being
included in this community isawesome, and they all had such a
(06:06):
positive response.
So getting to be part thatconnects the city to truly its
people is an amazing thing andthat's something I thought I am
not going to lie.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
I'm a little frightened right now.
I'm hoping I retire before agirlfriend gets really gone,
because I think she's comingafter my job.
I think she's coming after bothof our jobs at this point, the
energy coming off there is likeyou and I combined and we're
pretty high energy.
I'm not going to lie.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
I mean, that's what I'm thinking.
Combine us into one, that's allover, all over.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
I think I'm retiring sooner than I thought.
Maddie, that's actually reallygood information and, coming
from somebody who is rollinginto their junior year of
college, it's pretty impressivethat you have that much of a
grip on where you want to go andthe why, because I think that a
lot of times that's whathappens is people lose the why
(06:56):
and they're just going with whatthey know right yeah, so I
think people always thinkthey're you're meant to know
what you want to do at 18.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
You are're meant to know what you want to do at 18.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
You are not meant to know what you want to do in life
.
It's not true information.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
Like so many people, that was always pushed on me,
like you got to have a plan andit's got to be a 10 year plan
and you got to get to here bytwo years and here by five years
.
If you're not there, you'rebehind.
I threw all that out the windowmy freshman year of college and
said, listen, law school andeverything I thought my life was
going to be is not what'shappening.
It's fine.
Let's find something I'mactually passionate about,
(07:33):
actually excited about somethingthat makes me want to get up in
the morning, like I get up at6.45 am and I love it and I get
up for this job and I'm pippingout the door like ready to rock
the world, and I think that'ssomething so exciting and
something that I hope peopleyounger than me and people
coming into this internshipBecause for me, this is my first
time really in an office space,rather than like I've worked
jobs before, but it's been likeStarbucks- yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Oh, we're getting the little KZs next on the list
here.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
So it's definitely been like my first time
experiencing that, and I thinkgoing into a job that you're
truly excited about makes it allworth it, like it's so much
worth it.
Even no matter what, at the endof the day, doing something
you're proud of is the mostimportant thing to me For sure,
for sure.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
I think Emily's got to chime in here.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Yeah, I feel like that's.
One of the reasons that wecreated this internship is that
we get so many of thesepolitical science majors coming
in and it's such a broad way andthere's so many things you
could possibly do with that I'ma minor.
I'm a poli sci minor exactly andthere's so many different ways
and things, and one of thequestions I ask every interview
is which department are youlooking forward to working with
(08:37):
most?
And the answer is always all ofthem.
The answer is always I.
Just I just want to learn moreand be able to do and see what
all goes into local government.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
And this is where that old saying you don't know
what you don't know until youget there Absolutely.
And that's a pretty good setupfor the interns as they're
rolling in, they don't knowwhere their passions are quite
yet, unless, of course, you'reMaddie and girlfriend got a
freeway built already.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Oh for sure.
And then by the end of theinternship they all know, okay,
I could totally do these twodepartments.
I would never want to do thisone.
Correct and it's able to kindof hone in on what you want to
do.
And if local government isn'tyour jam, you spent 10 weeks to
learn how to do it and realizedit wasn't it.
So you spent 10 weeks and gotall of this really great
experience and knowledge andworking and meeting with people.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
We're going to get to some expectations here in just
a minute.
I want to.
I want Luke to chime in here.
How was that whole interviewprocess and what made you decide
to come back after last year?
Obviously something struck achord with you, thank goodness,
but kind of fill us in.
Speaker 4 (09:47):
Yeah.
So what happened was my senioryear.
I interviewed for a publicworks internship as a high
schooler and I didn't understandwhat public works was.
I sat down for the interview.
I still don't know.
I'm still a little iffy.
When I sat down for thisinterview and I was there, I had
my internship advisor from theschool with me and then a solid
(10:10):
75% of the public worksdepartment was there.
So you imagine I'm sitting atthis conference room and there
are eight people interviewing meall at once, and every single
one of them is smarter than thelast PhDs and you know
specialists in engineering.
They're literally loaded downthere, for sure, actually yeah,
and they're talking about allthese things, and throughout the
(10:30):
interview, I'm thinking I amnot cut out for this.
I don't know a thing aboutengineering.
I still don't.
Math is not my subject, and soI was kind of worried going in
and over the course of theinternship internship I realized
that the core of government isnot necessarily how you reach
the goal.
(10:50):
You know, it's not whether ornot you're an engineer or the
events planner or the accountant.
It's about what the end goal is, which is serving civilians,
serving citizens, making thecommunity stronger and better,
and throughout all, all of that,I Lord, I just got the chills.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
We are just like five minutes into this thing.
Keep going, sorry, go.
Speaker 4 (11:18):
Well, throughout all of this, I was realizing I may
not be an environmental expert,I may not be an engineer, but
the core of the argument is whatcan I do for my community?
And through that internship itwas working with economic
development, working oncompiling public comment, and as
soon as I left I just missed itso much.
I actually, last year, just outof high school, I was like you
know what I'm going to apply forthe summer internship?
(11:40):
Haven't even been to collegeyet, but I just want to come
back already.
I do think taking a year offwas a good break to learn more
about what it is.
I'm interested in at schoolstudying, going to all of my
courses, but I'm just incrediblyglad to be back.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Okay, so I got a question.
So if math isn't your thing,what is?
Speaker 4 (11:59):
So, unlike Maddie, I am very much the read 200 papers
thing.
I'm still dead set on lawschool and this past two
semesters at school I've beenassigned so much reading
research papers and historybooks and laws and treatises and
all of these things and I justlove all of it.
I love being able to readeverything, being able to look
(12:23):
at data that's not necessarilynumbers and just go through and
kind of understand what arethese?
Speaker 1 (12:29):
people thinking you have an analytical mind.
Speaker 4 (12:33):
Exactly 100%.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Oh good, I think we've got some projects for you,
oh we have plenty, we have.
Speaker 4 (12:38):
I think I'm feeling nervous now.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Oh, don't be nervous-ish.
Anyway, you know what I'm goingto say right off the top.
I am listeners.
I'm sorry I'm going to say thisagain.
I am new to Milton, been aroundsince July, but y'all really
have such a solid perspective,like it's such a breath of fresh
(13:00):
air when I came in and I stilldon't know what I want to do
when I grow up.
I'm still waiting to figurethat out.
We're not going to talk aboutmy age, but I'm a lot older than
y'all.
Like I think my kids are wayolder than y'all.
But the point of it is is thatthere's something about local
government that both of you havepinpointed and it's all about
(13:23):
giving back, and the focus andthe mission and the values all
are reflected in what you can dofor your city, because those
are the people you're serving.
So there's a lot of value tothat and I give you both a lot
of credit for picking that upright off the bat 100%.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
It's always been something for me, one of the
organizations I'm involved withat UGA.
A core tenement of it is thishumble service and this idea of
humble service.
And it's not just being serviceoriented in general, it's
meaning you are not there forany like.
It benefits you because you'regetting the joy of serving
others and that's something thatI find so much joy in.
But the idea of I'm not doingit for me, I'm not doing it for
(14:08):
something that's going tobenefit me, I want to benefit
others and thus that'll bringeveryone in the community.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
Do you know what's going to shock you, how much
benefit you're going to get outof it and and the amount of
satisfaction and the it?
You think you love it.
Now Wait, I'm just going totell you to wait because in the
short amount of time I have beenhere, I have had some serious
moments where I'm like I amtruly in the right place because
(14:38):
this makes my heart happy.
I may not bound out of bed at6am or 645 like you, I might
kind of trickle out of bed alittle slower, but I am equally
as excited to walk through thosedoors, probably with a lot less
energy.
And that's just age-related,that is not.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
For sure, and I feel like there's a special thing
about local government where ifyou're working for the state
government or the federalgovernment, you might not
directly see the impact thatyou're having or the things when
you guys put on the Red Whiteand you event.
It is every year, so that's oneof our traditions is that the
(15:30):
interns help plan and kind oftie a bow on our Red White and
you event, and every year theinterns say the same thing.
They say I had no idea how muchfun that would be and how it
would be to feel and know that Iplanned this and I've created
this experience for citizens tohave and to watch them and to
watch these families and thesekids.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
The kids.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
And it's the best, and so it's just local
government.
I think is this like veryspecial sector where you're able
to directly see the impact thatyou're having.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
I agree, I agree.
So, with that, I'm going to askyou both, and we'll start with
Luke Luke, what and you're kindof at an odd advantage in the
sense that you were here lastsummer but, coming in as a
collegiate summer intern whatdid you think you were going to
be doing?
Or what do you think?
(16:16):
I mean, you've had a couple ofmeetings so you've gotten a
little peek into some things.
But your initial honest answerwhat did you think you were
going to be doing?
Speaker 4 (16:26):
I think, I thought, and I still think, that I am
going to get some verymeaningful projects.
Obviously, I'm not going to berunning the city in one week
Rome wasn't built in a day but Ido think that you know, as
Emily said, this is not arunning coffee internship.
Thank goodness there's coffeemachines on both floors.
That way I don't have to berunning a whole lot.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
We can't have any shortage of coffee, never.
Speaker 4 (16:51):
Never, maddie knows, I've been coming into work with
a whole Yeti of coffee everymorning and then refilling it
when I go home for lunch.
It's great.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Y'all are killing my this or that questions.
I need to for lunch.
It's great.
Y'all are killing my this orthat questions.
I this is.
I need to stop asking.
We should probably just do thethis or that just because y'all
are already answering some ofthem.
I can come up with more if youneed me to.
We're going to let Luke finishhis his thought process and then
we're switching.
Speaker 4 (17:16):
Well, I do think there are a lot of meaningful
projects that can come out ofthis.
This is not copying papers.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
This is not, you know , stapling book there wasn't a
little piece of you that thoughtI'm gonna be like pulling
stacks of copies and staplingand stuffing folders, or is that
very 1990s?
I?
Speaker 4 (17:36):
think there was a little bit certainly there went
my age we can't tell you look,don't look a day over 20.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
I'm pretty sure you're my favorite.
Thank you, I'm.
I'm done.
Check all done.
Speaker 4 (17:50):
We're out but when I interned here in high school I
certainly thought no way they'regoing to trust a high schooler
with any amount ofresponsibility, but still I was
being given projects where Ifelt like I could contribute
something meaningful to the cityand indeed I was able to see it
show up on the website and thenewsletter.
I helped write, you know,write-ups for city
(18:13):
communications and social media.
I helped make website pages todiscuss the different committees
and projects the city was doing, and that was something visible
and tangible that I could lookat and say I made a difference.
And I didn't expect anythingless when I came here and
already I've been here threedays and my expectations are
blown away.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Yeah, we didn't hold back.
And again I better step up mygame because I feel like my job
is.
I'm going to be replaced by theyounger generation sooner than
I thought.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
Okay, you might, because, like Luke said, they
have been here for three daysnow.
I have downloaded four projectson them and I'm at the point
now where I told them today theywere.
We had a meeting, I think anhour later.
I started getting documents toreview about what we talked
about an hour later and I saidhold on a minute.
Am I allowed to say crap?
You could say crap.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
I'll just say crap.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Crap.
I'm going to have to come upwith so many more projects.
This new generation is builtdifferent.
I will say that they are builtdifferent.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
I'm here for it.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
Yeah, it's fun to watch.
So they are involved for yourjob.
I have no doubt.
I have no doubt I'm going tostart like protecting my
projects a little bit andgetting territorial.
You might need to.
I might need to ding it or goback to school.
Nope, did that like three yearsago, so can't do that again.
I love it.
Y'all have such a an openperspective and a and a go
(19:42):
getter attitude that I think anycity would be happy to have you
, but I'm grateful that you'rehere, maddie, what did you think
, since this is your first yearwith Milton?
Speaker 3 (19:50):
So coming in, I definitely I will say I had a
little bit like.
I was kind of like is it goingto be a coffee internship?
Is it going to be a coffee runinternship?
And to quote my mother on thephone yesterday, when I go, oh
well, I've been emailing peopleand calling people and like
doing stuff and running intobusinesses and talking to them
and talking about relationsbetween the city of Milton and
(20:10):
local residents and businessesand she's like so it's like a
real job.
To quote, that's exactly whatshe said to me.
I'm like what did you think itwas mom?
And she's like I don't know.
She's like you're doing a lotand I'm like yeah, oh yeah, and
you're what day three.
It's been awesome, yeah um, butI will say, coming in my
expectations, where I was very,very excited but one of my
(20:32):
expectations was kind of like Ididn't really know what the
setup would be like and if itwould be like transition.
This because you know, it's totake a while, but really I've
been getting to do the publicrelations side a lot more than I
thought I would and as a PRnerd, that is something that
makes me so happy.
Getting to talk to the publichas always been a thing for me.
(20:54):
I love public speaking.
I love talking to people.
It's I'm a talker.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
I've been looking forward to this all day.
It's a this or that, and I'm atalker.
I've been looking forward tothis all day.
It's a this or that, and we'renot going to take terms.
You guys can just blurt outyour thing.
Okay, council meeting orcommunity event.
Speaker 4 (21:11):
Community event Council meeting.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
Ah, there we go.
We got two Parks and Rec orpolice ride-along.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
Parks and Rec.
Parks and Rec.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
I'm a police ride-along every time.
Speaker 4 (21:23):
To be fair, I've not been on a police ride-along.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
Oh, I haven't either I'm still waiting, oh wait, I
have to just let Chief know I'mbusy.
I'm busy protecting my job,don't be mad at me, they're busy
protecting the city.
Well, same, same.
Find your time, I know right.
Okay, next spreadsheet or sitevisit.
(21:44):
Site visit Spreadsheet.
You guys are I already knewthese after you just talked
Public speaking or behind thescenes Public speaking.
Speaker 4 (21:52):
Public speaking.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
Oh, that surprises me .
You're a little quieter thanMaddie.
Speaker 4 (21:57):
Luke, do you want to tell your fun fact about what
you got into in college Fun factso University of Georgia has a
mock trial team and our mocktrial team just placed third in
the country this past year andI'm a member of said mock trial
team.
So it is a lot of publicspeaking and for someone who
doesn't know what mock trial is,basically we get together in a
(22:19):
courtroom and we pretend we'reacting out a trial yeah, which
sounds about as nerdy aspossible for someone trying to
go to law school.
So my role currently with mocktrial is as an expert witness.
So what I do is I get a 20 pagedocument including statistics
and biological facts and all ofthese fun science-y stuff in
(22:46):
addition to a fictionalaffidavit about the case, and I
have to memorize everything onthose 20 pages.
And then I go into court dressedup, all nice, pretending I have
a new name, a new identity,everything I'm asked about those
questions, and I have to haveeverything ready.
And it is an excellentdemonstration of what happens in
a courtroom, but it iscertainly a lot of public
speaking that is amazing.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
I love all of that.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
Wait, can I ask, do y'all do line by lines?
Speaker 4 (23:12):
We do not do line by lines, so rather than what's a
line by line?
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Thank you, you're welcome.
Gotta take care of us, the oldpeople.
Speaker 3 (23:21):
A strategy.
I did mock trial a little bitin high school and for a
different club in high school,but line by lines are a strategy
of going through an affidavit,each line by line and rewriting
it in your own words so you knowexactly what that line kind of
says.
And that was my favorite thingto do because I would make it so
like it would literally be likethree words.
So I knew like I wouldliterally be like three words.
(23:48):
So I knew like I'd be like likeif I had to testify about.
Did you make it fluffy?
No, I was like tire markChevrolet 1986.
Like, like I would summarize itdown to that.
And it was so much fun.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
That's amazing.
I would have never have guessed.
Speaker 4 (23:57):
Yeah, I.
Maybe it's because I haven'thad a full two cups of coffee
today, but normally I do reallylove public speaking and
honestly, that's why I got intopolitics.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
You're going to be the one that people are going to
have to look out for in thetrial room because they're going
to go.
Oh, this guy's quiet, he's socalm and you're going to come
out like a shark.
Speaker 4 (24:20):
All part of the grand strategy.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
Ah, I like it.
Well then, this is everybody'sinvitation.
Who's listening?
Right now, august 4th, they doa final presentation to council
as to what they've done over thesemester.
So if you want to come here,these two phenomenal public
speakers speak.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
August 4th, 6 pm.
See you there.
I'm here for it.
Now I'm going to continue downmy this or that's because I'm
I'm committed and this one I.
I know half of you coffee orenergy drink coffee, coffee
energy drink right here, alwaystiktok or instagram instagram
tiktok monday morning, fridayafternoon, monday morning,
(24:59):
friday afternoon formal meetingor casual brainstorm.
Speaker 4 (25:05):
Brainstorm, I'd say a formal meeting.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
Boy, we you pulled some.
They're similar, but so not allat the same time.
That's amazing, answeringphones or taking notes taking
notes.
Speaker 4 (25:17):
Answering phones.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
Yup, and big picture thinking or detail diving I
would say big picture I.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
I like the details, I get into it.
I can get down to like thenitty-gritty of like okay, this
plant is gonna go here for thisevent.
Then I'll get into that like mydorm room for any parents
listening that are sending yourkid to college.
My mother figured out how toadvice from maddie, here we go
maddie, but my mother figuredout how to make a grid of my
(25:48):
dorm room on graph paper to thepoint where each block
represented one square foot ofmy dorm room, and she planned
out everything down to detail.
So I come by it, honestly, it'snatural I am.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Honestly, I don't even think my my parents knew
which college I went to when Ileft the house.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
It's still debatable on whether they knew what state
I was in at that point I thinkmy parents drove me to college,
put all of my stuff in the dorm,didn't unload it and then left.
All right, bye, good night.
You got this.
Make friends yeah see you inthree months.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
Clean your room Bye Same same Well.
I ghosted my parents because wedidn't have cell phones.
Not going to lie, we did nothave cell phones.
And now that I have threechildren, all of which have gone
through college my youngestjust graduated from UGA in
December and you know, know, Ihave the luxury of FaceTime and
(26:43):
phones and whatnot.
I don't even know if I calledmy parents when I got to college
, like they were probablysitting at home going.
Do I have that other child?
Is she still?
Speaker 2 (26:55):
were you not like pen pals?
Is that what y'all did backthen?
Speaker 1 (26:58):
no, no pigeon, we used pigeon, Even better Pigeon.
It was very, very efficient.
I was going to go with carrierhorse, but same thing, oh, the
Pony Express, the Pony Express.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
Yes absolutely.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
We're going to change the subject because Emily is.
I say it with love, full oflove, full of love.
All right, so we got throughthis or that.
What are you hoping to walkaway with at the end of this
internship?
Speaker 3 (27:28):
that's a big question , because I feel like I've
gained so much in three days.
I have no idea what I'm gonnagain at the end of 10 weeks,
like that's crazy what's your?
hope, but I would hope to haveeven a clearer understanding of
what I want to do in life and bethat knowing I want to do
public.
You like going into that stufflike the nitty-gritty of what's
(27:48):
a beast?
Excel is a beast.
I'm a google person, so it'sbeen a transition.
(28:10):
It come by it honestly.
My dad was a big google personand therefore I learned
everything google beforemicrosoft.
No, idea why the google use thegoogle but it was, I will say,
like learning stuff, like thathas been super fun and super
helpful and things I'll be ableto lean on for a long time.
It's skills like that that I'mexcited to come away with yeah,
(28:31):
is there a department that youare fixated on?
I'm I promise I'm not suckingup.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
I love event planning and stuff like that, you like
that community outreachCommunity outreach.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
I tell everybody I think I have the most fun job in
the city and I know Ranger Jenthinks she has the most fun job.
And you might think you havethe most fun job.
Mine actually is that I'm paidto have fun.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
You're paid to be fun .
Speaker 2 (28:57):
I'm paid to be fun and to throw the fun.
Speaker 3 (29:01):
You called yourself the other day.
You said I need a nameplatethat says party planner.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
Professional party planner.
Professional party plannershenanigan leader I.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
I think we can do way better than that.
Speaker 4 (29:12):
Let me get back to you on that I really would love
that, thank you, I'm, I'm gonnacome up a new name plate how
about you I think that for me, Iknow government is where I want
to end up and, having spent allof high school, my time at city
of milton with one department,with the occasional trip outside
, yeah, it was very, very good,but I don't think I got a full
(29:35):
picture of what city governmentlooked like and could be, and so
you know, part of the name ofthe summer internship is
comprehensive, and one thing Iwould love to do is really
understand how the city ofMilton works as like an organism
.
There is no single thing thathappens independent of one
another.
Like you know, we're justsitting around a table.
(29:57):
You've got two to threedepartments if you want to call
the interns, a separatedepartment represented here.
Right, and then every othermeeting I go to, you've got
multiple different departments.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
Yeah, and Milton's really good about that because,
like, even as we look atdifferent projects or events
that come up, it is very much agroup effort.
We pull from all thedepartments because everybody
has a different perspective,everybody has different needs.
If you're looking at thewebsite, com dev needs something
different from the website thanpublic works and pd does, and
(30:29):
it's something that you have totake in to consideration when
you're building larger thingsthat involve everybody is how is
this going to serve thesedepartments independently but
also cohesively?
Speaker 4 (30:41):
A hundred percent, a hundred percent, and I think
that you know on the on thereceiving side, Maddie and.
I are both Milton residents.
I've lived in Milton for, Iguess at this point, 13, almost
14 years, so you know I wasaround when City Hall didn't
even exist as a building.
2006 Heritage Walk was notthere, and so I've watched these
(31:02):
buildings come up, I've watchedthe roads develop, I've watched
zoning change all of thesethings.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
And you paid attention to that as a kid.
Speaker 4 (31:11):
My parents were very big about raising us civically
minded.
So one thing that I learned asa kid was— I think I failed at
parenting Luke.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
Now I'm second-guessing all the
decisions I've made in my entirelife.
Speaker 4 (31:25):
Well, when we were raised and there was an election
and I'm talking any electionthey would place the sample
ballot on the fridge and tell usto research whoever was there,
not just who is running forpresident or senator, but who is
running for city council mayor,all of the random public
service commissioners, all ofthe different ombudsmen or
(31:46):
whatever.
All of these very nichepositions you may not think
impact you.
We were told research thecandidates.
Don't just vote for a name,don't just vote for a party,
don't just vote the first name.
You see, understand who you'revoting for and what you're
voting for.
And I think that's trickleddown to how I approach
government, which is everythingyou know.
(32:07):
I did say I like big picture,but the big picture can only
happen if the details are right,and so understanding how all of
these different things worktogether, the people who are
making it happen that's reallywhat I hope to get out of this
is learn more about what makesCity of Milton tick.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
There's not very often where I have zero words.
I mean, there was a couple oftimes in the last episode that I
did, but I don't know that Ihave words right now.
I'm literally second-guessingmy entire parenting skill set.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
You could say that was a pretty comprehensive
answer, couldn't you?
Speaker 1 (32:42):
It was.
And there we go with that bigold word Comprehensive.
I love it, I'm super impressed,I'm literally super impressed
with you two, and I think thatnot only will you guys get a lot
out of this internship, but Ithink Milton will gain a lot of
perspective from it too, becausethis is a learning on both
(33:03):
sides.
We learn from the youngerpeople that are coming in, and
you guys sometimes see thingsdifferently than what we're used
to.
And's the point, right, it's.
It's a different perspective.
I love it.
I'm all.
I'm all about it.
Emily, is there anything youwant to add about this program
(33:23):
or about this group ofspectacular interns?
Speaker 2 (33:27):
well.
The program itself isincredibly cool and I come from
a teaching background, so,moving into this new position,
I've definitely missed thataspect of watching people and
kids You're not kids, you'reyoung adults grow and mature and
find out what they want to do,and it's been a part of my life
that I've missed.
And so the internship everyyear always gets me excited
(33:49):
because I love bringing in newpeople.
I love my department, I lovethis city, but it's like the
Mean Girls quote where he's likefresh meat coming through.
It's one of my favorite quotes.
I get so excited becausethere's freshness, there's
newness.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
There's new ideas.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
And the things that your generation is able and
capable of doing is astounding.
You have such a uniqueperspective and outlook on
everything Like I would havenever thought to put a ballot on
my refrigerator and make myfuture children research
candidates Like that's brilliant.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
Do you want me to tell you what that looked like
in the week's household?
I'm afraid to ask, but we watchpolitics my children not that
they don't have their ownperspectives and their own, and
they all vote and whatnot.
They just don't want to talkabout it because my house was
inundated with it, so they'relike I didn't want to talk about
(34:44):
it Understandable.
Well, you know, it's not gentleparenting at the week's
household, it is massinformation.
Speaker 2 (34:54):
Right.
Speaker 1 (34:55):
Figure it out for yourself, Right?
It's not my job to tell youwhat to think.
It's my job to tell you youneed to figure it out and you
need to research all the anglesand make sure you know what
you're talking about.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
And that's exactly what this internship is.
Speaker 1 (35:06):
Look at that.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
So my parenting skills don't suck, not at all,
not even a little bit.
Speaker 1 (35:12):
I do have pretty great kids but that's the.
Speaker 2 (35:14):
That's the thing.
We'll give them a project and Idon't want to tell you how to
do the project.
I'll tell you.
If you need the first step, I'mhappy to do so, but I'm excited
to see what they do.
I think this is an incredibly,incredibly bright group of
interns that we've had.
So, I'm sure any of my pastinterns who are listening to
(35:34):
this.
Thank you for paving the wayfor this incredible internship
and I'm really excited to seewhat happens this summer.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
Well, maddie and Luke , we shall find out, because
we're going to circle backtowards the end of your time
here and do a whole recap andsee how this aligns with your
overall experience, and I doappreciate y'all being here
today.
Thank you so much.
Thanks, christy.
Speaker 4 (35:58):
You're very welcome.
Speaker 1 (35:59):
All right, more to come, everybody More to come.
But that's a wrap on our firstconversation with the summer
interns.
Over the next couple of monthsthey'll be scattered across the
departments, working oneverything from policy to
communications to communityengagement which we already know
Maddie loves and probablypicking up more real-world
experience than they bargainedfor.
But we'll catch up with themagain at the end of the summer,
(36:22):
but in the meantime, if you seethem around City Hall or at an
event, say hello.
They're sharp, curious andclearly not afraid of a
challenge.
And hey, who knows, maybeyou're listening and thinking
you could be the next intern.
So until next time.
Thanks for tuning in to Miltonand Maine, take care.
Thanks for listening to Miltonand Maine.
We hope this episode gave youfresh insights into what makes
(36:45):
our city so special.
Stay connected and don't missan episode by subscribing to
this podcast on your favoriteplatform and following us on
social media for all updates.
And, of course, if you want tolearn more about the city, visit
us online at wwwmiltongagov forresources, news and upcoming
events.
Until next time, thanks forbeing part of the conversation
(37:08):
and we'll see you on the nextMilton and Maine.
Welcome to Milton and Maine, the official podcast for
the city of Milton.
We want to bring you closer tothe heart of our community
through stories that inform,inspire and connect.
Each episode offers abehind-the-scenes look at the
people, projects and prioritiesshaping Milton, covering
everything from local governmentand future development to arts,
culture, sustainability andpublic safety.
(00:28):
Whether you're a resident, alocal business owner or just
curious about our city, this isyour front row seat to what
makes Milton special.
Welcome back everyone.
My name is Christy Weeks, I'mthe communications manager for
the city of Milton, and today'sepisode kicks off something
we've never done before.
It's the Intern Series.
We've welcomed a couple ofcollegiate summer interns to the
(00:50):
city of Milton and before theydive into the day-to-day of
local government life, we'd liketo sit down and get to know
them.
So today you're going to hearwhat brought them to the city,
what they think they're gettinginto and maybe even what they're
secretly hoping they don't haveto do.
Spoiler, we're not above givingthem spreadsheets, but there's
(01:10):
also a lot more to thisexperience than paperwork, so
think of this as a time capsule.
We'll be checking back in withthem at the end of their
internship to see what lived upto the hype, what surprised them
and whether local governmentmight actually be their thing.
But for now, let's meet theteam, and we're going to start
(01:33):
off with the one who'sorganizing all the shenanigans,
and that is the key shenaniganleader, emily Salerno.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Hello, hello, that's me your shenanigan queen, if you
will.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
You are the director, the shenanigan director, that's
me.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Who else do we have with?
Speaker 1 (01:47):
us.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Hi, my name's Maddie.
I am going into my junior yearhere at the University of
Georgia.
I am studying political scienceand public relations, and I am
joining the city of Milton thissummer as a comprehensive summer
intern.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Wow, welcome and.
Speaker 4 (02:03):
Hi y'all.
My name is Luke and I'm arising sophomore at the
University of Georgia.
Like Maddie, I'm also studyingpolitical science, but I'm also
studying international relations.
I actually interned with thecity before as a public works
intern in high school.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Oh, that was last year, right.
Speaker 4 (02:17):
Yes, I interned last January through last May, so
about five months.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Wow, well, welcome back.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
Thank you, glad to be back.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Something good had to happen.
It brought him back right.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
It's a fun place.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Absolutely All right.
So what we're going to startwith is I want to know how you
ended up with this particularidea that this was the space you
wanted to spend your time andgo a little bit more into your
majors.
I know you both gave us a roughoverlook, but let's start with
(02:50):
Emily.
I know you're not in collegeanymore.
It's been a long time, it'sbeen a hot minute, but tell us
about this intern project.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
This internship we've had for a few years now.
I always say it's much morethan a coffee internship.
We have so many departmentswithin the city that do so many
different things and untilyou're able to really work with
them all and do a deep dive, youhave kind of a very broad
understanding.
So our goal is to have ourinterns be able to touch every
department within the city,whether that's just doing a ride
(03:24):
along day with police or amajor project with our city
manager's office.
They work here for about 10weeks, roughly 200 hours, and
they've really done a lot ofmeaningful projects that we've
been able to implement evenafter they've left.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Very cool, very cool.
And how many years have youkind of taken the lead on this?
Speaker 2 (03:45):
So this is my third set of interns, so I've been
around the block a few times.
Um and the pro.
The program just continues togrow every single year.
The talent that we have tochoose from is the hardest
decision I think I make all year.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
So that makes me wonder how many applications did
you get this year?
Speaker 2 (04:02):
So we received 25 applications, yikes, we narrowed
it down to a few interviews andwe picked our top two.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Wow, doesn't that make you all feel special?
Absolutely.
It should it should?
I mean, that's a whole lot morethan I thought.
I mean, I'm not going to lie.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
So the interview process for me was very
interesting.
I've grown up in Milton myentire life and it was always
something I heard about.
I heard about it from myfriends that were grades older
than me and ahead of me I hadpeople that were always very
interested in it, so it wassomething that I wanted to do,
and then I knew this summer Iwas going to be home.
I wanted to be home for mylittle brother's graduation and
(04:41):
I have always loved publicgovernment and working with the
public graduation, and I havealways loved public government
and working with the public andbetween public relations and
political science.
It's a great combo of the twowell, yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
So that leads me to the question is what in your
mind, what's your ultimate pick,where?
Where do you see yourselfwanting to end up?
Speaker 3 (04:59):
because those are two very specific programs yeah, so
over the years this hasdefinitely changed.
I started off wanting to go tolaw school.
Then got to college andrealized you need to read like
200 plus pages a day and mybrain's just not meant for that.
So, yeah, easy for law students,not easy for me.
So I came into the idea ofwanting to tell a story, and
(05:21):
that's always been somethingthat I've enjoyed in life.
So wanting to tell a story, beit for local government, and
help tell the story to thepublic, tell the story of what
we're doing, tell the story ofhow we get here and tell the
story of what the work goes intoit, and even be the person that
tells the story of thingsaround the community Telling the
story of, be it in working inpolitics and in government,
(05:43):
telling the story of officemakers and of people in office
or legislators, and telling thestory Even today.
It was really exciting.
I got to talk to a whole bunchof local businesses regarding
our 4th of July festivities withRed, white and New, and it was
super fun because I got to hearthem and they're like we love
City of Milton, we'd love towork with y'all, like being
included in this community isawesome, and they all had such a
(06:06):
positive response.
So getting to be part thatconnects the city to truly its
people is an amazing thing andthat's something I thought I am
not going to lie.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
I'm a little frightened right now.
I'm hoping I retire before agirlfriend gets really gone,
because I think she's comingafter my job.
I think she's coming after bothof our jobs at this point, the
energy coming off there is likeyou and I combined and we're
pretty high energy.
I'm not going to lie.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
I mean, that's what I'm thinking.
Combine us into one, that's allover, all over.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
I think I'm retiring sooner than I thought.
Maddie, that's actually reallygood information and, coming
from somebody who is rollinginto their junior year of
college, it's pretty impressivethat you have that much of a
grip on where you want to go andthe why, because I think that a
lot of times that's whathappens is people lose the why
(06:56):
and they're just going with whatthey know right yeah, so I
think people always thinkthey're you're meant to know
what you want to do at 18.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
You are're meant to know what you want to do at 18.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
You are not meant to know what you want to do in life
.
It's not true information.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
Like so many people, that was always pushed on me,
like you got to have a plan andit's got to be a 10 year plan
and you got to get to here bytwo years and here by five years
.
If you're not there, you'rebehind.
I threw all that out the windowmy freshman year of college and
said, listen, law school andeverything I thought my life was
going to be is not what'shappening.
It's fine.
Let's find something I'mactually passionate about,
(07:33):
actually excited about somethingthat makes me want to get up in
the morning, like I get up at6.45 am and I love it and I get
up for this job and I'm pippingout the door like ready to rock
the world, and I think that'ssomething so exciting and
something that I hope peopleyounger than me and people
coming into this internshipBecause for me, this is my first
time really in an office space,rather than like I've worked
jobs before, but it's been likeStarbucks- yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Oh, we're getting the little KZs next on the list
here.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
So it's definitely been like my first time
experiencing that, and I thinkgoing into a job that you're
truly excited about makes it allworth it, like it's so much
worth it.
Even no matter what, at the endof the day, doing something
you're proud of is the mostimportant thing to me For sure,
for sure.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
I think Emily's got to chime in here.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Yeah, I feel like that's.
One of the reasons that wecreated this internship is that
we get so many of thesepolitical science majors coming
in and it's such a broad way andthere's so many things you
could possibly do with that I'ma minor.
I'm a poli sci minor exactly andthere's so many different ways
and things, and one of thequestions I ask every interview
is which department are youlooking forward to working with
(08:37):
most?
And the answer is always all ofthem.
The answer is always I.
Just I just want to learn moreand be able to do and see what
all goes into local government.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
And this is where that old saying you don't know
what you don't know until youget there Absolutely.
And that's a pretty good setupfor the interns as they're
rolling in, they don't knowwhere their passions are quite
yet, unless, of course, you'reMaddie and girlfriend got a
freeway built already.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Oh for sure.
And then by the end of theinternship they all know, okay,
I could totally do these twodepartments.
I would never want to do thisone.
Correct and it's able to kindof hone in on what you want to
do.
And if local government isn'tyour jam, you spent 10 weeks to
learn how to do it and realizedit wasn't it.
So you spent 10 weeks and gotall of this really great
experience and knowledge andworking and meeting with people.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
We're going to get to some expectations here in just
a minute.
I want to.
I want Luke to chime in here.
How was that whole interviewprocess and what made you decide
to come back after last year?
Obviously something struck achord with you, thank goodness,
but kind of fill us in.
Speaker 4 (09:47):
Yeah.
So what happened was my senioryear.
I interviewed for a publicworks internship as a high
schooler and I didn't understandwhat public works was.
I sat down for the interview.
I still don't know.
I'm still a little iffy.
When I sat down for thisinterview and I was there, I had
my internship advisor from theschool with me and then a solid
(10:10):
75% of the public worksdepartment was there.
So you imagine I'm sitting atthis conference room and there
are eight people interviewing meall at once, and every single
one of them is smarter than thelast PhDs and you know
specialists in engineering.
They're literally loaded downthere, for sure, actually yeah,
and they're talking about allthese things, and throughout the
(10:30):
interview, I'm thinking I amnot cut out for this.
I don't know a thing aboutengineering.
I still don't.
Math is not my subject, and soI was kind of worried going in
and over the course of theinternship internship I realized
that the core of government isnot necessarily how you reach
the goal.
(10:50):
You know, it's not whether ornot you're an engineer or the
events planner or the accountant.
It's about what the end goal is, which is serving civilians,
serving citizens, making thecommunity stronger and better,
and throughout all, all of that,I Lord, I just got the chills.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
We are just like five minutes into this thing.
Keep going, sorry, go.
Speaker 4 (11:18):
Well, throughout all of this, I was realizing I may
not be an environmental expert,I may not be an engineer, but
the core of the argument is whatcan I do for my community?
And through that internship itwas working with economic
development, working oncompiling public comment, and as
soon as I left I just missed itso much.
I actually, last year, just outof high school, I was like you
know what I'm going to apply forthe summer internship?
(11:40):
Haven't even been to collegeyet, but I just want to come
back already.
I do think taking a year offwas a good break to learn more
about what it is.
I'm interested in at schoolstudying, going to all of my
courses, but I'm just incrediblyglad to be back.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Okay, so I got a question.
So if math isn't your thing,what is?
Speaker 4 (11:59):
So, unlike Maddie, I am very much the read 200 papers
thing.
I'm still dead set on lawschool and this past two
semesters at school I've beenassigned so much reading
research papers and historybooks and laws and treatises and
all of these things and I justlove all of it.
I love being able to readeverything, being able to look
(12:23):
at data that's not necessarilynumbers and just go through and
kind of understand what arethese?
Speaker 1 (12:29):
people thinking you have an analytical mind.
Speaker 4 (12:33):
Exactly 100%.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Oh good, I think we've got some projects for you,
oh we have plenty, we have.
Speaker 4 (12:38):
I think I'm feeling nervous now.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Oh, don't be nervous-ish.
Anyway, you know what I'm goingto say right off the top.
I am listeners.
I'm sorry I'm going to say thisagain.
I am new to Milton, been aroundsince July, but y'all really
have such a solid perspective,like it's such a breath of fresh
(13:00):
air when I came in and I stilldon't know what I want to do
when I grow up.
I'm still waiting to figurethat out.
We're not going to talk aboutmy age, but I'm a lot older than
y'all.
Like I think my kids are wayolder than y'all.
But the point of it is is thatthere's something about local
government that both of you havepinpointed and it's all about
(13:23):
giving back, and the focus andthe mission and the values all
are reflected in what you can dofor your city, because those
are the people you're serving.
So there's a lot of value tothat and I give you both a lot
of credit for picking that upright off the bat 100%.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
It's always been something for me, one of the
organizations I'm involved withat UGA.
A core tenement of it is thishumble service and this idea of
humble service.
And it's not just being serviceoriented in general, it's
meaning you are not there forany like.
It benefits you because you'regetting the joy of serving
others and that's something thatI find so much joy in.
But the idea of I'm not doingit for me, I'm not doing it for
(14:08):
something that's going tobenefit me, I want to benefit
others and thus that'll bringeveryone in the community.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
Do you know what's going to shock you, how much
benefit you're going to get outof it and and the amount of
satisfaction and the it?
You think you love it.
Now Wait, I'm just going totell you to wait because in the
short amount of time I have beenhere, I have had some serious
moments where I'm like I amtruly in the right place because
(14:38):
this makes my heart happy.
I may not bound out of bed at6am or 645 like you, I might
kind of trickle out of bed alittle slower, but I am equally
as excited to walk through thosedoors, probably with a lot less
energy.
And that's just age-related,that is not.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
For sure, and I feel like there's a special thing
about local government where ifyou're working for the state
government or the federalgovernment, you might not
directly see the impact thatyou're having or the things when
you guys put on the Red Whiteand you event.
It is every year, so that's oneof our traditions is that the
(15:30):
interns help plan and kind oftie a bow on our Red White and
you event, and every year theinterns say the same thing.
They say I had no idea how muchfun that would be and how it
would be to feel and know that Iplanned this and I've created
this experience for citizens tohave and to watch them and to
watch these families and thesekids.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
The kids.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
And it's the best, and so it's just local
government.
I think is this like veryspecial sector where you're able
to directly see the impact thatyou're having.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
I agree, I agree.
So, with that, I'm going to askyou both, and we'll start with
Luke Luke, what and you're kindof at an odd advantage in the
sense that you were here lastsummer but, coming in as a
collegiate summer intern whatdid you think you were going to
be doing?
Or what do you think?
(16:16):
I mean, you've had a couple ofmeetings so you've gotten a
little peek into some things.
But your initial honest answerwhat did you think you were
going to be doing?
Speaker 4 (16:26):
I think, I thought, and I still think, that I am
going to get some verymeaningful projects.
Obviously, I'm not going to berunning the city in one week
Rome wasn't built in a day but Ido think that you know, as
Emily said, this is not arunning coffee internship.
Thank goodness there's coffeemachines on both floors.
That way I don't have to berunning a whole lot.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
We can't have any shortage of coffee, never.
Speaker 4 (16:51):
Never, maddie knows, I've been coming into work with
a whole Yeti of coffee everymorning and then refilling it
when I go home for lunch.
It's great.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Y'all are killing my this or that questions.
I need to for lunch.
It's great.
Y'all are killing my this orthat questions.
I this is.
I need to stop asking.
We should probably just do thethis or that just because y'all
are already answering some ofthem.
I can come up with more if youneed me to.
We're going to let Luke finishhis his thought process and then
we're switching.
Speaker 4 (17:16):
Well, I do think there are a lot of meaningful
projects that can come out ofthis.
This is not copying papers.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
This is not, you know , stapling book there wasn't a
little piece of you that thoughtI'm gonna be like pulling
stacks of copies and staplingand stuffing folders, or is that
very 1990s?
I?
Speaker 4 (17:36):
think there was a little bit certainly there went
my age we can't tell you look,don't look a day over 20.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
I'm pretty sure you're my favorite.
Thank you, I'm.
I'm done.
Check all done.
Speaker 4 (17:50):
We're out but when I interned here in high school I
certainly thought no way they'regoing to trust a high schooler
with any amount ofresponsibility, but still I was
being given projects where Ifelt like I could contribute
something meaningful to the cityand indeed I was able to see it
show up on the website and thenewsletter.
I helped write, you know,write-ups for city
(18:13):
communications and social media.
I helped make website pages todiscuss the different committees
and projects the city was doing, and that was something visible
and tangible that I could lookat and say I made a difference.
And I didn't expect anythingless when I came here and
already I've been here threedays and my expectations are
blown away.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Yeah, we didn't hold back.
And again I better step up mygame because I feel like my job
is.
I'm going to be replaced by theyounger generation sooner than
I thought.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
Okay, you might, because, like Luke said, they
have been here for three daysnow.
I have downloaded four projectson them and I'm at the point
now where I told them today theywere.
We had a meeting, I think anhour later.
I started getting documents toreview about what we talked
about an hour later and I saidhold on a minute.
Am I allowed to say crap?
You could say crap.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
I'll just say crap.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Crap.
I'm going to have to come upwith so many more projects.
This new generation is builtdifferent.
I will say that they are builtdifferent.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
I'm here for it.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
Yeah, it's fun to watch.
So they are involved for yourjob.
I have no doubt.
I have no doubt I'm going tostart like protecting my
projects a little bit andgetting territorial.
You might need to.
I might need to ding it or goback to school.
Nope, did that like three yearsago, so can't do that again.
I love it.
Y'all have such a an openperspective and a and a go
(19:42):
getter attitude that I think anycity would be happy to have you
, but I'm grateful that you'rehere, maddie, what did you think
, since this is your first yearwith Milton?
Speaker 3 (19:50):
So coming in, I definitely I will say I had a
little bit like.
I was kind of like is it goingto be a coffee internship?
Is it going to be a coffee runinternship?
And to quote my mother on thephone yesterday, when I go, oh
well, I've been emailing peopleand calling people and like
doing stuff and running intobusinesses and talking to them
and talking about relationsbetween the city of Milton and
(20:10):
local residents and businessesand she's like so it's like a
real job.
To quote, that's exactly whatshe said to me.
I'm like what did you think itwas mom?
And she's like I don't know.
She's like you're doing a lotand I'm like yeah, oh yeah, and
you're what day three.
It's been awesome, yeah um, butI will say, coming in my
expectations, where I was very,very excited but one of my
(20:32):
expectations was kind of like Ididn't really know what the
setup would be like and if itwould be like transition.
This because you know, it's totake a while, but really I've
been getting to do the publicrelations side a lot more than I
thought I would and as a PRnerd, that is something that
makes me so happy.
Getting to talk to the publichas always been a thing for me.
(20:54):
I love public speaking.
I love talking to people.
It's I'm a talker.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
I've been looking forward to this all day.
It's a this or that, and I'm atalker.
I've been looking forward tothis all day.
It's a this or that, and we'renot going to take terms.
You guys can just blurt outyour thing.
Okay, council meeting orcommunity event.
Speaker 4 (21:11):
Community event Council meeting.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
Ah, there we go.
We got two Parks and Rec orpolice ride-along.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
Parks and Rec.
Parks and Rec.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
I'm a police ride-along every time.
Speaker 4 (21:23):
To be fair, I've not been on a police ride-along.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
Oh, I haven't either I'm still waiting, oh wait, I
have to just let Chief know I'mbusy.
I'm busy protecting my job,don't be mad at me, they're busy
protecting the city.
Well, same, same.
Find your time, I know right.
Okay, next spreadsheet or sitevisit.
(21:44):
Site visit Spreadsheet.
You guys are I already knewthese after you just talked
Public speaking or behind thescenes Public speaking.
Speaker 4 (21:52):
Public speaking.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
Oh, that surprises me .
You're a little quieter thanMaddie.
Speaker 4 (21:57):
Luke, do you want to tell your fun fact about what
you got into in college Fun factso University of Georgia has a
mock trial team and our mocktrial team just placed third in
the country this past year andI'm a member of said mock trial
team.
So it is a lot of publicspeaking and for someone who
doesn't know what mock trial is,basically we get together in a
(22:19):
courtroom and we pretend we'reacting out a trial yeah, which
sounds about as nerdy aspossible for someone trying to
go to law school.
So my role currently with mocktrial is as an expert witness.
So what I do is I get a 20 pagedocument including statistics
and biological facts and all ofthese fun science-y stuff in
(22:46):
addition to a fictionalaffidavit about the case, and I
have to memorize everything onthose 20 pages.
And then I go into court dressedup, all nice, pretending I have
a new name, a new identity,everything I'm asked about those
questions, and I have to haveeverything ready.
And it is an excellentdemonstration of what happens in
a courtroom, but it iscertainly a lot of public
speaking that is amazing.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
I love all of that.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
Wait, can I ask, do y'all do line by lines?
Speaker 4 (23:12):
We do not do line by lines, so rather than what's a
line by line?
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Thank you, you're welcome.
Gotta take care of us, the oldpeople.
Speaker 3 (23:21):
A strategy.
I did mock trial a little bitin high school and for a
different club in high school,but line by lines are a strategy
of going through an affidavit,each line by line and rewriting
it in your own words so you knowexactly what that line kind of
says.
And that was my favorite thingto do because I would make it so
like it would literally be likethree words.
So I knew like I wouldliterally be like three words.
(23:48):
So I knew like I'd be like likeif I had to testify about.
Did you make it fluffy?
No, I was like tire markChevrolet 1986.
Like, like I would summarize itdown to that.
And it was so much fun.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
That's amazing.
I would have never have guessed.
Speaker 4 (23:57):
Yeah, I.
Maybe it's because I haven'thad a full two cups of coffee
today, but normally I do reallylove public speaking and
honestly, that's why I got intopolitics.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
You're going to be the one that people are going to
have to look out for in thetrial room because they're going
to go.
Oh, this guy's quiet, he's socalm and you're going to come
out like a shark.
Speaker 4 (24:20):
All part of the grand strategy.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
Ah, I like it.
Well then, this is everybody'sinvitation.
Who's listening?
Right now, august 4th, they doa final presentation to council
as to what they've done over thesemester.
So if you want to come here,these two phenomenal public
speakers speak.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
August 4th, 6 pm.
See you there.
I'm here for it.
Now I'm going to continue downmy this or that's because I'm
I'm committed and this one I.
I know half of you coffee orenergy drink coffee, coffee
energy drink right here, alwaystiktok or instagram instagram
tiktok monday morning, fridayafternoon, monday morning,
(24:59):
friday afternoon formal meetingor casual brainstorm.
Speaker 4 (25:05):
Brainstorm, I'd say a formal meeting.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
Boy, we you pulled some.
They're similar, but so not allat the same time.
That's amazing, answeringphones or taking notes taking
notes.
Speaker 4 (25:17):
Answering phones.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
Yup, and big picture thinking or detail diving I
would say big picture I.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
I like the details, I get into it.
I can get down to like thenitty-gritty of like okay, this
plant is gonna go here for thisevent.
Then I'll get into that like mydorm room for any parents
listening that are sending yourkid to college.
My mother figured out how toadvice from maddie, here we go
maddie, but my mother figuredout how to make a grid of my
(25:48):
dorm room on graph paper to thepoint where each block
represented one square foot ofmy dorm room, and she planned
out everything down to detail.
So I come by it, honestly, it'snatural I am.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Honestly, I don't even think my my parents knew
which college I went to when Ileft the house.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
It's still debatable on whether they knew what state
I was in at that point I thinkmy parents drove me to college,
put all of my stuff in the dorm,didn't unload it and then left.
All right, bye, good night.
You got this.
Make friends yeah see you inthree months.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
Clean your room Bye Same same Well.
I ghosted my parents because wedidn't have cell phones.
Not going to lie, we did nothave cell phones.
And now that I have threechildren, all of which have gone
through college my youngestjust graduated from UGA in
December and you know, know, Ihave the luxury of FaceTime and
(26:43):
phones and whatnot.
I don't even know if I calledmy parents when I got to college
, like they were probablysitting at home going.
Do I have that other child?
Is she still?
Speaker 2 (26:55):
were you not like pen pals?
Is that what y'all did backthen?
Speaker 1 (26:58):
no, no pigeon, we used pigeon, Even better Pigeon.
It was very, very efficient.
I was going to go with carrierhorse, but same thing, oh, the
Pony Express, the Pony Express.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
Yes absolutely.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
We're going to change the subject because Emily is.
I say it with love, full oflove, full of love.
All right, so we got throughthis or that.
What are you hoping to walkaway with at the end of this
internship?
Speaker 3 (27:28):
that's a big question , because I feel like I've
gained so much in three days.
I have no idea what I'm gonnagain at the end of 10 weeks,
like that's crazy what's your?
hope, but I would hope to haveeven a clearer understanding of
what I want to do in life and bethat knowing I want to do
public.
You like going into that stufflike the nitty-gritty of what's
(27:48):
a beast?
Excel is a beast.
I'm a google person, so it'sbeen a transition.
(28:10):
It come by it honestly.
My dad was a big google personand therefore I learned
everything google beforemicrosoft.
No, idea why the google use thegoogle but it was, I will say,
like learning stuff, like thathas been super fun and super
helpful and things I'll be ableto lean on for a long time.
It's skills like that that I'mexcited to come away with yeah,
(28:31):
is there a department that youare fixated on?
I'm I promise I'm not suckingup.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
I love event planning and stuff like that, you like
that community outreachCommunity outreach.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
I tell everybody I think I have the most fun job in
the city and I know Ranger Jenthinks she has the most fun job.
And you might think you havethe most fun job.
Mine actually is that I'm paidto have fun.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
You're paid to be fun .
Speaker 2 (28:57):
I'm paid to be fun and to throw the fun.
Speaker 3 (29:01):
You called yourself the other day.
You said I need a nameplatethat says party planner.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
Professional party planner.
Professional party plannershenanigan leader I.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
I think we can do way better than that.
Speaker 4 (29:12):
Let me get back to you on that I really would love
that, thank you, I'm, I'm gonnacome up a new name plate how
about you I think that for me, Iknow government is where I want
to end up and, having spent allof high school, my time at city
of milton with one department,with the occasional trip outside
, yeah, it was very, very good,but I don't think I got a full
(29:35):
picture of what city governmentlooked like and could be, and so
you know, part of the name ofthe summer internship is
comprehensive, and one thing Iwould love to do is really
understand how the city ofMilton works as like an organism
.
There is no single thing thathappens independent of one
another.
Like you know, we're justsitting around a table.
(29:57):
You've got two to threedepartments if you want to call
the interns, a separatedepartment represented here.
Right, and then every othermeeting I go to, you've got
multiple different departments.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
Yeah, and Milton's really good about that because,
like, even as we look atdifferent projects or events
that come up, it is very much agroup effort.
We pull from all thedepartments because everybody
has a different perspective,everybody has different needs.
If you're looking at thewebsite, com dev needs something
different from the website thanpublic works and pd does, and
(30:29):
it's something that you have totake in to consideration when
you're building larger thingsthat involve everybody is how is
this going to serve thesedepartments independently but
also cohesively?
Speaker 4 (30:41):
A hundred percent, a hundred percent, and I think
that you know on the on thereceiving side, Maddie and.
I are both Milton residents.
I've lived in Milton for, Iguess at this point, 13, almost
14 years, so you know I wasaround when City Hall didn't
even exist as a building.
2006 Heritage Walk was notthere, and so I've watched these
(31:02):
buildings come up, I've watchedthe roads develop, I've watched
zoning change all of thesethings.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
And you paid attention to that as a kid.
Speaker 4 (31:11):
My parents were very big about raising us civically
minded.
So one thing that I learned asa kid was— I think I failed at
parenting Luke.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
Now I'm second-guessing all the
decisions I've made in my entirelife.
Speaker 4 (31:25):
Well, when we were raised and there was an election
and I'm talking any electionthey would place the sample
ballot on the fridge and tell usto research whoever was there,
not just who is running forpresident or senator, but who is
running for city council mayor,all of the random public
service commissioners, all ofthe different ombudsmen or
(31:46):
whatever.
All of these very nichepositions you may not think
impact you.
We were told research thecandidates.
Don't just vote for a name,don't just vote for a party,
don't just vote the first name.
You see, understand who you'revoting for and what you're
voting for.
And I think that's trickleddown to how I approach
government, which is everythingyou know.
(32:07):
I did say I like big picture,but the big picture can only
happen if the details are right,and so understanding how all of
these different things worktogether, the people who are
making it happen that's reallywhat I hope to get out of this
is learn more about what makesCity of Milton tick.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
There's not very often where I have zero words.
I mean, there was a couple oftimes in the last episode that I
did, but I don't know that Ihave words right now.
I'm literally second-guessingmy entire parenting skill set.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
You could say that was a pretty comprehensive
answer, couldn't you?
Speaker 1 (32:42):
It was.
And there we go with that bigold word Comprehensive.
I love it, I'm super impressed,I'm literally super impressed
with you two, and I think thatnot only will you guys get a lot
out of this internship, but Ithink Milton will gain a lot of
perspective from it too, becausethis is a learning on both
(33:03):
sides.
We learn from the youngerpeople that are coming in, and
you guys sometimes see thingsdifferently than what we're used
to.
And's the point, right, it's.
It's a different perspective.
I love it.
I'm all.
I'm all about it.
Emily, is there anything youwant to add about this program
(33:23):
or about this group ofspectacular interns?
Speaker 2 (33:27):
well.
The program itself isincredibly cool and I come from
a teaching background, so,moving into this new position,
I've definitely missed thataspect of watching people and
kids You're not kids, you'reyoung adults grow and mature and
find out what they want to do,and it's been a part of my life
that I've missed.
And so the internship everyyear always gets me excited
(33:49):
because I love bringing in newpeople.
I love my department, I lovethis city, but it's like the
Mean Girls quote where he's likefresh meat coming through.
It's one of my favorite quotes.
I get so excited becausethere's freshness, there's
newness.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
There's new ideas.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
And the things that your generation is able and
capable of doing is astounding.
You have such a uniqueperspective and outlook on
everything Like I would havenever thought to put a ballot on
my refrigerator and make myfuture children research
candidates Like that's brilliant.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
Do you want me to tell you what that looked like
in the week's household?
I'm afraid to ask, but we watchpolitics my children not that
they don't have their ownperspectives and their own, and
they all vote and whatnot.
They just don't want to talkabout it because my house was
inundated with it, so they'relike I didn't want to talk about
(34:44):
it Understandable.
Well, you know, it's not gentleparenting at the week's
household, it is massinformation.
Speaker 2 (34:54):
Right.
Speaker 1 (34:55):
Figure it out for yourself, Right?
It's not my job to tell youwhat to think.
It's my job to tell you youneed to figure it out and you
need to research all the anglesand make sure you know what
you're talking about.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
And that's exactly what this internship is.
Speaker 1 (35:06):
Look at that.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
So my parenting skills don't suck, not at all,
not even a little bit.
Speaker 1 (35:12):
I do have pretty great kids but that's the.
Speaker 2 (35:14):
That's the thing.
We'll give them a project and Idon't want to tell you how to
do the project.
I'll tell you.
If you need the first step, I'mhappy to do so, but I'm excited
to see what they do.
I think this is an incredibly,incredibly bright group of
interns that we've had.
So, I'm sure any of my pastinterns who are listening to
(35:34):
this.
Thank you for paving the wayfor this incredible internship
and I'm really excited to seewhat happens this summer.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
Well, maddie and Luke , we shall find out, because
we're going to circle backtowards the end of your time
here and do a whole recap andsee how this aligns with your
overall experience, and I doappreciate y'all being here
today.
Thank you so much.
Thanks, christy.
Speaker 4 (35:58):
You're very welcome.
Speaker 1 (35:59):
All right, more to come, everybody More to come.
But that's a wrap on our firstconversation with the summer
interns.
Over the next couple of monthsthey'll be scattered across the
departments, working oneverything from policy to
communications to communityengagement which we already know
Maddie loves and probablypicking up more real-world
experience than they bargainedfor.
But we'll catch up with themagain at the end of the summer,
(36:22):
but in the meantime, if you seethem around City Hall or at an
event, say hello.
They're sharp, curious andclearly not afraid of a
challenge.
And hey, who knows, maybeyou're listening and thinking
you could be the next intern.
So until next time.
Thanks for tuning in to Miltonand Maine, take care.
Thanks for listening to Miltonand Maine.
We hope this episode gave youfresh insights into what makes
(36:45):
our city so special.
Stay connected and don't missan episode by subscribing to
this podcast on your favoriteplatform and following us on
social media for all updates.
And, of course, if you want tolearn more about the city, visit
us online at wwwmiltongagov forresources, news and upcoming
events.
Until next time, thanks forbeing part of the conversation
(37:08):
and we'll see you on the nextMilton and Maine.
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.