Week Two: Meeting the Team

Happy Memorial Day weekend everyone!


This past Wednesday the summer VHP team had its first meeting/orientation, where we were all able to introduce ourselves to one another. Hearing the work the "veterans" on the team had already accomplished for the project, and the work they have ahead of themselves for the summer, left me even more inspired and excited to also contribute to this program.

Beyond introductions, this meeting also set out to familiarize myself and the other new intern joining VHP, Michael, on how we will be communicating with each other on tasks and ongoing projects such as the new partnership that VHP is forming with the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) and their established affiliation with the Department of Agriculture.


It was also discussed why creating partnerships and reaching out to other programs is beneficial to the program. Not only does creating these relationships with other organizations help VHP gain recognition in the community, it allows us to be able to connect with more veterans who otherwise may not have felt comfortable telling their story. At times someone may not perceive their own story to be “important” or “heroic” enough to be shared, but one of the main goals of the VHP is to highlight as many veterans as they can because each person’s story is significant and deserves to be recorded. 


Access to our task list and bi-weekly meetings will be held through Microsoft Teams, which is an entirely new platform to me. It is undoubtedly an adjustment I am still doing my best to learn how to navigate properly and efficiently, but I think anyone who has been working remotely this past year will agree, it is crucial to be acquainted with various online communication platforms. 


So far, myself and Michael have been assigned to create transcriptions of two past interviews. This is meant to not only help us become more familiar with the style and structure of the VHP interviews, but also to learn and practice the skill of transcribing. It is a hope of the VHP that they will be able to access software that can auto-generate the transcription from listening to the interview alone. Then interns such as myself would need to review the work of the computer to ensure there weren’t any errors made. Until then, we are more than happy to take the time to ensure the interviews are accessible not only in a visual/audio format, but written as well. 


I am happy that I am getting a slower start into the project, but look forward to preparing for and conducting interviews as the summer gets underway. 

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