Despite many in-person student internships being cancelled in response to COVID-19, many have continued remotely. Thomas Hernandez, a junior communication studies and global studies student, was forced to shift his communication internship from the physical office of Philadelphia City Commissioner Omar Sabir to an online position. However, he is grateful that he could still venture into local government and produce work that makes an impact for Philadelphia voters.

The Office of the Philadelphia City Commissioners — consisting of three city commissioners including Sabir — oversees elections and election-related community outreach for the city. As one of the first applicants to this year’s program, Hernandez began the position in February and only came into the office briefly before transitioning online. But he says that his short time interacting with those working with Sabir in person was insightful. In addition to analyzing data to provide summary reports for the commissioner and organizing information for meetings, he participated in a meeting with representatives discussing how to support Philadelphia’s homeless population and their voting capabilities. The experience informed him of the many problems the city has to tackle and approaches that local government and community members are taking to make inroads.

When working from home, Hernandez was responsible for designing much of the marketing material that was disseminated to Philadelphia voters from the Office of the Philadelphia City Commissioners. Hernandez has been assured of his meaningful contribution because many of his creations are stock designs, which he says can be used for future voting efforts and operate as “one last thing [the office has] to worry about in the future.”

Hernandez’s biggest takeaway from the internship was learning about the importance and intricacy of voting regulations at the local and state levels. The extensive process does not occur successfully overnight. Joe Driscoll, principal assistant for strategic initiatives for Sabir and Hernandez’s internship coordinator, says that Hernandez showed an enormous amount of dedication not only to creating materials that promote voter participation, but also to developing his knowledge about the function of the commissioner’s role in local government. Driscoll hopes that along with the rest of the office’s interns, Hernandez has internalized “a sense that the work that they’re doing has a direct impact.”

“Without anyone sitting near him or with him or even following up with him multiple times a day, [Hernandez] has taken so much initiative to make sure we have the material we need,” Driscoll says. “He’s focused a lot on making graphics for social media, shareable graphics and ask people to make sure they apply for a mail-in ballot this year, graphics that indicate the changes with it.”

Jenné Ayers, chief deputy for Sabir, agrees that the internship not only helps boost interns’ experience but also their knowledge about civic duties.

“That’s something that I’m always thinking about, what the commissioner’s thinking about, what all the staff is thinking about when we work with interns is how they can walk away empowered. Not just with having new sets of skills, new exposure to this industry or...information or data they had never been exposed to, but feeling empowered to lift their voice and make a difference and to take what they’ve learned into whatever their career path or future opportunities may be,” Ayers says.

Hernandez believes that the hard and soft skills he strengthened during his time at Klein College of Media and Communication allowed him to make this unique internship experience possible.

“I’m happy that I’m in Klein College because I’m able to do so much,” he says. “Not only can I do the stuff that was there that needed to be done in person but I also can do the stuff away from home like making graphics. That’s something simple that if I didn’t know how to do, I would not have an internship.”

After graduating, Hernandez hopes to move into a career at a federal agency. Regardless of its challenges, he appreciates that working with the Office of the Philadelphia City Commissioners during the COVID-19 pandemic provided thorough preparation for any large-scale governmental challenges he may face in a future role.