Annabel Budreau: Never been so happy about being wrong

Interns are often seen as the real-life form of the common saying, ‘overworked and underpaid’. Some other common stereotypes associated with interns are that they are undervalued, unappreciated, walked over, in the way. These things make up what I have dubbed ‘intern culture’. I used to believe every single one of these things.

This past summer I had the opportunity to participate in an internship with the Department of Justice, specifically the Federal law enforcement side, in Columbia, S.C. On my first day with my team, I was scared. I thought I was going to walk in there and be surrounded by suits and straight-faced smiles. I believed that federal employees were stiff, prudent, and—among other things—rude. I was under the impression that I was going to be one of the errands-running, coffee-grabbing, grunt-work interns.

To my surprise, ‘intern culture’ did not exist on my team. In fact, the truth was that my work environment was exactly the opposite of what I was expecting. I was not met with stiff straight-faced smiles; I was met with laughter and joking. The first person I met on my team was wearing a collared shirt—not a suit—and smiling ear to ear. Throughout the day, I noticed that almost everybody was smiling and laughing. Instead of asking me to go get their coffee for them, they invited me to go get coffee with them. My coworkers did not make me shred paper every day, but instead, they let me assist with day-to-day responsibilities, and by the end of the summer I was able to see the impact the work I was doing had on big projects. I was culture shocked to say the least.

Something that my coworkers taught me this summer was that if you cannot play while you work, you will be miserable, especially considering the type of work we were doing. Unfortunately, when you work with the Department of Justice, often what you do is not on the bright side of things. Throughout the summer I assisted with day-to-day casework, volunteered with community events, shadowed different job positions, attended federal court, attended training sessions, watched multidisciplinary teams in action—and more. In a job where uncertainty is a guarantee, one thing that seemed consistent through my experience was my coworkers. You could genuinely tell that these people love their job because they do not mope when they are at work, and they make the most out of unbelievably bad circumstances.

One moment that sticks out to me this summer is a project I worked on. I was working on gathering information to make sure that, conceptually, everybody was on the same page about a case. I was collecting facts, building information trees, and familiarizing myself with every nook and cranny of the case. I had gotten to the point where I needed to begin showing what I had learned to my coworkers, so naturally, I created an organized way to show them. At each person’s desk, there is a large whiteboard that takes up an entire side of the cubicle. This whiteboard was where I plastered all the information I had gathered about this case. When I had finally finished copying the information, I went to go get the case manager to show him. When he rounded the corner of my desk, he just stopped. He immediately pulled out his phone and started to do what I now know was a web search. When he found what he was looking for, he flipped around his phone, and the picture above was staring back at me. I looked at him confused and he responded, “this is what you remind me of”. We busted out laughing, and from that point on it became one of the many inside jokes with my team.

At the close of my summer, I found myself feeling ridiculous that I believed my coworkers could treat another human the ‘intern culture’ way. I felt, and still feel, ashamed that I assumed the worst of my situation based on pessimistic stereotypes. I was treated as an actual full-time employee and respected as such. They allowed me to sign my own name on reports I wrote and information I collected, they gave me credit where credit was due, and they not only appreciated me but also included me. They did not treat me as expendable or temporary. They built me up instead of unintentionally tearing me down. I began to realize that my coworkers were some of the funniest people I had ever met, and they made work fun. I have worked several different jobs in my young adult years, but until now I have never been able to say that my job was a hobby and not a hassle. I started my internship with a lot of expectations of my work environment and coworkers. Not only were my expectations exceeded, but I can positively say that my coworkers are also my friends. I can genuinely say that I am a better and more well-rounded person thanks to my coworkers and how they treated me this summer. They showed me that stereotypes can be broken, and that everybody deserves a fighting chance at receiving the benefit of the doubt. While I understand that not everybody is as fortunate as I am when it comes to internships, I no longer hold people I have never met to the pessimistic stereotypes born from negative perceptions.

Annabel Budreau is pursuing a BS in Psychology and a minor in Criminal Justice. Summer 2024, she participated in an internship with the Department of Justice in Columbia, South Carolina. After graduating in May 2025, she plans to pursue full-time employment with the Department of Justice.