Milton and Mane
Welcome to Milton and Mane, the City of Milton, Georgia's official podcast—a dynamic space where community connection meets insightful conversation. Whether you're a resident, local business owner, neighboring government official, or a curious listener from afar, this podcast is your gateway to understanding Milton on every level.
Each episode is designed to bring you closer to the heart of our city, offering behind-the-scenes stories that humanize the people who keep Milton running. You'll gain valuable insights into local government operations, discover new opportunities, and hear from the voices that shape our community. Expect to learn about our rich history, stay updated on future developments, and explore the vibrant arts, culture, and sustainability initiatives that make Milton unique.
Join us as we celebrate our community, encourage civic engagement, and share inspiring stories that resonate beyond our city limits. Subscribe today and be part of the conversation that's building a better Milton, one episode at a time.
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Milton and Mane
Community Impact: Unexpected Lessons From a Summer at City Hall
What happens when you place two talented college students at the heart of local government for a summer? As it turns out, a whole lot more than coffee runs and filing paperwork.
You might remember Luke and Maddie from an earlier episode, the bright minds behind some of Milton's most impactful summer projects. In this special season finale episode, they share all the details of their comprehensive internship experience.
"Every hour that I was here was impactful," shares Maddie, reflecting on how the experience exceeded her expectations. "It wasn't just me sitting doing someone's busy work. It was genuinely getting to form connections within the community." Meanwhile, Luke discovered that "every single 9 to 5 was totally different," as he navigated everything from parks to police stations to planning meetings.
Their journey showcases the surprising complexity of local government, from learning the specialized language of community development to understanding how big-picture visions translate into granular details like pavement types and signage regulations. Through candid conversations, they reveal their proudest achievements, including a project that now allows citizens to track the city's strategic plan progress in real-time and an initiative connecting thousands of residents through homeowners' associations.
Curious about applying for next year's program? Applications open in January 2026 for this 10-week summer opportunity. Listen now for the full inside story from two rising stars who've left their mark on Milton.
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.
Welcome to Milton and Maine, the official podcast for the city of Milton. We want to bring you closer to the heart of our community through stories that inform, inspire and connect. Each episode offers a behind-the-scenes look at the people, projects and priorities shaping Milton, covering everything from local government and future development to arts, culture, sustainability and public safety. Whether you're a resident, a local business owner or just curious about our city, this is your front row seat to what makes Milton special. Welcome back to Milton in Maine.
Speaker 1:I'm your host, christy Weeks, the communications manager for the city of Milton, and today we're wrapping up something pretty special. All summer long, we've had two amazing interns, luke and Maddie, and both have been knee deep in local government in action, like all the things, from shadowing meetings to managing real projects and even hopping onto this podcast. They've done it all, and today we're going to flip the mic one last time to hear their final thoughts before heading back to school. So kind of think of this episode as the season finale of their internship journey, a mix of what they've learned, what surprised them and maybe a few favorite moments. It's honestly a great behind-the-scenes peek at what it means to spend a summer in service to your community and also joining us today is the chaos coordinator, emily Salerno, straight out of community outreach.
Speaker 2:Hello, hello, that's me.
Speaker 1:So welcome back Luke Maddie Emily.
Speaker 3:Well, glad to be back. Always happy to be here.
Speaker 1:Perfect, we're not going to mess around. Let's start at the beginning. You guys gave some expectations in that first episode, which was I'm not going to lie, it was overwhelming for me, because you two are so very, very articulate and have such a clear idea as to what you were walking into. Neither one of you gave the answer that I thought you were going to. Neither of you said oh, I thought I was going to make coffee. Y'all had solid answers. So, kind of briefly, give me your thought on what you expected and just where you're at today, maddie. Let's start with you.
Speaker 4:In terms of where I'm at today. It was beyond what I could have expected. I think it just exceeded all of my expectations. I thought you know I'm going to have some of an impact. I don't think I realized how much.
Speaker 4:I would be granted the opportunity to have an impact. Like I said, I was just talking to Emily about this. I said I'm like every hour that I was here was impactful. It wasn't just me sitting doing someone's busy work. It was genuinely getting to form connections within the community, genuinely getting to form connections at city hall and getting to understand what I want out of a career, being so early in mine.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 4:Happy.
Speaker 1:Where do we go from there? I?
Speaker 4:don't know. I kind of started that off a little deep.
Speaker 2:I know I have a little tear in my eye. I kind of started that off a little deep. Woo, I know I have a little tear in my eye.
Speaker 1:Let's see if we can get you a second one, Luke you're up.
Speaker 3:I think I said during the first episode that I wanted an internship. That you know, as Emily had quipped, the first episode was comprehensive, like our job title says, and I think we did get that. We were involved with every department and I think we did get that. We were involved with every department.
Speaker 3:We were talking with Emily and I said that one of my favorite things was not only was this not a coffee internship, it wasn't a desk job. Every single 9 to 5 was totally different. There were very few days where I would spend the entire 9 to 5 at City Hall, I was at parks, I was at police station, at the fire station, I was helping run events, I was at a vendor selection meeting, and I think that's what I really really enjoyed was that it was truly comprehensive and I got a taste of everything that a city offers.
Speaker 1:So, emily, I should have started with you, but we'll kind of round up with you here. When these two started, what were your?
Speaker 2:expectations. So every year that we've done this internship, our applicant pool somehow gets better and larger and more involved and more every year. Somehow we keep topping the year before. So for me not going to guys, my expectations were high. Not joking, I don't set my expectations low.
Speaker 2:I want you to meet me where I'm at. I'm not meeting you where you're at. You know Now we know, Now you know. But I knew with these two that I had hired the right people, that they were going to come in and hit the ground running guns a blazing really just outstanding in every project that they were going to do and they exceeded my expectations. So that's why we don't set our expectations low. We make them high and then you blow them out of the water.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, that's a good perspective. How do you guys feel about that?
Speaker 3:Me personally, I perform best when I know someone's counting on me or they expect me to do better than maybe I've done before. It's easier to be pulled up or pushed up than just sitting there and wondering oh, I wonder where I can go from here. Correct, yeah, it just sitting there and wondering oh, I wonder where I can go from here. Correct, yeah. It's that kind of motivation, knowing that you can meet somebody else's expectations or exceed them.
Speaker 1:You got anything you want to add, Maddie.
Speaker 4:I think it was almost nice to have the belief in us from the jump that we could do great things, and it wasn't like oh, we're hiring an intern to say we hired an intern. It was truly hiring us to do a good job and expecting us and believing in us that we could excel. And that I really appreciate, because you can tell when someone doesn't really believe in you, if that's like a thing that you've experienced.
Speaker 1:It absolutely is a thing.
Speaker 4:And it was so nice to come into such a positive environment that expected so much of us but also believed that we could succeed and thrive Right.
Speaker 1:I remember years ago I got a piece of advice from a former boss and she was brand new and I had been with the company for like a year and I, every time I turn around, I go Gina, gina, what do you think? Should we do this? And she goes Christy, make the decision. She goes. You can't hurt us so badly that we cannot recover from this. So just make the decision and if we have to pivot afterwards, we'll pivot. And I feel like for people learning a new industry, learning a new task, learning a new career path, or y'all in college, that is the best way for y'all to learn is to jump in and do it. If you need to pivot later, pivot, but let's start. The only way you learn is by doing it. Correct, yeah.
Speaker 4:A hundred percent A hundred percent.
Speaker 2:Yeah, a hundred percent, a hundred and one percent.
Speaker 1:A hundred and one percent. Thank you, you always bring me up one little level. You're welcome. So what was something that you all learned that completely surprised you?
Speaker 4:I will say I was surprised, definitely, by how much is out there in terms of Milton. Like how much we put out to communicate with people was something that I don't even think I knew at all coming in. Like I didn't know all the different constant contact forms that you could fill out and you can pick out what you want to know about Hamilton, like you want to know what road's going to close? Great, there's an email list for it.
Speaker 4:Like it was nice to learn about that kind of set of things because it gives me a chance to say oh yeah, I do want to know what's going on here and I can apply it to my own life. Like I am the biggest subscriber to the Instagram and the Facebook. Now, I think y'all are like my number one notification on my Facebook app now at this point oh sweet, it's a lot.
Speaker 1:It's a lot of information, and you have to look at all the different paths that we had to take to make sure we reach as many people as possible, because not everybody consumes information the same anymore. Luke.
Speaker 3:I think for me it was two things. One was all of the different skills that I would have to use or that I would have to pick up on the way in terms of completing different projects, software that I had never heard about before, or projects AKA ClearGov.
Speaker 3:AKA ClearGov, and then also with that project, which I'm sure we'll get into soon, knowing how to take a big picture about what you want your community to look like, what you want its future to be, what those goals are, and then translating that into the small details, to something as small as what type of pavement is put on a sidewalk, what kind of signs are allowed.
Speaker 3:all those really, really, really tiny details that you as a citizen don't think about never, but when you put them all together I mean it's like pieces of a puzzle the image comes clear at the very end, once everything is clicked yeah it's wild to see how much goes into one thing that you think is so small and minute, like like the pavement.
Speaker 2:People just think we put pavement out, but they have been sitting in multiple meetings with multiple different people over the course of six to eight months just to talk about pavement. And if we look at that on a larger scale, pavement's very small and there's so many little details within that one department and within every department. So it's interesting to be able to break that down and see. It does take a while to make decisions. It takes a while for us to discuss things because we're trying to view things from every single angle possible and figure out all the different possibilities.
Speaker 1:If this, then this, If that then this.
Speaker 2:You got to pave the right road, christy pave the right road.
Speaker 1:You are my queen of like tag lines. I'm gonna save that for a public works one. I'm just telling you welcome, thank you, that's what I meant to say. All right, as we move on, I can kind of relate to this one in the aspect over the last year of where I've been. But tell me about a moment that you had that made you feel like, wow, I am actually a part of this team.
Speaker 4:I will say I had this moment and it was at Redweight and you, and it was like everything was kind of right after the stand back got over. I finally got a second to stand back and I saw everyone. I saw it was all. Everything was kind of right. After the sandbag got run over, I like finally got a second to stand back and I saw everyone. I saw it was all coming together. I was like, oh, this thing that I've been drawing up on Google Maps and picturing on Canva and thinking about is real, like that sign that I've been spending hours on is in front of me now and I was so excited about it and I just kind of thought, oh, this is real, I get to do this.
Speaker 4:It's a real impact. And there's 1200 people here, if not more Um, and just like getting to see how that brought joy into their lives, so it was just kind of an awesome moment to be like, oh, I get to create positivity to do this.
Speaker 1:I get to do this.
Speaker 2:Marathon runners have runners high. Event planners have event high Okay.
Speaker 3:And the minute.
Speaker 2:You see something come together. It's.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I cried at my pageants. I mean, I was literally so exhausted and spent and had put so much into it that all I could do on that last finale night was I cried.
Speaker 2:I've cried a lot, many tears. It's good for you. Thanks, it's good for you, Luke?
Speaker 1:how about you? What's your wow moment?
Speaker 3:I think mine was. We had a meeting about the strategic plan clear project and it was kind of the watershed meeting where we had announced that we had taken this project that at first seemed, you know, kind of just data entry, and that it'll be done and taken it to an entirely new level, something called clear docs, which, once again, I'm sure we'll get into. And I think after that, you know yourself and Steve had said, wow, this is great. And I was just, you know, we left patting ourselves on the back and I was like, okay, well, that's done. But then immediately afterward I had Bernadette Harville, who is the interim finance manager as well as deputy city manager. She came up to me and she had a project for me, and then Bob Buscemi, who is the director of special projects overseeing the Deerfield area.
Speaker 3:He came up to me and he said hey, let's do a meeting about Deerfield. And I think, realizing that my work had led to other people having confidence in our work quality and our ability to get things done, that just really made me feel like I'm part of the team, I'm contributing something and clearly the results are good enough for other people to put faith in them.
Speaker 1:Oh, for sure that was game changer. The work you guys did on ClearGov. I mean I learned a lot from you because you were curious enough to find a way to make something happen and from my perspective, because, thank you very much, you've handed it down to me, but. But it's manageable and it is. It is a great way to reflect what the city's doing to an outward facing audience. So for I'm super appreciative because you sorted through details that as I came in and they said here, christy, learn this and I had no idea where I was going with it, you guys really came in and killed it, thank you. So yeah, I'm like, hey, can you guys teach me how to do that? I may have said those words out loud and there's nothing wrong with it. I'm totally okay with admitting that I need the interns to teach me things.
Speaker 2:You know what we're learning from each other all the time.
Speaker 1:Correct.
Speaker 2:Still learning from you, Christy. You are not, I am too.
Speaker 1:Oh well. Yes, Toss, toss toss, toss hair, flipping the hair. Um no, I I love the fact that I can. You know, I can look to you guys and say, okay, I've learned how to do this. In the same sense, let's talk about what department was the most different than you expected, is there?
Speaker 4:one.
Speaker 1:Juicy, Juicy, Spell the T. I'm not. I'm not asking for anybody to throw anybody under the bus or anything like that. But you know, you come in and you have an idea of what some departments do. Which one surprised you the most?
Speaker 3:I think for me it was community development, largely because I knew nothing about them. So you know, for my mind to be changed was not a very difficult thing to do. I just kind of knew that they just built a city.
Speaker 1:They do crazy things down there. That was all I knew.
Speaker 3:That was all I knew is that somehow they took nothing and turned it into something. Right that somehow they took nothing and turned it into something Right. But after having several meetings I met with Shuba, who is the principal planner, with Bob, who is the former department director and now runs Deerfield, as well as Tracy Talking to people. What community development is really opened my eyes to. You know how you get from patch of rural horse grazing farmland and turn it into the city of Milton into.
Speaker 3:Crabapple, into Deerfield, into Birmingham Crossroads, all of these different things. So I learned a lot from them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's crazy because you go down there and they almost speak a different language. They absolutely do. They start speaking in zoning and I'm like English layman's terms, please.
Speaker 2:there's so many things I know it's crazy wealth of information down there.
Speaker 1:How about you, maddie?
Speaker 4:I would have to say the same for media development because, I also had no idea, like not one expectation or understanding.
Speaker 4:I think it was really interesting to learn like things that I wouldn't have necessarily thought they did. They did like we did this project and it was code enforcement and we ran around to all the signs, like on businesses, like we had a list of signs. I spent three hours on highway nine taking photos of your business rent. So if you saw a city of Milton car parked outside your business and you were wondering why there were being photos taken, hi, that was me on the intern and.
Speaker 4:I it was super interesting because they were like oh, it's updating all this information and they're like there's this type of sign. It's like a sign's just not a sign. They're like, yeah, no, it's the monument sign. I'm like it's a monument sign and so like now I'm like I drive around and I'm kind of like that's a monument sign, that's a monument sign, that's a wall sign, it's a window sign. I go through, I start identifying them.
Speaker 1:That's funny. That's a department I need to spend some time with because I really do have a lot of respect for their approach to things. I'm working with them a little bit right now on a project, so I'm kind of excited about that as well. I'm almost like an intern. That as well. I'm almost like an intern.
Speaker 2:Look at me 50 something or other.
Speaker 1:We're not going to talk about that. Never too late, never too late, never too late. Y'all keep telling me that, but it's too late for me to be a cop. I'd be a great one, but it's too late. All right. Favorite project. Cause you guys worked on so many, cause I know I can ask this question, cause I know you worked on a ton of projects and it's okay to tell them that your favorite project was mine. All right, go ahead. Favorite project.
Speaker 3:My absolute favorite was our strategic plan and clear gov project Just made my entire summer.
Speaker 2:Okay, but for everybody listening, because I feel like we've talked a lot around it, but we haven't talked about it because we internally know what we're talking about Give us the cliff notes, Give us the skinny.
Speaker 3:All right. So the translation from government speak to civilian life is essentially that every five years, cities are required to put out a strategic plan. This is required by the state and the strategic plan outlines what the city wants itself, what its goals are for the next five years and how it's going to achieve those goals. So the city of Milton makes our strategic plan by having three strategic priorities. We take those strategic priorities, we break them down into goals, we break the goals down into objectives and then those three levels are approved by city council and developed by citizens like yourself. And then, after that, city staff takes a look at them and says, okay, what do we need to do on our end to get there?
Speaker 3:Now, all of this information was being inputted into a platform known as ClearGov. Essentially, they were logged in and city staff would go in and they would provide their occasional updates. But to get from the updates put in the back end of ClearGov to the public facing side was manual entry taking what city staff said and turning it into. You would have to type out the percentage. So city staff said yep, we're 70% there. Somebody else would have to go in and type in 70% to a totally separate chart. As you can assume, this was very, very time consuming and, because city staff are so busy, it often led to projects not being logged correctly or, you know, people would just get bogged down in details.
Speaker 1:Or just not up to date, exactly Not up to date, not that it wasn't being done, just that it was not being recorded as being done.
Speaker 3:Yes, exactly, Projects would be done, but then they wouldn't show up on this side and so to a citizen looking at it, they'd say nothing's happening. So our task this summer was to go through and update all of the data. So we spoke to every single department. We held meetings with some of them, sometimes multiple meetings, getting so much data putting it in a system Asking, you shall receive. Exactly. You know you have to be careful what you ask for and when you email a department head with 20 questions they're going to answer all 20 questions.
Speaker 3:Yes, they will. So that is, you know, on me for doing all of those meetings. But it was helpful. We got so much data. But then the important thing was not only updating it so city staff could see it, but turning around and letting the public see that.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 3:So what we did was we found this feature within the ClearGov platform called ClearDocs.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 3:Where it would automatically update for the public. So we went through, we did graphic design, we did something that's practically tantamount to coding all for our work and the work of all of city staff to be visibly transparent to the public in real time.
Speaker 3:So it was a bunch of work. But now when city staff goes in and they say you know, this project's done and we're able to say that this objective of the strategic plan is 100% complete, now someone who's in the city of Milton or even beyond can look and say, yep, that's 100% complete. As city staff gets it done, I think it just overall makes it so much more transparent. It allows citizens to see what their city's been up to, whether or not they're meeting their goals. And then long-term so the strategic plan is 2021 to 2025.
Speaker 3:So, this next strategic plan. You know, the planning commission, the city council, they're all going to be able to sit down and say you know, how did we do this past five years? You know, where can we exceed in the next five? So I think it's got a huge potential.
Speaker 1:I couldn't agree more. It was a good one, Maddie. How about you?
Speaker 4:I have to have a favorite to be the HOA outreach project. So if you are a member of an HOA board or someone on your HOA board hasn't gotten an email from madelineflores at miltongagov, check your inbox. I hope you have, but I was able to. Basically, the gist of the project is I was able to reach out to majority, if not all, of our HOAs and points of contact on those HOAs in Milton and reach out to them and say, hey, we want to use you as a point of connection between City Hall and citizens of Milton and we ask them questions like what way do you communicate with your residents? So we could tailor our messaging to meet their platform and how they communicated, be it in-person meetings or an email or a newsletter, or if they just wanted a link to the site.
Speaker 1:Pigeon, whatever Pigeon, yeah, smoke signal.
Speaker 4:Yeah, all of them an email or a newsletter, or if they just wanted a link to the site. Pigeon, whatever, pigeon yeah, smoke signal yeah, all of them.
Speaker 4:I'll go out there talk to you, but I was able to design different formats talking about so. There was an email attachment that I designed, a website page on city of Milton, a link tree that links to all of our social media and website and kind of email and text chains that we offer, and I designed a couple physical flyers for when people wanted those. But this was able to be distributed to hoas across milton and now that we have used them as a point of connection I think we talked about it in our meeting this morning about this we said we were connecting with thousands of people via this project.
Speaker 4:And it was wonderful to get to help people in the community know what's going on around them.
Speaker 1:Right, because you think everybody's consuming information the same way as you are right, and that is absolutely not correct. My parents get their information different than I get mine, different than my sister gets theirs, and the fact that you were able to do that and connect with those HOAs, because they put out a bunch of information too. So we're just trying to figure out what's the best way for us to share information. This is what's going on in Milton. This is where you're going to find this information, this is who you talk to when you have a question, and that's all really, really important information. You did a great job on that project 100, so I know that y'all went on a police ride-along. Would you do a city council meeting or another police ride-along?
Speaker 4:ride-along ah maddie's grinning.
Speaker 3:She got a story I would do the ride along as well I say I still need to do mine I know I would highly recommend it I feel like they should be required for us it should be.
Speaker 1:Uh, I'm gonna make my, I'm gonna set a date for mine. I love it. Maybe I'll vlog the whole time, right?
Speaker 4:along with.
Speaker 1:Christine, oh yeah, I ain't going live, okay, nevermind, sorry.
Speaker 2:That's fine.
Speaker 1:That's okay. I need a filter. I can't go live. I need a filter. I need a filter. All right Um field work in the sun or meetings all day Okay honestly, field work in the sun.
Speaker 3:I did a lot of projects in the parks yeah yeah, a lot of sun, a lot of sweating. Um, I apologize to any citizens who saw me drenched in my business casual at lock the potty or mcpp who you went above and beyond maddie um, if I had to pick field work.
Speaker 4:Also shout out to the family that I talked to in a legacy park when I was ruining my shoes.
Speaker 1:Is there a story? Is this a blooper story? You need to tell us.
Speaker 4:It had like kind of rained recently, but not that well recently.
Speaker 1:You probably had on your pretty white shoes. I did.
Speaker 4:And I was like, oh, I'm going to go get this done, and I didn't think about my footwear. And then I spent the next day cleaning said footwear.
Speaker 2:I'm pretty sure that's a Parks and Rec rite of passage.
Speaker 1:It is.
Speaker 2:We have all ruined shoes at some point. We have all sweat in our business casual attire. Welcome to Parks and Rec y'all.
Speaker 1:And Georgia.
Speaker 2:And Georgia.
Speaker 1:You just kind of randomly sweat.
Speaker 2:Although not lately. For some reason, georgia thinks that it's fall.
Speaker 1:It's stunning outside. How about complaining? We have y'all. I am not ready, I'm ready, so it's you. I'm not doing rain dances for you anymore it's fine.
Speaker 2:It'll get back to 98 million degrees in like a week hey, son, I have no.
Speaker 1:I have no tan. I have a blow on vitamin D. It's all the things. Last question Emails before 9 am or meetings after 4? Ooh, those are not good options. I know that's a good question.
Speaker 2:Wait Sending or receiving emails.
Speaker 1:Doesn't say, it just says emails before 9 am.
Speaker 3:Who wrote this thing?
Speaker 1:Yours truly. I'm not going to be that specific. Which one do you not like the most?
Speaker 2:Meetings after 4.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, I'm the same. I prefer no meetings after 4.
Speaker 3:I would rather just do emails than meetings.
Speaker 1:I am on it in the morning. I can do emails. I am crystal clear. In the mornings I can do emails. I am crystal clear in the morning. You hit me about 4.30. It's dicey.
Speaker 4:I'm going to differ from the crowd here. I'd much rather have a meeting after 4 than have emails.
Speaker 1:Let's do this. If you could give the future interns that are coming in next year because we don't know who they are yet any piece of advice, what would you tell them?
Speaker 3:I would say go in with a totally open mind. Pretend you know nothing and try everything. Talk with Emily about how you need to ask all of the questions, the hows, the why's, you know, even if it's not directly related to a project you're actively doing. Um, talk to other city staff who are doing projects of their own. Um, you know, I got the chance to sit down with our principal planner even when we weren't doing a project and I learned so much in just a 45 minute meeting that had nothing to do with something I was working on. It was just being curious asking all these questions. Internships are just an extension of college, just a little more fun, and also you get paid, you know there's that there, there is that, there is that, so definitely take the opportunity to learn.
Speaker 3:It's like you know, a classroom except more fun.
Speaker 4:I think my biggest advice is don't hold yourself back because you're scared of something or because you don't understand it. I had a bad habit of that. I have a bad habit of that, trying to combat it.
Speaker 1:Me too.
Speaker 4:Of not doing something because I don't understand it or I feel I'll fail at it. And there's no such thing as failing, it's only growing and understanding. And I know that sounds so corny and cheesy, but it is true it is true you gain from where you don't necessarily succeed sometimes. So it was. It's been very helpful and that would be, my advice is just jump in feet first. Dive right into it and have fun, and don't hold yourself back. It's an amazing internship and you'll gain so much from it.
Speaker 1:So that's amazing. That's amazing. Emily, as we wrap this up, what do you have to say?
Speaker 2:Wow, that's such a big question.
Speaker 1:I know, but I felt like you could really handle that one.
Speaker 2:I can.
Speaker 1:Okay, you're welcome. I only give you what you can handle.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much. Luke and Maddie, you've been a phenomenal addition to the team this summer. Like I said earlier, I had high expectations and not a single one of them were let down whatsoever. If anything, you've exceeded my expectations. You've taken every project with such a phenomenal initiative and ownership and done it not just to the best of your abilities, but stepped outside of that too to make it even better than it was to start with. So we'll miss you guys, but you are Miltonites at the end of the day, so you're welcome to come back and visit us anytime at city hall. You do get to keep your badges, but they will be deactivated.
Speaker 1:So I'm so sorry. All the power is gone.
Speaker 2:I know Darn it, and to any of those who are listening who are? Like lousies. I really want to do this internship. This sounds like a blast. Applications typically open in January, mid to end of January, with the goal for us to be hiring in April. So you can take a look at our website, Take a look at our careers page. The internship will probably be posted in January.
Speaker 1:Cool, and it's a 10-week program, so it's a partial summer. You work Tuesday, wednesday.
Speaker 2:Thursdays, it's honestly the best of both worlds.
Speaker 1:It really is. You get a little bit of summer, you get a lot of experience, you get to really figure some things out and we loved having you. I, I loved it. Um, I didn't know I got to be a part of this, but I'm so glad I did because even still, you know, y'all taught me a lot just from your attitudes. I'm not going to lie, just from the perspective of don't hold yourself back, be open, and that's something that even as, basically, I want to be y'all when I grow up how?
Speaker 2:about that. Yeah, I feel like when I grow up with the hustlers that are this generation. Right, I feel like sometimes in the workforce, but when you you, you've done it for so long you're in the thick of things, you're in the weeds, you're Jaden, you're at the point where you're like, oh, this is just what I do. And then this young burst of life comes back through and we're all like, oh, that's right, like, this is what drive feels like, this is what enthusiasm feels like. And then we're back on top. It's like a breath of fresh air.
Speaker 1:It is. I love it. It is I'm. I'm very grateful.
Speaker 1:So, um, thank you both for saying yes to this experience, for jumping in with open minds and steady hands, and for bringing your own curiosity, creativity and perspective to the city of Milton. You've left your mark here and we have no doubt that you'll continue to do so wherever you go next. So, for all our listeners, thanks for joining us for this special wrap-up. If you've ever wondered whether internships in local government can be meaningful, fun and full of surprises, take it from these two. The answer is yes.
Speaker 1:So that's it for this episode of Milton in Maine. We will absolutely see you next time. Stay curious. Thanks for listening to Milton in Maine. We hope this episode gave you fresh insights into what makes our city so special. Stay connected and don't miss an episode by subscribing to this podcast on your favorite platform and following us on social media for all updates. And, of course, if you want to learn more about the city, visit us online at wwwmiltongagov for resources, news and upcoming events. Until next time, thanks for being part of the conversation and we'll see you on the next Milton in Maine.