Surrounded by nature & animals

Hello!

 

I'm two weeks into my internship and I have finally settled down, getting the hang of things. I found a placement at Singapore Zoological Gardens, corporate communications department and have been quite busy learning and absorbing as much information as possible. This is why i am only writing my first post now. 

 

This past two weeks has been challenging yet fun at the same time. I remembered on the first day it was tough trying to squeeze every process into my brains and learning how to media track, how to reply to both positive and negative feedback, organizing media visits and interview sessions. And i even had my first buggy lesson!

 

The next few days i had to help facilitate media visits from Philippines and also from Vasatham Central, an Indian channel in Singapore.  What I have learnt from these two experiences is that even though media visits may seem like an easy task, it is actually not. We have to be alert and careful with what they film and say and also stop them if anything they do or say should not be on film. This is especially so if the crew is filming for a children’s programme and they are seen holding or playing around with the animals or reptiles being featured. If these acts are caught on camera, it may give the viewers the wrong idea about these creatures which can be dangerous if found in the wild.

Other than media visits and filming, I also had to translate a Chinese article into English. I decided to challenge myself and see how it would turn out. It’s has been four years since I read an article in Chinese, so I was quite surprised and satisfied when I was able to translate and summarize the article. I also felt good that I start this internship with an open mind and was willing to learn as much as possible. Even though I found my daily task quite dry, I have learnt that frequent media tracking and accepting feedback is necessary to stay informed about what is being reported about your organization, be it positive or negative. This enables us to reflect back, learn from our mistakes and improve as we work towards to being the foremost wildlife institution in the world.

This entry has a lot of words as I have many things to share. There is more, which I will update in my next entry. I was given an opportunity to be involved in a photo shoot. I was not the model of course but I had a fantabulous time and learnt a lot. For more information, tune in next time! =)