Student Co-OP Blog: Caleb Brennan

18/10/2021

Hi, I am Caleb and I’m a journalism and new media student in UL, who is currently doing their cooperative placement in the community liaison office (CLO). In this blog post, I will speak about my time in the office now that I am three months into the role, more than halfway through my placement!

CLO is a fun and engaging place to be as a student on placement. We are here to demonstrate how wonderful the experience of volunteering is and often that is by highlighting so many fantastic students so the office itself places a high value on working to make the student experience for students better. This is often reflected in how our managers Gabriella and Arlene speak to us, they are always willing to listen to us and take on our feedback because we are students!

This has been wonderful as I’m quite creative and like expressing that factor so even with the administration work such as emails, excel, social media managing, and upkeep, I can freely suggest ideas or different ways to freshen up the ways the office does things. This has manifested itself in the projects we do which have also been for me the highlight of the placement. These projects such as hosting the PVA ceremony or working on our podcast have been engaging and allowing me to find ways to vary my days and keep everything so fresh, I am quite grateful for these opportunities. They are helping me broaden my skills and help my CV/Linkedin stand out by being able to say, “I led this project to completion” or “Hosted an Award Ceremony for the 2021 PVA.”

I thought it would be quite difficult to adapt to the virtual environment, albeit it definitely has been hard, I had been able to get a nice schedule and working routine in now that I am three months in. I think consistency is key. You need to have a space for yourself and need to keep that private. You go there to work, and you leave when you are finished. I found this helped my mind transition to a more focused version of itself as when I’m in that space, It means I am “at work” even though I am just beside the kitchen!

We are now starting to transition back to working on campus which means all the benefits of being at work are there such as networking, better communication, and that social aspect. All sorely missed during the pandemic in every field. It almost makes the bus commute to work worth it; almost. ��

Caleb Brennan