GCIP Spotlight for May: Georgia Tech student interns with the Cobb County Community Development Agency
Stefen Samarripas, a graduate student studying City
and Regional Planning at Georgia Tech, interned with Cobb County as a part of
the 2015 Summer Georgia County Internship Program. Samarripas was hired to
assist the Cobb County’s Community Development Agency in updating the county’s
comprehensive plan.
Before beginning his internship, Samarripas’ knowledge of county government operations did not extend beyond the classroom. Through his
internship, he learned that relationship-building between county departments is
critical to successful planning work. He also gained a better understanding of
how responsibilities are broken down between and within departments.
Samarripas’ main responsibility during his internship was to provide research and gather data
to be used in updating Cobb County’s comprehensive plan. When asked about the
most significant success of his internship, Samarripas replied that identifying
several new sources of data that had not been previously integrated in past
comprehensive plans was particularly prideworthy. His efforts resulted in the
inclusion of new data regarding alternative sources of healthy food, medical
services, price-to-income ratios, soil type, internet access, and health
insurance coverage to support the comprehensive plan. He also successfully
consolidated data into unique geographic sub-regions. After the research and data collection process
ended, Sanarripas created tables, charts and maps to summarize and display the data
he collected.
From this experience, Samarripas noted that his
research and presentation skills increased substantially. Beyond learning core
research methods and how to obtain important planning-related data, Samarripas
states he learned a great deal about the best ways to present complex data in
an easily understandable fashion. Being able to present and explain data to the
public is a skill Samarripas believes will benefit him in his future planning
career.
For more information on the GCIP, please visit the ACCG Civic Affairs Foundation website at http://www.civicaffairs.org
ACCG
http://www.accg.org/