A senior criminal justice major and political science minor in the College of Liberal Arts who is also pursuing a certificate in law and the American criminal justice system, Peyton Giordano spent the summer working in City Hall. She was one of 51 interns in the Mayor’s Internship Program and was placed in the Mayor’s Office of Philly Stat 360, an office that aims to provide government transparency via publicly shared data on city performance. This was her first experience working in government, as she had only interned in the legal field previously, and it exposed her to an empowering new career opportunity.
Hi everyone! This summer, my assignment was in the Mayor’s Office of Philly Stat 360, which works with City departments to set performance goals and develop ways to measure them. After forming these metrics, we push this information out on our public-facing website. It was an office I knew very little about before this summer, but I quickly learned how unique it was.
Philly Stat 360 works directly with all the different departments across the City of Philadelphia. A major goal of the office is to provide more transparent information about the government so that all people can understand how their city is run. During my time there, I was able to sit in on department meetings in a variety of different sectors. I looked at a lot of different data, brainstormed potential department goals and even helped the office launch its Instagram page.
Every other Friday, all the interns came together for skill-building sessions, speeches from guest speakers and to work on our group impact project. My group’s project was such a highlight of my experience. We were put in small groups and selected a topic based on the current city environment. My group researched the revitalization of commercial corridors through green spaces and public arts. For 10 weeks, we worked on a hypothetical proposal to implement such an initiative in Philadelphia. At the end of the internship we even had a graduation ceremony where we presented our proposal to a panel of city leaders.
This program connected the other interns and me to amazing experiences and networking opportunities. During one of the first weeks, we even had an intern meet-and-greet with Mayor Cherelle Parker. Another week, we had a networking mixer with employees from all different career paths, from sustainability to law to public safety and more.
The professional development and connections I gained from Temple were a big part of my preparedness for this internship. I previously took the Criminal Justice Internship Seminar with Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice Cheryl Irons while I interned at the Defenders Association of Philadelphia. Through this class and the guidance of the Criminal Justice Department as a whole, I felt confident in my resume, my interviewing and my preparedness for a professional work environment.
One of the best parts of my internship was the people I met along the way. My peers in this program were students from all over the country and all different majors. Even though I dream of going to law school and practicing law, this was a valuable experience in government. It was eye-opening to meet so many lawyers whose career paths led them to roles in city government, as this was not something I would have considered an option prior to this role. I will take the lessons and skills I learned from this wherever my journey brings me next!
