At the San Jose Animal Care Center on a recent day, senior Amy Pan pulled her phone out to capture the playful energy of German Shepherds and the charming gentleness of tabby kittens as she recorded footage for an upcoming promotion video, showcasing the heartwarming bond between animals and potential adopters.
Pan is working as a communications intern for the mayor of San Jose, Matt Mahan. The mayor’s office has three departments: public policy, neighborhood outreach and communications. All are intended to help San Jose’s 1 million residents. Mahan, a 41-year-old Democrat, has been the mayor since 2023.
Since May, Pan’s internship has been a part-time job, where she commutes to San Jose every weekend and works remotely from home after school. Her main jobs involve attending events and press conferences to take photos. She often uses this media to make short-video content for social platforms, including Instagram, TikTok and Facebook. She also sends Mahan’s biweekly newsletters.
“We are always testing different titles and elements through newsletters and reflecting on what’s working well for audience engagement,” Pan said. “I’m gaining good communication skills with problem-solving.”
Every Saturday, Pan attends Mahan’s weekly community clean-up, which includes picking up litter and painting murals and furniture. She noted the turnouts to the events are robust, making her job an enjoyable experience.
“In my content captions for the clean-ups, I prioritize things like showing diversity and children’s involvement in painting murals,” Pan said.
She discovered the internship opportunity through Mahan’s Instagram, where he was looking for high school and college interns. She had prior video production and content creation skills from running her Youtube channel for four years. From being an editor and later editor-in-chief of yearbook in the past two years, she has ample design and collaboration skills going into the internship. She actively works with people within the communication department, Mahan and the other office departments.
“I wanted the opportunity because I want to major in science communications,” Pan said. “I already have experience with science from school, but I wanted hands-on experience with public discourse. I wanted to learn communication skills in a real world setting.”
Pan’s favorite memory from her job so far was attending the press conference for the opening of pop-up shops in downtown San Jose on Aug. 9. There were about seven young women displaying their handmade products, including hoodies, keyboards and stickers.
“It was so cute and touching, because the girls were really genuine. They started crying when they talked about finally getting to open their own shop and having a place in the community,” Pan said. “I got to engage with them and actually see what was going on in San Jose.”
