Photo contributed by Kellie Orla.
By Erin Niemi • Public Service Intern at the County of Ventura
VENTURA — When it comes to empowering the next generation of public servants, Sabrina Anderson does so on a person- by- person basis by helping County of Ventura constituents realize their own success and talent through her work. “I am really interested in seeing the generations understand how important public service is,” said Sabrina Anderson. “I’ve gotten to see that public service can be my dream, and I just want to give that opportunity to other people as well.”
Anderson has a strong passion for leaving a positive impact on others, and as a result wears multiple hats at the County of Ventura, including working both in recruitment and talent acquisition as a recruiter and as the head of the County college and high school internship programs. Her ten years of expertise and experience with the County have equipped her to empower every type of public servant, and ever since she helped develop the “Summer at the County” internship, she has been committed to building and perfecting the internship programs to give students the tools they need to succeed inside and outside of the public sector. “The idea that I get to come into work and help people get jobs [and] get to empower young people to follow their dreams is really cool to me,” said Anderson.
For Sabrina Anderson, helping people has always been at the forefront of her personal missions and values, and with every job she does at the County, she wants to impact people positively. “Knowing that I am making a difference in someone’s life is the best feeling,” said Anderson. “It was always, ‘whatever I’m going to be doing, it needs to be helping people. It needs to be impacting people’s lives.’” And the positive impact she leaves is also a quintessential element of her definition of public servitude. “I love being around people, I think my career path has taken me in the direction of not just the question of ‘How can I work with people the most?’ but really how I can impact people, and public service is that” said Anderson. “Public servitude is doing excellent service for the people who live and work in the County. It looks like caring about people excellently, seeing needs and meeting them.”
Although leading the internship program and recruiting people to work for the County simultaneously is no easy task, Anderson has carried the internship program with her throughout all of her roles since she was first assigned the project that was originally brought to the office of the County of Ventura CEO Mike Powers. The first internship program at the County of Ventura, “Summer at the County”, was created within a civic alliance and was for high-school students looking to get work experience. Following the high school program’s great success under Anderson’s leadership, the Public Service college internship program was born, and she has taken them both with her within every one of her roles since. Even throughout the years, leading the internship program has been a very large passion of hers, and she hopes to “reach the people that maybe others are not thinking about or reaching out to” in order to help young people realize the joy and opportunity of a career in public servitude. And as a public servant herself, Sabrina Anderson hopes to impart the wisdom and meaning that comes with a career in public service to those she teaches, and emphasizes that the quality of work within the County has the power to impact the quality of life of the residents in the County of Ventura. “There is something about just knowing that people I interact with on a daily basis outside of my work are impacted by the things I do inside of my work,” said Anderson. “Public service is being able to, with my job and the things I do every single day, impact people positively. And I love that.”
Her internship programs have struck the hearts of high school and college students and has already begun to inspire them to become public servants following graduation. Athena Lazos, current college intern with County of Ventura IT Services, has explained that the experience has helped her realize her career goals and that she loves being able to learn about different jobs within the County. “It is a blessing to learn about different career paths,” said Lazos. “I love being able to learn more about the field [of public servitude].” Lazos works on project management and risk assessment tasks within her role and commends her program’s tailored one-on-one experience working with the Chief Information Officer, Terry Theobald, and the program’s ability to help her achieve her professional goals. Nolan Johnson, current college intern with Ventura County Fire Department, also agrees that the internship program has helped him realize his career goals, and that his role with the County has further helped him launch into his career as a firefighter. “My current role actually has played a large part in me obtaining those goals, one in challenging me to be a better student, a more effective worker, and to better multitask,” said Johnson. “I would have to say my favorite part about interning is building lasting relationships as I not only serve my community but as well better learn how the logistical side of a fire department functions effectively.”
Eileen Dobzynski, former high school intern with “Summer at the County”, got the call that she had been accepted into the internship program on her 15th birthday, and she worked with the Ventura County Library Services agency as she prepped arts and crafts projects, sorted and unboxed new books/movies, and helped organize and work summer reading events. “My internship gave me a solid base for applying to other jobs and internships in the future,” said Dobzynski. “I gained management and people skills because of the program.” Dobzynski loved being surrounded by people who are passionate about improving local communities through the internship program and enjoyed the spirit of public servitude she found within her role. “It was great to be surrounded by people who were passionate about improving local communities,” said Dobzynski. “Through talking to these people, I became more confident about my ability to make a difference and how I can work to best represent people.”
In addition to changing the lives of young people hoping to build and start their careers or helping the constituents of the County of Ventura find their new dream job, Anderson can be found sunset chasing at the beach or the Cross at Grant Park, and soaking in the natural beauty Ventura has to offer. “There is literally beauty every single place you go [in the County of Ventura],” said Anderson. “We have the mountains, the ocean, the desert, and everything we have here is beautiful.” She also believes that no experience is wasted when it comes to achieving your dreams, and that success is found in the journey, and not the destination. “The real joy and treasure are in the journey, not in any destination ever,” said Anderson. “Nothing is wasted, and the journey and process is all worth it. And that’s my advice to anybody.”
Feeling inspired by Anderson’s story? Visit https://hr.ventura.org to learn more about how the County of Ventura prioritizes career opportunity and cares about the community. While you’re there, find your future role with the County of Ventura by visiting our website: www.ventura.org/jobs and applying to one of our open positions today!