A couple times throughout the year, we write a "journal" entry. In this entry we explain what we have been doing for our fieldwork and gives us an opportunity to talk about and reflect on the struggles we have had to overcome and what we still have to do.
Journal #1 - Getting Started
With issues concerning confidentiality, my fieldwork will be at a disadvantage and therefore I’m not positive exactly what I will be doing, but for right now I am reading and annotating police reports and will be doing research for my mentor. I am concerned about confidentiality and how that will affect what I can do as fieldwork and what I will be able to experience, but I know that my mentor will introduce me to as much as she possibly can.
Journal #2 - Mid Year
Since November, I have gone to visit Bridgewater State Hospital to observe a couple of hearings and was introduced to many other prosecutors, lawyers, the correctional officer that is present in the court, and the judge along with many other court officials. After a couple months of flipping around and not being sure on what my fieldwork would be, I decided to set up donation boxes for a non-profit organization called Project PACK. This is an organization that was created by a prosecutor who formerly was in the same office as my mentor; it collects donations and uses them to create comfort kits for sexual assault victims.
Journal #3 - March
I have successfully set up a donation box and picked it up yesterday. It was at the Mansfield Public Library and was there for about a month and a half. When I checked on it about 2 weeks in, I was surprised by how many donations I had - I was nervous to check it because I wasn’t sure if I would have any donations at all, but the box was basically full.