Part of your POL is to present "evidence" or artifacts of your final project(s). Describe the
actual pieces of evidence you will be including in your POL and in what format ( powerpoint, display, a portfolio,etc...) you are thinking of using to present your POL. -For my IPOL, I will be creating a powerpoint. I will have a few slides that have the main points and a few small explanations for each point. I don't want to type out everything for each point because if I do, my audience could just read off my powerpoint. There would be no point in presenting. If I write short bullet point ideas, they are forced to pay attention and listen to me. On the powerpoint, I will have digital artifacts (screenshots) of the work I did that was on the computer. I will also print out a hard copy so each person in the audience will get a full on view of my accomplishments.
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1. How was your work as an intern meaningful to your education and personal growth?
-I felt that my internship was meaningful in my education because it taught me to be more responsible with my time when I have an objective to accomplish. Usually in school, we can make up assignments or get half credit if it is late. In my internship, it is important that I complete my work on time and make sure it is done right. Working in my internship reminded me that I need to keep a strong work ethic in school and in future jobs. Along with my education, being in my internship was very significant in my personal growth. In my internship, I will do something different every day, but I will usually do that one thing for the entire day. This taught me to be more persistent and be able to get past obstacles. It keeps me in check and makes me continue working hard even if the work is sometimes kind of repetitive and boring. This doesn't just include work, this includes everything else in my life. Whether it be studying for a final, or training to get better in sports. 2. How did your view of life beyond high school change or develop during your time as an intern? -As my time as an intern, I didn't really think about life because I was so busy most of the time. Now that I think about it, my view on life somewhat changed. Initially, I thought this internship and any future jobs would be very straightforward and boring. Of course there were some parts of this job that I thought were boring and didn't really enjoy. What it did teach me is that work can actually be fun. Everyday I was doing something new. I gained a new experience every day I came into work. Hopefully in the future when I have a job, it will be just like my internship. I will have new experiences everyday and it will be different. 3. How did communication and/or collaboration at work influence your understanding of professional working environments? -Communicating in my internship gave me a better understanding of its importance in my workplace. Communication was a huge factor because it was used to get things done. I was constantly asking my mentor what needed to be done, how to do it the right way and other things such as whether I needed to leave early or if I was going to be gone on a certain day. It was important that my mentor and I had a complete understanding of things between each other to be productive. I didn't really collaborate with others when I did my work. Alot of it was independent work so I didn't need to work with others to complete it. This made me understand that sometimes when you have an assignment to complete, you will have to sometimes be by yourself. It is important that I am able to complete quality work on my own. If I am able to do this, I believe I would be able to create even better work with a partner. If I can exhibit my skills on my own, I can do this with another person. 1. How was the work you did significant or meaningful to your workplace?
-So far all the work I have been doing is very meaningful to my workplace. My mentor said all the work I am doing is what helps the program get to the next step. It keeps the process moving forward. For instance, the flyers I organized for each school in Imperial Valley are used to recruit more families to join the program. The posters I laminated and cut are used almost as reminders for the children. Each poster has an important message that reminds the children what they need to follow such as exercising and to drink more water. The tip sheets I edited are also used as a guideline for the children. One of the bigger projects I did that was very significant was creating a snack recipe flyer that gave families healthier alternatives as snacks instead of junk food. Finally, data entry is one of the most important things I do. The data I enter helps the institute see if each family is eligible to join the program or not, what eating habits of children at school and home are like, and much more important research. The work I do is significant in various ways. 2. How did your project(s) go from an idea or inspiration to a final product? Explain the processes from the initial idea to the final product and the skills that you used and developed. -I didn't have a final product because the institute requires so much mini projects that requires various skills in order to keep moving forward. I can tell you about my thought process on the snack flyer I created by myself. This was the first project that my mentor gave me in which I pretty much got to do whatever I wanted based on her orders. The idea was to create a snack flyer that exhibited recipes for healthy Spring themed snacks. I thought, kids don't really like boring stuff and want to have fun. My mentor told me to go to Pinterest and look for ideas there. I went there and looked up fun healthy snacks that kids would enjoy. I took anything I found that I thought was creative, healthy, yet still fun and delicious for kids. With the things I found, I organized and created a flyer in a theme I thought fitting to the idea. This project was not very challenging due to my initial background in Microsoft Word and Photoshop. Having some experience in these programs made it a bit easier to complete this assignment. Doing this project did give me more practice in Microsoft Word and gave me a better understanding of the program and the different features it offers. Happy Friday everyone! Well you are down to just one more week left of Internship :(
Compare and contrast the work week with the school week. How are your responsibilities, work, interactions, and time different? How might internship influence the direction of your life? -First off, I didn't go to internship today because I had to take my behind the wheel driving test. The first thing that is somewhat similar is the time period. I work at my internship for 7 hours, almost the same amount of time at school. The only thing different is that I get only a 30 minute lunch break as opposed to a 40 minute break. I don't mind it though because they have a deli that is only a two minute walk away. What I do in this time period is almost the same as what I do in school, I am obligated to learn and do work. The difference is that I spend more time working as opposed to school where we get a balance of lessons and work time. At my internship, most of the things I learn take a 10 minute lesson then I get straight to finishing the assignment. I also noticed that almost all of the work I am doing is independent work. I have done a partnered job only once. Just like in school, I have to be more responsible because I am held accountable for pretty much all of the work I do. If I don't take caution in what I am doing and make sure it is done correctly, I have to face the consequences. From doing this internship in which I work independently alot, I learned how to ask questions. In class I am a bit timid and slightly afraid to ask for help on certain class work. This is one thing that is different from my internship and school, communication is a very large factor and I can use it effectively in the last week of internship and the continuation of school. Wondering what your fellow interns are doing? For today's post you are going to read and comment on 3 other interns' blogs ( located under blogroll tab). Your assignment is
1) Post comments on each of the 3 blogs 2) On your blog - Write down the names of the internship blogs you read/commented AND write down any takeaways that you may have from reading other internship experiences. 1. Christian Bernard- From reading Christian's blog, it seems like he too also has many projects to work on. This is something very similar to my internship. It's also really cool how he seems to be getting a really good balance and variety in his learning of new information. He is learning about nutrition, yet he is also learning about different computer programs and technology. It seems like a fun challenging internship that I too would enjoy. 2. Jacob Rozar- From reading Jacob's internship blogs, I think his work is very close to many jobs in the professional workplace. He get's to attend meetings and talk with clients. One thing that he wrote in one of his blogs was very similar to something I experienced. On his 7th internship post, he said that he would ask if he needed to help with something after completing an assignment. In my internship experience, I have constantly asked if I needed to do something else as opposed to waiting for an objective. 3. Davis Page- It seems like Davis is doing most of his project work on the computer. Along with many other people, Davis too seems to have quite a work load. Fortunately, he is gaining new skills and information while doing his work. From what we have seen A LOT of you guys have developed new habits and mannerisms within your professional internship sites that have led to your success so far. Describe those new habits ( for example: creating TO-DO lists, committing to deadlines, checking in with
mentors, etc...) and how do you think they can help support your academic success in your transition back to school in February. -The only new habit that I feel I have gained is being more communicative. I am constantly checking in with my mentor talking to her about schedule updates, updates on my shifts, and updates on the assignments she gives me. I also ask her for assistance on some of the projects she gives me if I am unclear about something or I don't know how to do it. I feel like this can help me in the next semester the same way it does with mentor. If I need my teachers to know something important ahead of time, I will tell them. If I need to communicate something with them such as what I need help with on any homework or classwork, I will do so. Doing this will keep me in check so that I may have academic success in the transition back to sch Be sure to log-in your hours on your time-sheet. If you lost it, scroll down and you will find the attachment.
Describe 2 new skills and/or information that you have learned/gained thus far from your internship experience. -The first set of information that I learned is something that I learned in El Centro. The reason why the Our Choice program is working in the El Centro area is because it has the highest percentage of obesity in California. 90% of the population in El Centro is Latino. Not many families have the money to buy fresh produce and healthy foods. These families that are poor resort to quick cheap fast food restaurants or cheap unhealthy foods in grocery stores. I also learned that the schools don't actually have a P.E specialist as a P.E teacher and in return, the kids end up just getting free time instead of actually having a fitness program. In addition to this, the P.E teacher only stays in each for school for about 8 weeks then moves to another school. Once he or she leaves, the teachers start doing the fitness programs. Alot of the teachers in the school are unhealthy themslves and are not great role models for the children. The OCNO (Our Choice/ Nuestra Opcion) program specifically created specific guidelines and interventions to help not only the children but adults as well in creating healthier more fit lifestyles for families. I learned that OCNO programs are working very well and alot of the schools are participating and are excited to do these programs. The skill that I believe is a very important skill I gained is data entry. I think this because with data entry, I am not using just one program. So far I have used Excel and a computer program set up by the program. I am learning how to use multiple programs that I could use in the future or be very similar to something I may use in the future. Within doing data entry, I am not just learning how to do data entry itself, but I am learning more and more about the families. All of the information I am entering is off of actual surveys Unfortunately I am not allowed to talk about what I input because it is classified information. Well, today marks the first FULL week rotation of your internship. Your internship coordinators have been visiting some sites already and we are thrilled to see all the work that has been done within one week.
Describe in detail the project you will be working on for your internship. In regards to the project, what are you excited and nervous about? How will it benefit you and the company? -So far, my mentor hasn't really assigned me a large project. She has talked about giving me a more challenging project but I haven't been assigned it yet because I've been doing so many mini projects. These mini projects included laminating and cutting posters and organizing recruitment flyers to send out to schools in order to get more families to join the program. I have also been doing some data entry sending family info to the program. I have also observed some meetings between my mentor and her employees. Today, I even got to join in on a workshop with a child who has autism. My mentor talked about possibly creating or editing flyers to gain more recruitments for the program. This could be one of my huge projects or even additional data entry to help the program understand what is happening with each family. Doing this could help benefit me in learning how to use new programs. I am not nervous about this because I feel that this is something I am somewhat familiar in and I can learn quickly how to accomplish it. Describe the physical space you work in. Try to paint a picture so that we all can visualize what your surroundings and your day are like. Please also clearly indicate the days and hours you will be working at your site. *In addition: Take 5 pictures of your internship site and post them along with your description. -Where I work, it is a very generic looking office space. There are offices, conference rooms, and cubicles. Although it is very generic looking, it is almost like a maze because there is so many hallways and doors. I haven't been able to explore what it is in each section of the building yet because I'm always busy. As soon as you walk in the door there is a waiting room. Then there are two hallways, one main one and a small one. Each hallway leads to into a different room. The main hallway which I go through everyday takes you to the food area where we have a fridge and microwave. After that, to the right is where the main offices are including my mentor's office. To the left is where the internship cubicles are; I work in this section along with the other college interns. I work at my internship Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM with a 30 minute lunch break. This gives me 6 hours and 30 minutes of work time. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I work from 9:00 AM to 3:30 PM with a 30 minute lunch break, giving me only 6 hours of work time. Once or twice a week, depending on mine or someone elses availabilty, I go to El Centro from morning until night time. You have completed your first week of internship. What are some highlights from this week? Describe the project you will be working on? What is the date/time of your site visit with your Internship Advisor?
-So far this week, I've done a series of mini projects. On my second day, I was in charge of sorting all the flyers that were going to be sent to each school in El Centro. Each school has hundreds of students and it took me the entire day to sort out all the flyers. One school even had 1000 students. Today I got to go to El Centro and join in a meeting with one of the P.E teachers with Blanca. We talked about making sure that the teachers were involved when doing the Spark Fitness Program with the children. After this, I uploaded music onto the MP3 players for the fitness programs I will be helping with next week. Before we left, I helped input (classified) data into the OCNO system. Next week and the weeks ahead, I will be going to El Centro maybe twice a week, but this time I will be helping with the programs for the kids. I will be doing some of the fitness exercises with them and observing them. I will probably be entering data afterwards. I haven't set up a date/time with my Internship Advisor because I didn't talk to my mentor about it today. My mentor didn't come with us today to El Centro but I will email or call her to set up a time and date to meet my Internship Advisor. WHO HAVE YOU INTERACTED WITH BESIDES YOUR MENTOR THAT YOU THINK YOU CAN LEARN FROM? DESCRIBE WHO, WHAT THEY DO, AND WHY/WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU WILL LEARN FROM HIM/HER.
-So far I have interacted with a handful of people, both actual workers and interns. First, I met Jennifer. I'm not exactly sure what she does but when I first came in, she got me situated with everything. She gave me paperwork and different guidelines to read before I started actually working. She also gave me the basics of the workspace. After, I met Eileen. I'm not sure what she does as well but she seems to be the person in charge of communicating to everyone. I get emails from her asking me when the next visits to El Centro are, directions, and much more informative help. She has helped me with almost every task I have done so far. After Eileen, I met Griselda. I think Griselda is in charge of data entry, basically she is in charge of entering all the data that the institute receives from researching in the field. After these three main people, I met some of the other college interns. So far I have seen or heard the interns doing something different the two days I have gone in so far. Anything the main workers need help with, the interns help them finish it. I can especially learn from these people because they have been interning longer than I have and most likely are familiar with the programs and different tasks that I need to learn and accomplish. They can teach me how to use these different programs and complete these tasks. What I am most excited about. -I am most excited about being able to travel to Imperial Valley to work with Latino communities in the field. I am glad that I will be able to do hands on work with so many people and helping them. I am also really excited because I get to do this twice a week every week over the course of the entire internship.
What I am most nervous about. -I am most nervous about the communication factor between myself and the people I will be working with. I don't speak Spanish and this project works directly with Spanish speakers and I am a bit scared that the communication between us won't be so well. I am also really nervous about IPOL because it'll be in front of my mentor and possibly some of her colleagues who are all very professional. |
Mentor Interview Questions1) What is the organization's mission?
-To create recommendations and results to congress for future strategies in obesity prevention. 2) What is a typical work day like? It varies and is always different. It can range from different tasks such as data entry to research. 3) What are your main duties and responsibilities? -My mentor's main duties are to manage the studies, budget, and staffing. 4) How is the organization structured? -This organization works with others. They collaborate with many different organizations at different levels. 5) Educational history and work history prior to working at organization? -My mentor was an undergrad studying psychology working to get her masters. She then started working at organizations and working with the youth. 6) Why did you choose to work here? -My mentor chose this organization because she wanted to continue working with the youth. 7) What qualifications, personality traits, or skills do employees need to be successful? -In order to be successful, it is important to have specific skills and abilities such as being responsible or following schedule. 8) What advice do you have about working here? - "Take advantage of opportunities." |