During my internship, I was involved in two main projects: Organizing our storage room and painting the science lab, and preparing the school for the beginning of the school year.
The storage room took up 70 hours of the 160 I worked. My partner Freedom Waalkes and I had to organize years of discarded curriculum, electronics, and papers. We managed to open up the storage room for much more to be able to fit, and teachers were able to find what they needed much quicker than before. I can only hope that, in the future, they will be able to maintain the organization that we managed to establish, and hopefully remove some of the curricula we no longer use. We also found some cool things, such as a tote of film reels, stacks of records, boomwhackers from when the school had a music program, and a play that is a comedic adaptation of A Christmas Carol.
The storage room after organization.
The science lab took around 27 hours to paint between first coat, touch-ups, and clean up. We started at the beginning of our internship with one wall that was scratched up. We continued much later into our internship with the rest of the room. It was a nice change for the room, which has been the same color for as long as many of us can remember, and many of the students have commented on the new color. The walls also look less cracked and cleaner, giving a better appearance to people who are thinking about joining our school.
The rest of our time was spent cleaning, moving, and making different things for the school in preparation for the school year. We helped clean the classroom, organized different cabinets and made signs for the coming school year. We even painted a few doors in our gymnasium. This part was the most eye-opening for me because it showed me just how much work goes into maintaining our school.
I had three goals throughout my internship: effectively communicate with my coworkers and bosses about my work, become more familiar with the employees of a school in a professional setting, and set up mock interviews for my 4-H club as a community service project. I feel as if I achieved all of my goals. I was very easily able to communicate with all of my coworkers and bosses, as I was already familiar with them. I understand now much more what it means to work at a school instead of attending it, which has given me an even deeper respect for everyone in the school system. My community service project went very well, and it is something that my club is planning to implement in the future. A couple of other club leaders in the county also liked the idea and might be implementing it within their own clubs.
My experience in my internship was a very positive one. As someone who is looking at becoming a teacher, it was an amazing experience to learn about the inner workings of a school during the summer months. I enjoyed working at my school through the summer, and I am grateful that I was given the opportunity.
