By: Laynee Unterkircher
This summer I had the amazing opportunity to intern at many different businesses which include Nicole’s Corner, Mid-Tule Village, Tulia Chamber of Commerce, Extension Office, Swisher County Library, Moore Than Medicine, and finally Swisher Electric. Getting to work at all these different places really helped me learn about many different careers and also helped me learn many new things. For example, at Nicole’s corner which is a boutique and flower shop, I learned how to take inventory and I learned how to make a floral arrangement. Interning at Mid-Tule village helped me learn how to file paperwork and they are senior citizens’ retirement apartments. At the Tulia Chamber of Commerce, I was able to learn what their job is and how to improve my town because before interning there I had no clue they even existed. My time at the Extension office was super fun but also super busy. When I was interning there we were helping get ready for a thing called the Swisher County picnic which is a week for many things for the town to enjoy. I never realized how much time and effort went into planning and getting ready for this event but now I do. This summer I also got to help at the Swisher County Library with the summer reading program. The summer reading program is when kids ranging from three to ten are able to come listen to us read a book, make a craft, and eat a snack for one hour a day for a week. I never knew about this summer reading program and I never knew that so many kids would be interested in reading. However, I was able to watch how excited they got when we began reading. I was also able to intern at my town’s local pharmacy Moore Than Medicine. When I interned here I learned how to run a cash register, how the medication is sorted once filled, and just everything that goes into running a pharmacy. Finally, the last place I interned at was Swisher Electric and interning here showed me how much paperwork goes into setting up electricity at a certain place. Now that you know some of the amazing things I learned I’m going to talk about my biggest challenge which was completing some of the tasks I was assigned. For example, filing paperwork because before this summer I had no clue how but now since I’ve learned I’ve gotten way better. My main takeaway from this internship is that there are so many different careers out there and so many opportunities.
Now I’m going to talk about my communication goal, leadership goal, and finally my professional network expansion goal. For my communication goal, I wanted to be able to ask for help without getting nervous. At the beginning of the summer, this was really hard for me because I’m shy, but now at the end of summer it’s way easier for me to ask someone for help when I’m confused about a task. For my leadership goal, I wanted to be adaptable to change and growth which is something I definitely had to learn and accomplish this summer because of some of the many tasks I’ve never done before. Finally, my professional network expansion goal was to make sure and remember the names of who I was working for and for them to also remember my name because it’s always good to have connections. I had a blast this summer by getting to learn many different things and also accomplishing my goals.
