Essay On Job Shadowing

A job shadowed an educator at the Leslie Science and Nature Center. I was the only student from Summit Academy to job shadow someone working there. My host's name was Zach, and I’ve known him for a little over a year. Zach’s primary job is educator, but he also works with a few of the animals.

Zach spends his days teaching the kids about science and nature. Every week has a different theme, so he does something new every day. The day I followed him was focused on tricksters in children’s stories. Every day starts with a small art project for the kids to wake up with. After the projects are put away, the kids will have a quick snack while a story is read to them. Then, all the camps come together for a brief introduction to the camp, where the staff members act out the story of Dr. Eugene Leslie and his wife Emily. Then the educator will lead one or two activities focused on their theme. When I was shadowing Zach, he had me introduce and explain a game to them. Since Zach is allowed to handle some animals, he’s usually the educator that leads any discussions about animals. Occasionally, he’ll hold one and let the kids pet it. Sometimes he has to switch camps in order to show animals to …show more content…
Although I would love to work in that environment, getting to go on hikes every day and hang out with animals, I believe that there are too many drawbacks. For one, they have barely any benefits. All they really have is sick days. I plan on having kids, so I need health and dental insurance. I also don’t think I’d be able to handle working with kids so often. By the end of the day I’m so tired that I don’t have the energy to do anything else. Also, I know a lot of people that work there and many of them work one or two extra jobs just to be able to pay their bills. I think that it would be too stressful for me, I’d rather just have one job so that I could come home and spend time with my