ENVR 393 Internship Conclusions
Summary
I began my internship on Monday, May 16, a week after I finished up classes at Dordt. I jumped right into things starting with programs with school groups. Sunday and Sarah, the two Sioux County naturalists, the other intern Hailey, and I did all sorts of activities the first few weeks with various school groups across the county including things like fishing, canoeing, kayaking, hiking, and archery. During the time between programs, we did lots of planning for the rest of the summer. I worked mostly on planning for my library program while the others did summer camp planning. We also prepared for Outdoor Skills Day which was one of the big events of the summer. Over 200 kids attended on June 9. They …show more content…
Most new experiences I was able to observe before I myself participated, so it was not so nerve-wracking seeing it done before I did it. When handling the kestrel for the first time, Sunday was able to show Hailey and I a few things before we tried. However, in new situations that no one had any experience and I was the first one to give it a go, I just told myself I could do it and acting confident. That worked well for most situations. Once others saw my example, it encouraged them to give it a try. Also when working with kids, once kids saw other kids do things like touching the live animal first, their confidence increased and they were able to touch the animal as well. For most people, trying something new is frightening. However, just knowing that someone before has done this thing and seeing someone else do it makes it seem all the much more …show more content…
Before this summer, I thought I had pretty good communication skills. I soon realized that they could use some improvement. I was good at communicating with people I knew and people my own age, but my skills with kids and people higher up the totem pole could have been better. Part of it was due to awkwardness, but some it was attributed to my shyness. This caused me to hesitate to ask questions when I was unsure of something. I quickly learned to more bold otherwise I would just have to ask more questions later; I also feared making a mistake, so expressing my uncertainty increased my confience as a communicator. On a different note, lack of communication at the office between certain people caused lots of tension. I don’t think that better communication would have totally fixed the issues betweeen these people, but it would have saved a lot of unnecessary drama. Communication is essential in the workplace, and it is a skill that could always be improved not matter the
Summary
I began my internship on Monday, May 16, a week after I finished up classes at Dordt. I jumped right into things starting with programs with school groups. Sunday and Sarah, the two Sioux County naturalists, the other intern Hailey, and I did all sorts of activities the first few weeks with various school groups across the county including things like fishing, canoeing, kayaking, hiking, and archery. During the time between programs, we did lots of planning for the rest of the summer. I worked mostly on planning for my library program while the others did summer camp planning. We also prepared for Outdoor Skills Day which was one of the big events of the summer. Over 200 kids attended on June 9. They …show more content…
Most new experiences I was able to observe before I myself participated, so it was not so nerve-wracking seeing it done before I did it. When handling the kestrel for the first time, Sunday was able to show Hailey and I a few things before we tried. However, in new situations that no one had any experience and I was the first one to give it a go, I just told myself I could do it and acting confident. That worked well for most situations. Once others saw my example, it encouraged them to give it a try. Also when working with kids, once kids saw other kids do things like touching the live animal first, their confidence increased and they were able to touch the animal as well. For most people, trying something new is frightening. However, just knowing that someone before has done this thing and seeing someone else do it makes it seem all the much more …show more content…
Before this summer, I thought I had pretty good communication skills. I soon realized that they could use some improvement. I was good at communicating with people I knew and people my own age, but my skills with kids and people higher up the totem pole could have been better. Part of it was due to awkwardness, but some it was attributed to my shyness. This caused me to hesitate to ask questions when I was unsure of something. I quickly learned to more bold otherwise I would just have to ask more questions later; I also feared making a mistake, so expressing my uncertainty increased my confience as a communicator. On a different note, lack of communication at the office between certain people caused lots of tension. I don’t think that better communication would have totally fixed the issues betweeen these people, but it would have saved a lot of unnecessary drama. Communication is essential in the workplace, and it is a skill that could always be improved not matter the