The three people I have spent most of my time around during my externship have been 3 of my supervisors; Megan, Colin, and Erica. While initially I thought I'd spent more time learning from my official mentor, and then later the volunteer coordinator for SDHRS, Emma (who went on a European vacation after graduating from USD, so has been unavailable), Megan, Colin and Erica have taken on the task of being mine (and Ben's) mentors, and teaching us about all that goes on in SDHRS according to their different jobs. Megan works primarily in the adoption center, Colin in the store, and Erica in both areas.
They have been incredible mentors to me over the past few weeks, and an important reason why is because they all have very different personalities and styles of doing things and I have adapted to each. Erica is very "go, go, go" and always pushes me to work harder and learn more. Colin is the opposite, he is very relaxed and easy-going, always approachable and understanding. Megan is somewhere in between, and also the person who works closest with me as an intern. Outside of their jobs, they are all such funny and compassionate people, that I can't help but want to do my best when we're working and to not disappoint them. I guess what I'm most grateful for is that I truly like my mentors and that I have gotten the opportunity to learn from them in ways that will help me grow in the future as a student, worker, and person. Each and every moment with them has taught me something new, whether it be technical information about how inventory works or our adoption process, or about dealing with so many types of people and adapting to new situations and problems as they come.
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Because I am interning at the same location as last year, and have already answered a similar prompt (with my feelings and answer being the same this year), I created my mind map to answer the questions "Why did I go back to the San Diego House Rabbit Society?" and "What am I getting out of it?"
For me, internship and school projects have not been similar at all. And the thing is, I'm not sure there are any specific skills I've learned in school that have helped me during my internship, but rather how I've grown in school that has helped me. Over the last few years, I have changed dramatically as a person, and I think if an younger version of me had been doing my internship, I wouldn't be enjoying it as much as I am, and I would not be as good at it. Whether the changes in myself are a direct result of my time at High Tech High International or not, the way my confidence, social skills, and ability to handle obstacles and anxiety when I need to have grown are powerful tools that I am using every day, in and out of internship. A younger version of me buckled under pressure and overthought every mistake, but I think the constant changing of my surroundings has almost forced me to develop these skills.
I am so much more comfortable making mistakes than I used to be, and I am so much more confident in my ability to get things done that before as well. I second-guess myself less. When a supervisor of mine asks me to do something, I don't do it with the expectation that I'm making a mistake, or that I will disappoint them. This not only helps me in internship, but is valuable skill for me to improve upon as I move on to college. Pictured below: me handling Sprinkle, our two month-old rabbit everyone loves, Cyndi Lopper, taken as her namesake plays on the radio, and the cork board of one of my supervisors, taken as I was doing office work, because it was the most interesting thing to take a picture of. As a mini-project, Ben and I are creating "how to" videos showcasing what we do as interns at the San Diego House Rabbit Society in hopes that it can be used to show future high school interns what daily life is like there. We are the volunteers that are there every day, and so we get to see each and every change happen right then and there: every new bunny that comes in, we know it first. Every change to the schedule or new event planned, we make the flyers. But it is also a lot of routine work, and Ben and I hope to show all this through small videos we make.
By clicking the link below, you can watch us do a "how to" on pen cleaning. (Bonus video from when Ben messed up). https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCneBeaYI5mhZhNQ3KfPlALXcmgqS-JNm As hard as it is for me to admit it, my internship is very different from last year, even though i am working at the same location. In the year since I last worked at SDHRS, a lot of new volunteers and supervisors have started working here, and it's changed the way I do the work I need to. It is difficult to explain, but I was used to one style of leadership, and now it's different, and I need to adapt to it. Some tasks are done differently, there are different procedures for health checks or adoption forms, and sometimes its confusing for me. I'd like to think I knew everything about what my mentors were going to have me do, but I didn't, and I don't. I've learned that I need to take a step back, and almost pretend I am re-learning everything, so that I don't get caught up in thinking I know something only to make a mistake.
My mentors (my official mentors, along with other regular employees at SDHRS) have helped me with this learning curve simply by being understanding of it, and always being kind and helpful when I need them to be. I really appreciate the way they take things in stride and never make me feel insecure for having messed up or not knowing something even if it was obvious. Below are three separate videos of Ben and I interviewing Emma, who is not our technical mentor (she isn't here on Fridays) but is the person who oversees volunteer activities and works closest with us during our internship. 3 days into my externship, I am excited to learn more than I did the previous year. There is now a set program for month-long interns, with certain goalposts each week, and certain things that interns will learn each week from different mentors. These things vary from daily rabbit care, to working with potential adopters, to learning about how SDHRS works with its vendors to get food fro rabbits and products for the rabbit store. Most of the stuff that interns are required to have learned by the end of the month are things I'm already familiar with, and so this week I have stuck to tasks that I already know. Starting next week, that will change. My mentor and I have created a schedule for me that allows me to work in different areas of SDHRS and learn new things. For this, I am also working some weekends to help with rabbit-related events (such as Bunny 101, a class required for people adopting rabbits, and Hoppy Hour, where rabbit owners and their pets can socialize), and also attend an event-planning meeting, where I will see and learn how events are planned and executed at the San Diego House Rabbit Society.
Below are three pictures from my externship. From left to right: the volunteer corner (where we sign in/out, keep lists of task that need to be done, and keep supplies we often need on hand), Gregory the rabbit after pen cleaning, and Stash the rabbit out to play in a big pen (rabbits are put into bigger pens so they can get exercise they might not otherwise get, as the regular pens are smaller and kept close together to accommodate as many rabbits as possible, so there is a rotation schedule of who goes "out to play" when). On the Friday before I start my externship at the San Diego House Rabbit Society, I don't feel nervous. I feel calm, and excited. This shelter was my internship location during junior year, and the month I spent learning how to take care of rabbits, helping visitors find a rabbit to adopt, and teaching kids and future bunny-owners about rabbits was an amazing one. Maybe I'm nervous about being back after so long, nervous that things have changed and I need to re-learn things, but I know the volunteers at SDHRS: They are kind, generous, and welcoming people, so I'm not actually nervous about having trouble getting back into routine. The same managers are still there, and my mentor for this year is not the same one I had last year. I'm excited to get to know her more this coming month, the same way I got to know my previous mentor. Her name is Patricia, she always brings her dog into work, and we all get a chance to play and walk him during our lunch breaks.
While I don't have a project idea in mind yet, I am excited to complete another project to benefit SDHRS, a place that has continually welcomed me and helped me grow. I have added an image as my header that truly represents SDHRS: it is taken during a session of "Hoppy Hour", an event held on weekends for rabbit owners to come together and let their rabbits play. |