My Summer With C@P

I borrowed the questions from a few of you other lovely interns. I hope you don't find!

1.  Looking back how would you describe your summer with C@P?

It was lots of fun! I was only responsible for the children's programs at my site, due to my later hire, so I got to do a lot of fun activities and often participate with the kids, as they would ask me to join in and do the programs with them as well. At times it could be a bit manic and stressful - some days no one would show up to a program, others you would have more than you had ever expected - but that in itself was educational and rewarding as I learned how to deal with each of these scenarios. All in all, the summer was great!

      

2. What did you get out of this summer?

I got a lot of valuable skills related to working with children, such as picking your battles (fighting for the big things, letter smaller ones go), being fun and friendly but also being in a position of authority and maintaining control, encouraging kids who are losing interest, etc. I also learned how to use some of the programs or websites used in our programs that were new to me, like Storybird and Bitstrips, and gained a better understanding of a work environment. And, of course, I gained valuable work experience!

3. What did you think of the higher ups?

They were incredibly pleasant to work with. I was late to the game this summer and didn't start work until around August; all the higher ups were very polite and friendly and thanked me for filling in and taking the position on short notice. They were very patient as I learned how the system worked and picked up the skills the other interns already had (such as updating the website calendar, posting on the blog and so on) and were very encouraging as I tried to learn, something I usually did fairly quickly thanks to their help. I had no complaints whatsoever!

 4. What could C@P do better next summer?

Maybe provide more to do? Provide more projects or allow us to run more programs? Some days I've had a lot of down town and not a lot to do. There is only so much time you can spend planning. Something else to do on slow days, even if it was something optional as some sites do get busy, would be great.

           

5. What should C@P do again next summer?

Keep hiring interns and keep running programs! I've had such positive feedback from people who participated in the programs this summer, telling me how much they liked their time, and to keep it going would be such a blessing. I would also suggest (even though this may be on a site-to-site basis) to continue offering programs featuring something kids may already be interested in as well as your new programs and websites. The kids liked having a mix of things they already knew how to do (ex. Film a story) and things they hadn't done before (ex. Bitstrips.)