Internship Reflection

During the Fall 2016 semester I had the opportunity to intern with Centro La Familia Advocacy Services, Inc in Fresno, California. Centro La Familia is one of a few organizations/agencies in Fresno County that not only provides social services, educational programs, but they also have advocacy and intervention services in rural and urban areas in Fresno County. I was allowed to intern within the victim services department of Centro La Familia, which is responsible in assisting victims of all crimes.My primary task as an intern was to learn and to help the victim advocates of Centro La Familia.Over the course of my internship I have participated in community outreach and attended meetings. In addition, I have done numerous filings, copies, translations, interpretations and filling out forms for clients. I worked closely with two very experienced victim advocates that help me transition to working in this environment, but also worked with other victim advocates to gain even more insight about the victim services they provide.

I have successfully completed all of the requirements of the student internship program for COSC 494 – Fall 2015.

I directed more than fifty people to their designated booth and helped them set up their belongings. Many of my efforts take the form of direct service, the first stage of service. I was involved with the community by helping people place their belongings, such as jewelry or clothing, on their tables to sell to the community. I had direct contact with the people and this opportunity allowed me to take care of people’s needs. Additionally, I informed people about the tutoring classes offered to students and about the monthly food banks. Many individuals were unaware of this organization and they gained new knowledge about El Centro Hispano. Also, I spoke about my own experience in the organization and handed out flyers about the programs offered by El Centro Hispano. Many Hispanic people were interested in the tutoring programs and were informed about the food banks. These poor and vulnerable people lack necessary resources and require programs for their children to succeed in school and in the future. Overall, I bring awareness to my community about the non-profit organization to help families gain the opportunity to use El Centro Hispano as a

First, I learned that I need further development or additional polishing in numerous facets of becoming an effective communicator, and these aspects are audience analysis and strategy, oral communication, team communication, and corporate communication. After completing the Communication Development Plan, I am beginning to learn how to analyze audiences and develop a thorough communication strategy efficiently. Also, I am learning how to deliver impromptu or planned presentations efficiently, and I am starting to become more comfortable and less hesitant in giving presentations. After analyzing the Communication Development Plan and through class assignments, I have become more creative and relaxed in the team situations. Additionally, I have gained insight on how to effortlessly communicate in a corporate environment, and that I can apply what I learned in this class to my workplace. Lastly, I gained valuable knowledge and insight that can aid my professional growth.

I began my MLS program two semesters before moving from a school-based technology facilitator into an elementary school media coordinator position. I served as a media coordinator for an elementary school three years before moving into the role of a district technology facilitator. In my current position, I work with a team of three other district technology facilitators. We each have a curriculum focus, mine is media. I work with media coordinators across the district and advocate for our district’s media programs.

A community fosters a feeling of fellowship with others who share common attitudes, interests, and goals. In a community, people talk, share, and collaborate. The UIC Honors College brings together students and faculty who desire to learn beyond the traditional classroom setting, and I would like to make contributions to this community.

I have been at my site for about six weeks now and I feel much more comfortable in my current abilities. I have been working on my case summaries and treatment plans further this week. I have realized that keeping a client’s file in order can be a lot of work. Making sure that everything is in the file is very important for any mental health setting, but since my site is a training clinic we are taught to keep our files up to date and have taught me about what can happen if you do not for our future as mental health professionals. As a student who is assigned to check audits (for my graduate assistantship) at the practice I can now appreciate the other side of keeping my own files in order. I like that we have high standards at my site and

S.W. Intern greets S.D. with a smile and thanked her for keeping her appointment. S.D. responds “yeah” and does not make eye contact. S.W. Intern starts with a bit of small talk about Halloween in order to to observe and infer the client’s state of mind.

I have an interest in interning at the Strong-Garner-and Bauer law firm, but when I went onto their website they didn't have any internship information available. I was just wondering how I could find out if they're offering an internship this summer? Should I just call and ask or should I send someone an email? Can you tell me what I should do

Last year, I was a technology coach at Sherman Oaks Elementary. I conducted professional development regarding different technology tools to our staff. I also met with different grade levels, and individual teachers to draft lesson plans incorporating technology to enhance and revolutionized student learning. I have presented workshops at our Sherman Oaks University in English and Spanish to educate parents in regards to their child’s educational journey. I include topics that parents are interested in, and want to learn more about. I have also reached out and partnered up with organizations like the Bascom Library and Sacred Heart to serve the families in my school. I have been part of several focus groups. I worked with a district representative

One of the things that I learned at my internship is that no matter how well a student may perform in a class, this is no sign of being ready for a job in the real world. Even though I had studied my manual before my first day, felt confident of my knowledge in sociology and criminal justice, and presumed to have sufficient people’s skills, I was not ready. My whole life I was convinced that I was strong enough to work as a law enforcer and that I could become a good criminal lawyer. Being exposed to real victims of domestic violence who need to through a legal process while they are suffering emotionally (and many still dealing with bruises on their bodies) has been one of the toughest experiences of my undergraduate career. Despite the fact that I have worked with so many clients in the past months, the story of a 16-year-old client who had been chocked by her boyfriend until she almost passed out during the last week of my internship still touched me. I learned that criminal justice majors don’t necessarily prepare students to deal with the psychological aspect of this career.

The lessons that I have learned from this short internship are ones that I should not have ignored. That includes ideology that social workers should be honest and trustworthy. As I reflected, I have lost my time I considered it not wasted due to the fact I have touched a few lives, while I was there. The main events that happen that seem that I am responsible for that includes an act of God the hurricane. I recalled going to an interview at Recovery First, and I thought the conversation went well and given the internship. I informed the interviewer that I am to complete a total of 150 hours and 10 hours per week I can do my hours Thursday and Friday. I was advised they need someone for the weekend. I responded by informing the

The Cameron/Willacy County Treatment Center is a facility that focuses on rehabilitating low risk offenders back into society. They receive residents that have an alcohol and/or drug problem and help them fight their addiction trough intensive phases including; counseling, fatherhood, diplomas, and nutrition courses. When I first got information of the facility I was very intrigued and decided to introduce myself personally to get more insight. I met with the facility director, Mr. Ruvalcaba and he gave me a personal tour and information on how they ran the facility. Right there and then, I said to myself that I wanted to complete my internship hours with them. Once all the paperwork was submitted, I started my internship with hope to learn as much as I could on how the real world would be.

My internship is conveniently located about a mile up the road from the University of Maryland campus in College Park. Although I don’t have strict schedule I agreed with my supervisor that it would be best to show up in the morning when most of the employees are working in order to communicate and work with them more efficiently. When it comes to responsibilities, the buildings and facilities tracking report is the most time-consuming and demanding responsibility I have been assigned, as it requires me to follow several steps, pulling different reports from the accounting system to reconcile and later double-check my work, taking at least one quarter of my time in the office monthly. Also, my responsibilities also require me to compile reports on information and the anticipated cost of future scientific conferences and identify and report ConcurGov rejects to travel specialist, both consuming about a tenth of my time in the office. Finally, the rest of my time is divided almost equally among special projects with the deputy director and the Chief of fiscal services that range from creating special documents on word and excel to double checking accounting in reports and getting trained by one of the specialist on what to do in special situations in the reports or doing individual training with FMMI courses on AgLearn.

While I was doing my internship, I worked in the newly created Vocational Center. The Vocational Center was the brain child of my supervisor Cathy Zuback. The Vocational Center had been running for three months unofficially before I started my internship and I had the privilege of being there for the grand opening on June 7th, 2017. The Vocational Center exists to help residents of the mission create resumes, job search, prepare for interviews, and get the necessary identification that they need to get hired.