Journal #3: First Week of Internship

I am glad to say that I have finally begun my first week of my internship. It

has been a small start being that my first day was simply orientation. I was
introduced to 5 other interns, with another intern completing orientation the
following day. I will be working with Nemours Health and Prevention Services in
Wilmington, DE, and am extremely excited to finally start working in the health
promotion field.
At the beginning of orientation all the interns introduced themselves, and I
was very impressed with academic accomplishments and backgrounds of them all.
What was more interesting was that there were multiple projects between all of us
including ones on health professionals and legislation, research, infant feeding, and
asthma, along with mine on community programs. We reviewed the background of
Nemours, and the mission. My senior advisor who led the internship informed us of
how special it was to be selected for the internship being that so many others had
applied for positions with NHPS and were turned away. This, along with her
discussion of some of the activities made me very excited to be there. It was all a
reminder that this was the field in which I dreamt to work. She discussed the
organizational structure in a way that we could each see where we fell in the
department. She also discussed some of the group projects we could potentially be
placed on (such as preparing a tour of the A.I. DuPont Hospital for Children), and
brought up the attendance of events in which the department takes part, such as the
State fair. She also brought up wise computer usage, and briefly reviewed the
computer introductory courses we would have to take before getting started with
our work.
Following the orientation, my advisor introduced us to the Staff, and made an
effort to point each intern out to the staff member(s) with whom he or she would be
working. While my site supervisor was not present, I was able to meet with one of
the employees on my project (the Community Infrastructure Project) on Friday
when I came back to work on my introductory computer coursework. One mistake I
did make was not having the same communication with my senior advisor as I did
with my site supervisor that I would not be able to start my new schedule until the
week of June 2
nd
. Thankfully, I was able to push the hours she expected me to
complete this week to the following week so I could still be on track. Now I know to
be more thorough in my communication and more organized so I do not make
additional mistakes and leave a worse impression. On a brighter side, she was kind,
and the employee with whom I met was very warm and welcoming and seemed
genuinely excited to have a summer intern. I am truly looking forward to working
with them.

Journal #4

This past week has been great in my internship because I have finally been
able to delve into work in my internship. I was finally able to sit down with all 3
members of my team who I will be working with this summer. The first person
oversees events dealing with Kent Kids, and reviewed the health promotion events
they will have throughout the summer. My first event will be June 14
th
in which the
focus will be on being safe during the summertime. Another aspect of my
department (the department of Policy, Community Infrastructure, and Government
Affairs) in which I work is the Healthy Kids Delaware Organization. Another team
member gave me materials to put in the Newsletter for the month of June. Finally, I
met with my site supervisor, who went over the importance of our departments
work with Community gardens in area and evaluating them, and appointed me to
work on putting together an evaluation.
I was very glad to work on the newsletter because I got to be artistic and
creative. Although she gave me the information to put in the newsletter, I had to do
my best to make it attractive and to figure out how to properly arrange the
information in the newsletter using different fonts, alignments and pictures. I was
able to finish it in a little over 2 work days, and was so happy when I was able to
give my overseer the okay on completing it, and that she seemed to really like it! I
appreciated the fact that she asked me to include nutrition information since that is
my biggest passion in the health field and to rely on works from my undergraduate
career. I was able to share a website that many may not know exist but has a lot of
wonderful nutrition-related resources for children and parents. When my overseer
sent it to other people in Healthy Kids Delaware, one asked for inclusion of pictures
from past events, which, thinking back to newsletters I have observed, made sense.
However I did not beat myself up because it was not something I recalled my
overseer originally telling me to include (especially since she did not give me past
event information, but did give me most of the current information. Therefore I look
forward to making others happy with my work on the July newsletter.
I briefly began work at the end of last week on the evaluation. My site
supervisor had pretty much given me the questions she wanted to ask on the survey
of baseline information, but wanted me to word it in a more articulate manner and
put it in a survey form. She did ask me to do some research on the types of gardens
(one of the questions for the managers on the survey) since she did not know of
many. I did not know of many either but was excited to begin researching ,
especially after spending so many hours simply focusing on editing the newsletter.
Even though it was a lot of work I was glad that both leaders on these projects were
very down to earth and warm and kind towards me on the projects.
Aside from my assignments, I got to enjoy meetings with different groups.
The first meeting I had was with the other interns in which my site supervisor had
us introduce ourselves, reflect on what we had been through the past week, and
volunteer to organize group intern events. She also walked us through how to lead a
meeting, as each of us would have to lead a minimum of one meeting. My second
meeting was with my site supervisor and my overseers of my assignments. This
meeting was preparation for a meeting for the following week, during which my site
supervisor asked me to compile information on how one of their partner
organizations could become its own non-profit. This especially excited me because I
took an entire class on starting a non-profit organization, and my supervisor
directed the assignment to me! It was also nice because it was hard to follow
everything that was being discussed in the meeting, but this was something that I
could do instead of simply being in the meeting because it was ideal for me.
I was so happy to do legitimate work on projects this week and to like the
projects. I literally was thinking that this was exactly what I wanted to do work-wise
when I was working on the newsletter, and I was so happy for it. I hope to be
humble with whatever work I am given in the future.

Journal #5

This past week in my internship has definitely been filled with many new
things and lots of progression. The first day was hard for me to focus as I worked on
a community evaluation essay. The second day was also difficult as I was running
late for work and then realized that instead of being 10 minutes late to a meeting I
was 1 hour and 10 minutes late. I was quite embarrassed to walk into the meeting
late since there were so many people from other organizations present whom I did
not know. Thankfully my site supervisor was not upset and my senior advisor kindly
reminded me the importance of the meeting but did not express anger either. Even
though it was frustrating, it was an inspiration to be more organized with recording
my meetings in my planner.
Each week the NHPS interns have meetings with our senior advisor, and one
of the interns leads the meeting. Once again I was reminded of the importance of
reviewing notes when I realized I did not review something I should have reviewed.
Thankfully, the paperwork was in my notebook and I could contribute to the
conversation and the meeting was a good experience. One thing that truly stuck out
was the fact that my advisor informed us that we should indeed contribute to the
conversations in the meetings if we wanted to contribute, and that we were a
significant part of the department. I was so happy to be able to apply this teaching
during another meeting not long after that one.
The first group meeting following the intern meeting was one for Healthy
Kids Delaware, specifically for planning the schedule and participation roles at the
opening of a new community garden. I was surprised and thankful that a simple
event was the complete focus and that it was far from being over my head, unlike
the information I received from a few previous meetings. I made a suggestion when
we discussed the food and volunteered to help in different areas. I was happy that
my verbal contributions flowed smoothly into the meeting. I agreed to participate in
registration, the food demonstration, and I offered to assist in contributing to
nutritious recipes to give to visitors.
Finally, there was my first meeting in Kent County. I met with my team
associate who works on projects with Kent Kids, which oversees health promotion
for children and families in Kent County. The meeting focused on planning when the
community dinners for this year would be, and with which organizations they
wanted to partner. Once again I was able to contribute to the meeting, and everyone
was respectful and pleasant. I truly appreciated the big focus on nutrition, just like
with the previous event. I look forward to getting involved and hopefully
networking with the participating members of other organizations.

Journal Week #6

This past week, the workload was not as heavy or specific. My first day, I
came in simply for a staff meeting, but it was pretty informative and one of the
speakers informed us of something I could easily understand: the gap between the
services NHPS offers and the environmental barriers to the bearing of fruit of those
services. I typed up the minutes from the meeting from the previous Friday in which
the team discussed community gardens. I also typed up an extended list of
discussion points organized by topic for the community dinners, all focused around
healthful eating.
The second day I had a meeting in Camden, Delaware for Kent Kids, one of
the health promotion organizations that my organization (Nemours Health and
Prevention Services). It was harder for me to follow this meeting because of the
depth of details and the larger, more formal setting was intimidating. However I
learned that no matter what I need to take every meeting seriously, whether I am
more involved (ex. the previous community dinners meeting), or whether it is a
larger, more formal setting like this one.
Towards the end of the week, I was able to almost solidify a speaker for the
meeting I was assigned to lead for my fellow interns and me next week. I had
contacted the Program Director for the Weight Management Fellowship Program at
A.I. DuPont Hospital for Children, a special interest of mine since I have a Bachelors
in Dietetics. I was very pleased when he said he would like to come and speak
because I had held more faith he would not be able to (what were the chances
someone of such a high position in another department from my field would be able
to come at such a specific time?). This has taught me to have more faith and take
more chances!
Finally, I was able to partake in my second community event: the
Southbridge Community Garden grand opening. Although I was surprised the
garden space was so small, once I went in I realized there was a great variety of
plants and it would give a significant yield. I assisted with set up, clean up, and the
food demonstration the R.D. on my team did with the elementary school kids who
came to the event. It taught me the importance of humility and patience because
even though the children were constantly competing and were all crowded around
the table, my team associate was doing such a great job with including them and
being kind and patient. I am thankful for all the experiences this past week! Along
with the more specific lessons, I am also reminded of the importance to continue
asking my supervisor/team associates for work and suggesting things I can do.

Journal #7

This past week in my internship has been more relaxed. I continued to tweak
my learning agreement and received the necessary signatures from my supervisors.
After continuously reviewing it, it will still be a challenge to remember to keep
referring back to it, and I must schedule my tasks in my agenda. The rest of the week
consisted of minor activities toward the bigger projects that had been launched.
These included edits to the community garden evaluations, and researching links for
important information to add to the Healthy Kids Delaware website. Researching
information led me to an article on nutrition myths, which actually inspired me to
make that a significant part of the following newsletter since it is one of my biggest
concerns in the field of nutrition. I was happy to hear pleasurable feedback from two
of my associates in regard to these ideas. Another opportunity that came about and
allowed me to express my passions was brainstorming ideas with one of my
associates for the planning of the upcoming community dinners. I was so thankful to
have these opportunities to express my skills and ideas as I had dreamt for a long
time!
Overall, I am thankful for all the experiences of this past week! I have learned
the importance of paying attention and continuously speaking up and offering to
help with different projects (which led to the start of some creative work!). I have
also learned with each of my noted assignments that I must travel past my fears of
reaching out to people, even if it is on a level that is not my norm. I appreciate being
able to receive work projects for which I have passion and receive great feedback
and consideration from my team.

WEEK 8: BREAK




Journal Entry #9

Early in the week, I disappointed myself greatly when I missed a meeting for
a particular partner organization because I assumed it would be at my job site and
ended up being wrong. I was mainly disappointed because this was the second time
I made a mistake in regard to meetings with this organization, the first time
assuming it was going to start an hour later than it was scheduled to take place. I
knew it looked irresponsible and I thought of the imaginary demerits being marked
in my site supervisors head. She addressed it gently at our one-on-one meeting that
week, and was forgiving. She also reminded me of my failure to make a schedule of
assignments that had been given to me, when I already knew that just because my
team associates did not give me a set date that it did not mean I did not need to set
one for myself. She reminded me that I needed to not simply work on things, but to
accomplish certain things to present at the end of the program, and to complete the
tasks on my learning agreement. I have learned that I need to definitely enforce
what is being told to me because it will in fact help me.
This week, one of the big aspects was completing a survey that would be sent
to people involved in community gardens in Kent County, as well as other
community workers. I had my first experience with entering the questions in the
program Nemours uses to distribute surveys and I was impressed with seeing the
different styles of questions that were available for me to use. My supervisor was
very excited when we finally sent them out since we had started working on them a
good while beforehand. It also excited me that we could get closer to the task of
visiting gardens in order to interview their managers.
That Friday, I attended a community dinners meeting at the Boys and Girls
club, a potential (now a decided) site for the first community dinner. I enjoyed the
atmosphere of the meeting because everyone was excited to share her ideas and I
was given the task of taking the meeting minutes. I liked the latter aspect because
even though I did not have the networking experience the other workers had, I was
able to give something that was needed. I appreciated the fact that someone from
the town of Smyrna was there and that there were more individuals from
community organizations that were present than before because it allowed me to
see the variety of people who were interested and I respected that aspect. I also
liked the fact that the conversation shifted to nutrition, because that is the subject in
which I received my Bachelors Degree. I also had the opportunity to remind her
that I had made a list of discussion points about nutrition for the community
dinners. I learned that sometimes, even if you fear being annoying, it is important to
remind others of your work/contribution.

Journal #10
I really appreciated this week in my internship and feel as if I learned a lot
personally. Monday was a challenge because although I had plenty to keep me busy,
it was work that did not require much thought, so I became restless, although I was
glad to have a purpose. On Tuesday, I was privileged to have lunch with the
Executive Director of my department, Nemours Health and Prevention Services,
along with the other interns. She shared her past educational and work background,
and I was surprised to hear that she did not have a health education, but plenty of
experience in hospital management before coming to our department. On Thursday,
we had the additional privilege of meeting with the Board of Directors for the
department, where I was further introduced to the fact that the members had a
variety of educational backgrounds. I was very pleased and inspired because I felt
really free to explore whatever job opportunities that I wanted, and that I did not
have to stay in the health route if I did not want to do that. This made me feel very
free! Although I love health and wellness, I would become anxious at times when I
felt as if I had to stick there, and the reason why I chose the AHS program and
geared away from the clinical route of nutrition was highlighted. I was truly
reminded of my interest in working with people and for everyday people instead of
zeroing in on clinical terminology and numerical data.

Journal # 11

This past week has been a good week of progression. I have continued
working on a profile of the different companies that have either partnered or
sponsored the community gardens of Kent County. I came from a place of feeling
insecure about the importance of the work I had been doing to finally feeling more
confident once I got clarification on what I was assigned to do. I had forgotten that
that I was not working on a study of actual community garden employees doing
groundwork, but actually gathering information from people who would lead the
starting of community gardens, some of which worked in gardens and some who did
not. Once I received clarification, I could take more pride in my work and be more
confident in what I was going to present to the company and to my class.
Furthermore, I was given the opportunity to take on the responsibility of
making a flier for the community dinner we have been planning for this summer. Up
until now, I had not had any significant assignment regarding the event aside from
taking the meeting minutes and contributing my ideas during meetings. I enjoy
knowing that I have multiple things to work on, and look forward to getting started
this upcoming week, and pouring my all into my assignments.