Internship Week 3 Blog 2

What are you thankful for in your internship experience?

I am thankful that I was able to get an internship at an organization that helps people. That makes many people's lives better. All the people that work there are there because they genuinely want to help keep these people safe and teach them. They aren't there for any money or recognition. I am also grateful that I am able to be a part of helping those people with them. I have read through and edited a few lessons and by putting together their new website, I am helping to get the word out about the company and hopefully that is able to keep more people from being abused. I am also grateful that all the people at SEEDS are so nice to me. I feel like I have made some really good connections with people. My mentor told me that she would love to write me a letter of recommendation for colleges and talk to people she knows at colleges I am interested in. I am really enjoying the experience and am grateful for every minute of it.

Internship Week 3 Blog 1

Describe one challenge that arose this week at your internship site (related to the work the company does). How did your mentor and their colleagues solve this problem?

My mentor, Stacy created curriculum for people with developmental disabilities. The curriculum teaches these people how to act in public and interact with people so that they are not taken advantage of and abused. She then goes to schools or individuals that need to be taught her curriculum and either teaches it herself or teaches the teachers at a school how to teach it. On Wednesday, my mentor took me with her to a school that she is working with to teach them her curriculum. There were two classes we were going to visit. One class went smoothly but it was her first time being to the second class and it didn't go as smoothly. The second class didn't have their own curriculum, they were trying to share the same curriculum with the first class. Normally this would have been fine, except that the first class was mild to moderate disabilities and the second class was severe disabilities. This means that the first class is able to understand and retain harder and more difficult information. The second class, on the other hand had students who could barely talk, let alone understand a lot of the stuff my mentor had ready to teach them. The class became very chaotic and everyone began getting out of their seats and stopped listening to the teacher give the lesson. Stacy happened to have brought her flash drive that had picture from a simpler curriculum SEEDS has almost finished and she was able to teach the lesson from those pictures in a way that the kids could understand.

This is the picture off the front of the book/lesson my mentor was teaching that day.

Internship Week 2 Blog 2

How do you see yourself growing or changing over the course of your internship???

So far over the course of my internship I have become more independent. When I first started I did exactly what the y asked me to do and then when they asked me to make a couple of changes I would do just what they asked again. I did what they asked well and I did it fast, but I have come to realize that I can figure out what they would ask me to do before I show it to them. In a sense I am now able to work ahead and waste less of my mentors time. I feel like in the beginning of my internship, I wasn't really sure what they expected or wanted, but now I understand the company and my mentor better and I can do things I know she wants without her asking me. I think after internship is over, I will be able to take this independancy to future internships I will have and it will impress my mentor and I might get a job?? Through this internship, I also see myself becoming more social with the people I work with. At first I didnt really talk to the office manager who sits near me any more than I had to. But recently I find myself starting conversations with her and just talking to her about regular stuff, outside of work. Now that we are being more social, I enjoy going to internship more and have more fun there.

Internship Week 2 Blog 1

Descibe a technical/skill challenge you faced that affects your ability to complete your project...

This past week, I have been working on the SEEDS website. I have been making it look more professional, adding pictures and making sure there are no typos. The pictures I had to add were from pdfs and they had writing next to them. The first technical/skill challenge I encountered was that I didnt know how to take the text out of the picture without photoshop (a program that SEEDS doesnt have). I had to use Publisher (which I didnt know how to use before two days ago) to cover up to words. The next technical.skill challenge I came across was that I didnt know how to change a document in publisher to a jpeg. This was a problem becasue the only way I could get that picture that I just spent so much time and energy on onto the website was if it was a jpeg. After a lot of research and playing with it, i figured out how to change it to a jpeg and get it on the website. I am now an expert on publisher and jpegs!!! and taught it to my mentor and office manager.

Internship Week 1 Blog 2

Describe the company culture at your internship, including how people interact, communicate and work together.

At my internship it, everyone is pretty loud and comfortable with each other. Stacy, my mentor is always going in and out running errands and going to meetings. When she comes in the office she is almost always on the phone, then when she gets off she starts talking (very loudly) about her day so far and what have we been doing? She laughs and yells and talks on the phone then yells some more then talks on the phone then goes to her office. When any of us want something from some one else we just yell it to the other room. She'll ask the office manager what time someone's coming by or tell me to get her the business cards all from her office. When people come in she just yells at them to come on in to her office and sit down. We also have people with developmental disabilities come in and clean or organize for us. They're really nice and very social. The first time you meet them they act like they've known you forever. In the office, everyone works together or with each other. We are all on the same page and everyone moves along to the next thing with each other. Overall I enjoy the enviroment at my internship and I am getting a lot done.

Internship Week 1 blog 1

Who is your mentor? Describe his or her life, education, career path and more.

My mentor is Stacy Everson. She is the founder and executive director of SEEDS Educational Services. She went to Dominguez Hills State University and got her Bachelors degree in nursing there. She also got her adult and family education credentials. Stacy worked as a nurse for a while, until she realized that she didn't want to be a nurse for the rest of her life. She began working as a family counselor/educator at developmental centers around San Diego. She started noticing that people with developmental disabilities were taken advantage of, abused and didn't know how to act in public. Stacy then started SEEDS Educational services and began writing curriculum for to help people with developmental disabilities interact better in public and protect themselves. She has since been able to help people with disabilities understand relationships, boundaries, and abuse awareness/prevention. Stacy teaches and sells her curriculum everyday. She coordinates public speaking sessions and projects. She also asses people with disabilities to see where they are at and what they have to learn. She is happy with how far SEEDS has come and hopes to retire in 5 years.

Internship Scavenger Hunt

Our first day of internship we went on a site visit for half the day. We met the people we were going to work with and wereable to see and get to know the place we were going to be working. While we were there we answered questions and then wrote the answers in paragraph form. Here are my answers:



To get to my internship site visit I had to wake up at 8:50 and I left at 9:20. I ate Cap’n Crunch with Berries for breakfast. Then I drove myself to my work site, which is in Old Town, and I looked for parking. It took me 20 minutes to get there then 20 minutes to find parking. There was only 2 hour parking and paid parking available and the trolley parking was full. I finally found close free parking and got inside the office at 10:02.

When I walk into my work place I see my mentor and the office secretary. I also see the pizza guys from the Pizza Bella’s right next door. There was also a man trying to fix the computer today. My mentor is Stacy Everson. She is the founder of SEEDS education and she has a BA in Nursing. During my internship I am going to be working with a business major and an SDSU student to re design the SEEDS website. I will also be working with the psychologist to build and create a curriculum for special needs kids so that they learn what is socially acceptable so that they are able to avoid being abused. Hopefully, through my work at SEEDS many more disabled kids will escape being abused and will live a happier more accepted life. During my internship, I will be working Monday through Friday, probably from 8-5.

Around my work site there are a lot of other apt buildings where people work. There is a law firm across the way and there is the trolley station down the street. The office I will be working in is in a courtyard that has many other businesses in it. For lunch I could go to In-N-Out or to the pizza place in the courtyard. I will probably bring myself a lunch too sometimes. To get to my internship, I will either be driving myself or my mom will take me. After the workday is over, I will go home.