I can’t even begin to count the number of questions I had about my internship at Nichols School before I even started the job. Over winter break, I must have emailed my supervisor at least once a week with a new seemingly silly question: Can I bring a lunch? What is the dress code? Where should I park?
Four weeks later, I have a steady routine of getting lunch with my supervisor in the cafeteria every day at 1:30 p.m. when I arrive. Dressed in business-casual attire, I pull into the parking lot every Monday, Thursday, and Friday and park my car in the one spot that always remains open, as if it were waiting for me.
I didn’t establish this routine immediately, of course. When I arrived on the first day of my internship, I could hardly locate the office in which I would be working. The desk that I now proudly call “mine” was not arranged in a very user-friendly manner (likely due to its role as the “junk desk” for the past few months of its existence). I was guided around the campus (which is laid out like a small liberal arts college) by my supervisor and introduced to so many people that my head was spinning. I was assigned my generic “intern” email address, which has since been changed to reflect my name, and not just my role in the office. All in all, it was an overwhelming experience, but I quickly adapted, and although I’m still growing into the Nichols lifestyle, I’m so much more comfortable in my surroundings now.
After my first day, which I can only describe as my “orientation,” I was quickly tasked with writing assignments. My second day on the job, I was writing a newsletter that was to be emailed to grandparents, informing them of their grandchildren’s experiences at Nichols in the winter season. I was also asked to write my first story to be published on the Nichols website. These two initial assignments were so much fun because they challenged me to bring the skills that I had learned sitting in Dr. Foster’s classes into the “real world.”
Since then, I have written several more stories for the website, each one a new learning experience. I’ve also begun putting together a social media marketing plan, which has been an amazing educational opportunity for me. As someone who is generally very confident in my skills, I was knocked down a peg when I saw all of the comments my supervisor had initially made on the plan, but I was immediately brought back up when I realized that this was the reason I had applied for an internship all those months ago. Now, I crave the corrections and constructive criticism I get on each assignment I complete. Every time I click “Accept All Changes” in Microsoft Word, I know that I’m going to be leaving the campus that day having learned something new.
The past four weeks at Nichols School have been an amazing experience for me. I’m very far from being out of questions to ask, but I’m very eager to seek out the answers to those I do have.
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