Tales from the Internship #1: Meet Lauren

This past semester, I counseled many freshmen and sophomores who were seeking internships. Several of those students have been in touch with me about how things are going so far and what they are learning. This summer, I’ll be featuring their experiences on my blog. This week, meet Lauren Jones, a rising sophomore who participated in the Major and Career Exploration (MACE) program this spring. Enjoy her story!

Dreams DO Come True. And Freshmen DO Get Internships!

By: Lauren Jones, ’14

It is the eve of my departure for my first job ever, and I’m admittedly a little nervous. However, I’m thrilled to have this fantastic opportunity! For the next month or so, I am going to be working as a Governor’s School Leader at the Summer Governor’s School for Agriculture (GSA) at Virginia Tech. I have experience working with children from pre-school to middle school, but this will be my first involvement with a program for high schoolers. I’m nervous about how I’ll handle working with this age group, but I have confidence that I can use the skills I’ve gained at William and Mary to my advantage!

Photo courtesy of www.aee.vt.edu

I became interested in this job after graduating from the GSA program in the summer of 2009. While I was a student, I found that the challenging curriculum, engaging staff, and friendly students all combined to create one of the most enriching and educational experience I had ever had. All of the coping, communication, and time-management skills I learned at GSA came in quite handy during my first year at the College. After I graduated from the program, I kept in touch with many of the friends I made, especially one of the leaders who was a great friend to me during that month, Sam. Sam’s dedication to the program, friendliness, and enjoyment of her job inspired me to apply to be a leader too!

This spring, Sam sent me the application to be a GSA team leader, knowing that it was something I was very interested in. I quickly scheduled an appointment with Ashleigh Heck at the Career Center. She helped me review my resume, gave me some tips on writing a quality cover letter, and encouraged me to apply, albeit a little late, for a chance to be considered. I completed the application, attacked my resume and cover letter (they were optional, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to include them!), and mailed it off with my fingers crossed.

After what felt like YEARS of waiting, I received a phone call one evening from the program’s director informing me that I had gotten the job! I could barely focus on what he was saying because I was so excited about the good news.

It’s been a month since I received that call, and I’m just as excited now as I was then! Tomorrow I start training, and I will be sure to keep you updated about my trials and triumphs over the next month. I believe that having secured this position as a freshman in college has helped me think more positively and confidently about my future. I don’t have a major (yet!), job history, or even fully formed idea of what I want to do with my life after graduation, but I think this job will help me understand my strengths and weaknesses and learn about the directions I might want to take with my education and career in the future.

I’m off to finish packing and get a good night’s sleep because I’ll have to be up pretty early tomorrow to get on the road to Blacksburg. Wish me luck!

~ Lauren J.