Post 10: The End, December 13th 2011

I dont really have any final thoughts about my WLE. Today I did a lot of work making sure everything was ready to finalize the video but towards the end of the day I needed a break so I just opened the window and looked outside. The view is amazing and it really helps me clear my mind. I LOVED working at the Envision Support Office, the atmosphere of the office is one I work great in. One where everyone knows each other and people help each other out. I enjoyed the random conversations I had with people as they came in through the door. I think that I would actually consider working for Envision, which brings me to a pretty important event that happened. During a meeting with all the board members and communications consultants Bob decided to show my video to get it approved to put on the web. I was asked to come into the room and the people said they loved my video and told me that after I graduate from college, if im looking for a job to give them a call! that definitely made my day and helped me finish the day strong! (: And this is exactly how it will affect my future decisions. After working at the SO i know what type of environment I work best in and I know that working here can be a possibility. Now the only thing to do is to see what other options I have and make a decision on what it is I want to do with my life. All in all i would have to say this experience was DEFINITELY worth while and I will miss it. 

Post 9: Life at my WLE

Today I presented my video at the town hall meeting and I think that it was a success. I got a lot of positive feedback and everyones reactions made me feel a lot more confident about the video than I was. I was a little nervous because I was not sure if it was good material but when I saw that everyone loved it and wanted to use it it definitely gave me a confident boost. After I showed the video I was able to sit in for the rest of the town hall meeting and see the way those are run. They talked about some of the goals they were aiming for and one of the things that I found interesting is that there meeting are very similar to many things that we do at school. I noticed that they give each other feedback and that they prop each other as well. I also noticed that they do a lot of group work and they also have the roles of a facilitator, recorder, etc. After the meeting I went straight to work, making the changes to video that were suggested in the meeting. It took more time than expected because iMovie crashed unexpectedly and I lost a lot of changes I had made the pervious weeks. It was a lot or work but by the end of the day I was back on track! I think that as an intern I have improved in the aspect that I can work on my own, I dont depend so much on the guidance or instruction of my mentor. Also I have learned to problem solve on my own so instead of going to Nicole when I got stuck I am able to just solve it on my own. the motto I had to stick to was "just make it work!".. i may have had to change my plans a couple times but you gotta do what you gotta do to make it work. I think that the location makes it a great place to work. It has an amazing view (since we are on the 9th floor) and it is literally next door to rite aid so if you are ever in the need of anything that is the place to go. It is also across the street from bart and surrounded by SEVERAL places to eat. Not only that but there is diversity in the food they have, it can literally satisfy any craving you have. The only down side I can think of is that the office itself is not that big. There is not much personal space but besides that I love it (:

Post 8: Professionalism 

In order to find my WLE and get hired I had to email Bob Lenz about taking me on as an intern but since he was out of the office so much he referred me to someone else, Naomi. I then had to email her asking if she was interested in taking me on as an intern and she asked me to call her so that we could go over the details. During the phone call I had to make sure to use the appropriate language and to sell myself as much as possible. It was a little difficult because i have gotten used to making a good first impression in person but have not had to practice doing it over the phone. After questioning we went over what I wanted to gain from this experience and it was then that she said she would love to have me as an intern. The most effective way of finding a job and getting hired is using connections. If that does not work than the best thing you have to rely on is being professional. If you are dressed and prepared like you actually want and deserve the job people will notice, it will allow you to stand out. As a result of my WLE, I think being professional or a responsible adult in the work goes beyond professional dress and professional language. I believe that the way one behaves and interacts with others plays a huge role as well and I have been able to see that while at my WLE. Since my desk is the one as soon as you walk in the door I get to watch and observe a lot of what goes on at the office and something that i've noticed is that even though there are things that others do that may irritate a worker they still treat that person just as they would treat anybody else. I heard one of the workers mention that there was one person that always brought her busy work she was talking about how she finally confronted that person. What surprised me the most is that later that day that same person came in and they went into a meeting together and got a lot accomplished. I was a little astonished at how professional the relationship between them was, there wasnt any sort of tension or dispute between them but they got done what needed to get done. I really admire both of them because they taught me a new aspect of being professional, you have to work with your coworkers whether you like them or not. 

Post 7: What I Learned

Throughout this WLE Project I have had the opportunity to enhance my video skills on imovie and my communication skills as well. Something very important that I learned was that I work the best when a project is assigned to me and I am allowed to decide how to use my time and what to do. I have more trouble coming up with a project on my own, im more of a getting it done person than idea person. The way I learned this was through comparison to last years project. Last year I came up with the project on my own, which wasnt as strong as I would have liked it to be, where as this year my mentor already had a list of possible projects for me. I picked the one that interested me the most, which was the video, and then just worked on making it really strong. I am much more proud of this years project than last years. I think that the main challenge throughout this WLE, however silly it sounds, was orienting myself in Oakland. I am very bad with directions and moving constantly from the Support Office and Envision took a little getting used to. On my first day I got lost for about half an hour and the following week I was asked to walk to Envision and I hadnt payed attention to the directions so I walked about 6 more blocks than necessary. Also since i took bart to Oakland i also got to experience getting lost on bart as well. This is something simple but overcoming this challenge i think is definitely going to come in handy in almost every situation. I learned that I am passionate about working with technology and media and that i am not passionate about sitting down in an office all day. I loved creating the project and being able to play around with the program to learn the different effects i could add. I was not very fond of all the work that went into editing, it was very tiring just sitting there; i am more of a movement type person. My creativity was put into play during the whole project. The entire video required creativity; coming up with questions, figuring out where I would interview, who I would interview, what pieces of the interview i would use, what colors, what pictures, what music, all these things and much more had to be decided and it was all up to me. If my project is successful it will have affected the entire school because they would be able to finally be fully enrolled and that means that they can receive more funding. It could also make it easier to fully enroll other schools. Something that I believe now that I did not before is that I could go into education some day. I know that i do not want to be a teacher but i learned that you dont have to be a teacher to have a job dealing with education. I would consider it because i like how it feels to know that what im doing is making a difference in someone elses life. If someone where to ask me how my project was important my answer would be simple. It is helping advertise the school in a more interesting way that could reach not only parents, but teenagers as well. I think that what I learned throughout the duration of this project will allow me to get more creative in future projects because i have acquired skills that not everyone has. When i have to give a presentation some will use powerpoint and i will be able to use imovie. 

Post 6: Leadership Skills

For my project I am using various leadership skills. The two main ones include Completing Projects Effectively and Communicating Powerfully. Completing Projects Effectively encompasses managing my time and setting goals for myself to complete the project on time. Communicating Powerfully is getting my point across in a strong and persuasive way. I feel that I am using this leadership skill very well because at the beginning of the project I created a proposal for the video and it included deadlines that I set and so far I am on track, even a little ahead. I also have showed the rough draft to several people and have gotten good feedback from them. I feel that a way to improve Communicating Powerfully is to add a couple more interviews to the video and add some spanish speakers so that it can reach a wider variety of people. These two leadership skills are crucial for this project because if I do not complete it on time or in an effective not only will i make myself and the school look bad but I will damage my grade on this project and risk graduating on time. I have been able to see my mentor at work and have noticed that she uses a combination of all the leadership skills daily. As the one in charge of all enrollment for envision school there is a lot she has to do. Not only does she have find ways to advertise the different schools and keep track of ALL the different documents that are sent in but she has to report back to a higher authority and stay in communication with all the schools to remind them of the enrollment deadlines. She helps makes the brochures and sets up the info sessions and student shadow days, i honestly admire all the work she does because it is not something everyone is capable of. If I had to pick just one skill that she uses it would have to be Thinking Critically. In order to do things that appeal to parents and teenagers and constantly having to modify information and material to keep it "modern" she has to really think outside the box. Its not an easy task and she really does have to think critically about all the different aspects to get the work done. 

Post 5: Progress on my WLE Project

My day today at my WLE was not very interesting, it was a lot of work. When I got to the office I took a seat in one of the comfy seats in the waiting area, took out my laptop, served myself half a bagel, and got to work. I edited different parts of the video the whole time. I went through each interview and listened for strong things that each student said. I cut those pieces and in the end tried to match them with the appropriate question. I also went through all the Envision pictures that Nicole had and picked out the ones with the best quality to use in the video. Something that I had not thought of doing but came to me while I was working was to start to look for the right song. I put on the radio and listened while I worked and as a song that I found interesting came on I wrote down the name and author. And that was most of my day. Editing, Editing, and Editing. Nicole and I both have the same goal in mind for the video and we are on the same page as of what needs to get done. She has been very supportive so far and has offered a lot of good ideas along the way. I still have not lost the excitement for the project, even though it is very tedious work its worth it. 

Post #4. Project Brainstorm

Well when starting my WLE i was very nervous about the project because I had no idea what I would want to do. Luckily during the first week my mentor gave me many projects she had already come up. Since she works with Envision she is familiar with the requirements of the project so she had some ideas of what she would like for me to do. During me first day there we sat down and went over the mentor guide and as we were filing out the packet given to us she started explaining some of the projects she had in mind. The one that stuck out to me the most was the video project. She wanted me to make a video to increase enrollment at Envision Academy. It would contain student and teacher interviews and footage of fun events and pictures as well. My goal was to make a video that when someone saw it they would get a "feel" of the school. When Nicole told me this idea i immediately got very excited. I love using programs such as imovie and doing projects that involve creativity and I know people can enjoy. I completed my proposal that day and was ready to get started on it. I am very excited that I will be making something that can be used for the next couple of years and that the school can use to help them advertise themselves to the public. I have already completed all the interviews and started the actual video. The reason that I started so ahead of time was because it was a fairly difficult project and would require a lot of work so I wanted to make sure I had enough time to complete a strong video that is well done. In academic seminar i think more than anything i will just be getting ready for my presentation at the end of WLE because i am all set project wise. (:

Post #3. My Role

My main role during my internship is assisting Nicole who is in charge of Enrollment. I dont have a specific title but they call me all sorts of stuff since I do different things. Sometimes i am at the office and other times i am at EA either working on the video or doing interviews and getting footage for the video. I do different tasks every week but because my project is quite a big task they all revolve around the video for the most part. My tasks include preparing for interviews (coming up with the questions and finding students/teachers), conducting the interviews, sitting in on classes, editing footage and trying to gather other footage (such as community meetings, dances, exhibitions, etc.). There is not really a typical day for me. The things I have to get done are mostly the same, working on the video, but the way i get it done varies each time. For example, the first day I was at the office the whole day and worked on preparing my proposal. The second day I went to EA and sat in classes and recorded the majority of the interviews. This week the office was closed because of protesting so I had to go to EA once again and there was a Job Shadow Day going on so I got to get more footage. I worked in Nicoles office there and got to see what there parent conferences are like. I really enjoy working with Nicole because she is very flexible in what I am doing each week and a great help in making sure I get what I need to complete my project. 

Post #2

Excused.. on the road! Was on a college trip with the school where we visited 8 colleges in 4 days. Had an amazing experience and am glad I was able to be part of it

Post #1

10/11/2011
The name of my workplace is Envision Support Office.  It has various functions, the one that I am working directly with is Enrollment. The office itself is small but is part of a larger corporation, a district to be exact. The business is located in Oakland and on the ninth story of a beautiful building. It is really fancy and even requires you to sign in before being allowed up to the office. Once upstairs you go to the last door and enter a fairly small office but still with enough room for several employees. All the desks are close together, close enough that you could easily talk to your neighbor. And there are a few separate offices for the ones with higher positions. There about a total of 15-20 employees in the office, but not all are always there. Something interesting is that many of the people there have work outside of the office so are rarely actually IN the office. This workplace hires people that believe in community and are able to form relationships with each other.  People that are flexible and most importantly able to work as a team (in groups). Everyone there has a different level of education but for the most part they all have some sort of college degree. My work place serves staff, parents, and students. The strengths of my workplace are that everyone supports each other. The people are willing to put aside what there doing to help out someone else and offer ideas when needed. It is not a competitive atmosphere at all, it is really nice. I think the weakness of my workplace is the space, there is minimal space. Its not really bad but I bet it would be nice to have somewhere to sit and eat or more room to work. Besides thatit

For my second internship. I'll be working at the Envision Support Office in Oakland.