Cutline:From left, Eliza Whitehair, Jane Schafer, Claire Pomer, Sergiu Trinca, Nate Jordan and Nick Casey shared their experiences as local interns on January 16. Photo: LAL
A half a dozen Harwood Union students reported back on the benefits of internships undertaken during this school year and in the case of one student, a three-year internship.
Under the guidance of teachers Rachael Potts and Sarah Popowitz students prepared and presented PowerPoint presentations for friends, family, and staff at the high school on January 16.
NICK CASEY
Nick Casey kicked it off with a report about his time interning at the law firm of Darby, Kolter and Roberts in Waterbury. He said he wanted to explore an interest in law as a career and explored criminal law and family law. He was able to sit in with attorney Darby Herrington, attend hearings and learn to digest complex legal documents. He also learned to navigate the Vermont statutes online.
One of his takeaways was that strong reading/comprehension skills were critical along with research skills. He also pointed out that advancements in AI meant that those in the legal profession were able to process things like hundreds of pages of medical records more quickly.
He acknowledged that maintaining his schoolwork and other activities along with his internship hours every week was a challenge.
SERGIU TRINCA
Sergiu Trinca followed with a report on his internship with the Harwood Unified Union School District where he worked with Shannon Wisdom on district communications, undertaking and producing a variety of pieces, including school district newsletters and writing about administrative structures, preparing pieces for local papers, working on the Harwood Union handbook for substitutes.
Trinca said he was initially nervous speaking in front of a room of administrators and district leaders, but got through that and enjoyed the hands-on experience as well, as learning to modify his communication style for each audience.
He said the combination of analysis and hands-on work helped him learn well and said that those he was interacting with were interested in his work and willing to listen.
JANE SCHAFER
Jane Schafer’s internship was at Warren Elementary School where she worked with a speech language pathologist/interventionist. Explaining complex conditions and interventions in easy-to-understand language she discussed helping kids learn to say “R”s, working on stuttering and hearing loss issues.
Schafer said that she learned that “this was exactly what I want to do in my life,” and said that she enjoyed the challenge of using many different types of tools and teaching techniques to reach students and help them succeed, comparing it to her work as a ski instructor when it comes to meeting students where they are.
She concluded by challenging those in the room to take a slow and detailed look at how they use their mouths and tongues to form the letter R.
ELIZA WHITEHAIR
Eliza Whitehair was up next to report on her internship at Brookside Primary School where she worked with one of her former teachers in a third- and fourth-grade class. As an intern she was able to create lesson plans and lead lessons for the class. She also got to try her hand at managing whole class behavior and work one-on-one with students during math.
Her work helped her become more self-directed and more confident and improved her communication skills, she said.
She chose to intern at Brookside Primary School because she wanted to explore going into education as a career and said that after this work she thinks it is what she wants do pursue.
CLAIRE POMER
Claire Pomer has been interning with The Valley Reporter as the paper’s Harwood Union correspondent for three years. As part of that work, she has also worked with the Waterbury Roundabout as a freelancer. During this time, she said she improved her writing skills, learning to cover many different types of stories from those specific to Harwood to budgeting to community features and local governmental initiatives.
She improved her notetaking, photography and interviewing skills and pointed out that quotes are the backbone of a good story. As important as taking notes is, she said, is being able to understand them afterwards. Now, after three years as the Harwood Union correspondent she gets pitched stories. This work, she said, provided a constant source of learning as well as consistent weekly deadlines which she met with stories of 900-1,000 words.
NATE JORDAN
Nate Jordan followed with a report on his internship at Platform Environmental, a well drilling and soil remediation firm, where he learned about well-drilling as well as the equipment, small business management along with the whys and hows of soil remediation. He learned to appreciate how hard small business owners work to run their companies.
He said that he was curious about blue collar work and also curious about hands on work. It was challenging, he said, to balance his school work, the internship, and outside activities. His internship left him more confident, particularly when communicating with professionals and also left him with the understanding that this profession may not be right for him.
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