PRE-INTERNSHIP POSTS
FIRST POST: Describe your hopes, goals, and fears for your internship. Please make sure your blog entry covers all three. Consider your job placement, what you know of the company, what you’ve talked about with your mentor and how you see this overall experience fitting into your education, your life, and your future.
INTERNSHIP ORIENTATION DAY is on Wednesday, March 22, 2023
As part of the Internship experience, students will do an internship orientation visit before the beginning of Internship. The intern (student) is expected to communicate with his/her/their mentor in order to set up the specific details of this site visit (time for the visit, when to arrive, where to go, what to wear, where to park, etc.).
On Wednesday, March 22, 2023:
--If your mentor has submitted the Commitment Form AND your parent/guardian has submitted the Handbook Form, you will conduct your site visit instead of coming to school. For this day to count for attendance, you will need to complete the pre-internship blog posts, including uploading a selfie with you and your mentor to your blog, by 10:00 PM.
--If you do not have an internship, or we do not have BOTH the Mentor and Handbook forms on file, you are expected to attend school on March 22nd. The focus of the day will be in finding an internship and getting the forms completed. Ideally you would come to school in the morning, complete these forms, and then go on a visit in the afternoon.
--If an organization requires you to come on a separate day, you must come to school on March 22nd. Please communicate with your teachers about a non-March 22nd site visit.
**When in doubt, please have your parent/guardian communicate with Karen about your attendance!
What is an orientation visit? Think of it as internship orientation. The purpose of the visit is two-fold. First, this is an opportunity for the mentor to make clear the expectations and requirements for a successful internship. Second, to confirm that this will be an appropriate and good fit for the student’s internship experience.
During the site visit students will:
1.Figure out how to get the site and where to go!
2. Meet their mentor and other colleagues at the site.
3. Learn more about their role as an intern at the site.
4. Observe what professional dress looks like at the site.
5. Complete a mentor interview & take a photo with your mentor.
--You will receive the mentor interview handout during internship support time on Tuesday, March 21st. This will help you in completing your second pre-internship blog post.
6. Learn about expectations and logistics for the first week of internship.
7. Brainstorm ideas and begin to develop a project idea (this can change over time).
8. Have fun!
SECOND BLOG POST: Orientation Reflection– Use your Mentor Interview as part of your reflection.)
What goods and/or services does your company provide to the community and how do they consider their role in the community, responsibilities to society? What is your company's (or mentor’s) mission statement? If they don’t have one, write it! How do you see it in their work?
Describe and brainstorm the project you'll do at internship, including the skills and technology you need to do it and what you hope your project looks like as a final product.
-Which skills (academic, creative, technical) will you utilize and/or develop while you work on this project? -How will the project benefit the organization?
-If you don’t yet have a project, suggest some for your internship.
Visual Requirements: 3 images
#1. Post an image of you with your mentor. Please include a caption with your mentor’s name and title.
#2. Post an image of the front door of your internship site and/or at your work station on site.
#3. Post one additional image from your orientation visit. In the caption, explain why you selected this photo from your site visit.
FIRST POST: Describe your hopes, goals, and fears for your internship. Please make sure your blog entry covers all three. Consider your job placement, what you know of the company, what you’ve talked about with your mentor and how you see this overall experience fitting into your education, your life, and your future.
INTERNSHIP ORIENTATION DAY is on Wednesday, March 22, 2023
As part of the Internship experience, students will do an internship orientation visit before the beginning of Internship. The intern (student) is expected to communicate with his/her/their mentor in order to set up the specific details of this site visit (time for the visit, when to arrive, where to go, what to wear, where to park, etc.).
On Wednesday, March 22, 2023:
--If your mentor has submitted the Commitment Form AND your parent/guardian has submitted the Handbook Form, you will conduct your site visit instead of coming to school. For this day to count for attendance, you will need to complete the pre-internship blog posts, including uploading a selfie with you and your mentor to your blog, by 10:00 PM.
--If you do not have an internship, or we do not have BOTH the Mentor and Handbook forms on file, you are expected to attend school on March 22nd. The focus of the day will be in finding an internship and getting the forms completed. Ideally you would come to school in the morning, complete these forms, and then go on a visit in the afternoon.
--If an organization requires you to come on a separate day, you must come to school on March 22nd. Please communicate with your teachers about a non-March 22nd site visit.
**When in doubt, please have your parent/guardian communicate with Karen about your attendance!
What is an orientation visit? Think of it as internship orientation. The purpose of the visit is two-fold. First, this is an opportunity for the mentor to make clear the expectations and requirements for a successful internship. Second, to confirm that this will be an appropriate and good fit for the student’s internship experience.
During the site visit students will:
1.Figure out how to get the site and where to go!
2. Meet their mentor and other colleagues at the site.
3. Learn more about their role as an intern at the site.
4. Observe what professional dress looks like at the site.
5. Complete a mentor interview & take a photo with your mentor.
--You will receive the mentor interview handout during internship support time on Tuesday, March 21st. This will help you in completing your second pre-internship blog post.
6. Learn about expectations and logistics for the first week of internship.
7. Brainstorm ideas and begin to develop a project idea (this can change over time).
8. Have fun!
SECOND BLOG POST: Orientation Reflection– Use your Mentor Interview as part of your reflection.)
What goods and/or services does your company provide to the community and how do they consider their role in the community, responsibilities to society? What is your company's (or mentor’s) mission statement? If they don’t have one, write it! How do you see it in their work?
Describe and brainstorm the project you'll do at internship, including the skills and technology you need to do it and what you hope your project looks like as a final product.
-Which skills (academic, creative, technical) will you utilize and/or develop while you work on this project? -How will the project benefit the organization?
-If you don’t yet have a project, suggest some for your internship.
Visual Requirements: 3 images
#1. Post an image of you with your mentor. Please include a caption with your mentor’s name and title.
#2. Post an image of the front door of your internship site and/or at your work station on site.
#3. Post one additional image from your orientation visit. In the caption, explain why you selected this photo from your site visit.
Weekly Blog Posts
Week One: April 12- April 15th (Blog post due Sunday, April 16th by 10pm)
Please make sure to keep track of your Internship Hours on this timesheet.
Choose two of the following & post a thoughtful response on your blog.
You may do them at any point during the week, but make sure both are done by 10:00 p.m. on Sunday.
Please write at least 100 words per prompt question. Answer 2 questions (so, 200 words minimum)
1. What has been most interesting about our first week of internship? What is most surprising?
2.What has been a challenge for you this week? How did you (or are you) dealing with this challenge?
3.What is something that you appreciate about your internship site or mentor? Explain.
4.Compare and contrast the work week with the school week. How would you compare the two experiences? How might your internship experience influence your next semester of school? And how might school influence the next time you intern or start a career?
Visual Requirement: Post THREE photographs to your blog. For each photograph, include a caption (see caption instructions below)
How to Write a Caption
1st Sentence: Explain what is happening in the photo in present tense. Answer as many of the 5 Ws (Who, What, When, Where, Why) as applicable
2nd Sentence: Usually past tense and gives background information about the photo or the situation. The focus should be on sharing interesting information with readers and telling a story.
3rd Sentence: (if necessary): Gives a quote from someone who was involved in the photograph activity.
Week One: April 12- April 15th (Blog post due Sunday, April 16th by 10pm)
Please make sure to keep track of your Internship Hours on this timesheet.
Choose two of the following & post a thoughtful response on your blog.
You may do them at any point during the week, but make sure both are done by 10:00 p.m. on Sunday.
Please write at least 100 words per prompt question. Answer 2 questions (so, 200 words minimum)
1. What has been most interesting about our first week of internship? What is most surprising?
2.What has been a challenge for you this week? How did you (or are you) dealing with this challenge?
3.What is something that you appreciate about your internship site or mentor? Explain.
4.Compare and contrast the work week with the school week. How would you compare the two experiences? How might your internship experience influence your next semester of school? And how might school influence the next time you intern or start a career?
Visual Requirement: Post THREE photographs to your blog. For each photograph, include a caption (see caption instructions below)
How to Write a Caption
1st Sentence: Explain what is happening in the photo in present tense. Answer as many of the 5 Ws (Who, What, When, Where, Why) as applicable
2nd Sentence: Usually past tense and gives background information about the photo or the situation. The focus should be on sharing interesting information with readers and telling a story.
3rd Sentence: (if necessary): Gives a quote from someone who was involved in the photograph activity.
Week Two: April 16th- April 22nd (Blog post due Sunday, April 23rd by 10pm)
Respond to two of the following prompts & post thoughtful responses on your blog (Please write at least 100 words per prompt question. Answer 2 questions (so, 200 words minimum)
You may do them at any point during the week, but make sure both are done by 10:00 p.m. on Sunday.
1. How do you see yourself growing or changing over the course of your internship? How do you see your role developing at your internship?
2. What do you hope to take away from this internship?
3. Describe/Brainstorm your project. You’ve been at internship for over a week now and you might have an idea of what your internship project will be. If not, now is the perfect time to brainstorm! What will you be doing? What will the final product look like? Which skills (academic, creative, technical) will you utilize and/or develop while you work on this project? How will the project benefit the organization?
4. What is the biggest challenge you face at your internship? How do you deal with this challenge?
5. What is a success you have had at your internship? What is something that you are proud of having done?
Week Two Visual Requirement: Post THREE photographs from internship to your blog. For each photograph, include a caption. (For a reminder of how to write a caption, see Week One.)
Week Three: April 23rd- April 30th (Blog post due Sunday, April 30th by 10pm)
Respond to two of the following prompts & post thoughtful responses on your blog (Please write at least 100 words per prompt question. Answer 2 questions (so, 200 words minimum)
You may do them at any point during the week, but make sure both are done by 10:00 p.m. on Sunday.
#1.Project update: You are now 3/5ths of the way done with your internship. How is your internship project going? Describe an update on the project details and share out the process from beginning to where you are now. What did you learn about yourself through working on the internship project(s)? Discuss challenges, solutions, skills utilized & gained, and overall learning achieved. Who can you ask for help?
#2. Free Choice: Please take this opportunity to write about something interesting about your internship. If you have had a lingering question or topic you wanted to include in your blog posts but haven't yet, post it now! If not, think of something! Though not required, try to make it entertaining for your readers.
#3. Internship Education: Has your internship influenced the way you think about school/education? In what way/s? What new courses of study or new major might you pursue?
Week Three Visual Requirement: (3 photos)
1. Post a photo (or include a visual representation) of your project in process.
2. Post your two favorite photos of the week. In the caption, explain why you posted these photos: What does each mean to you? What does each tell us about your internship? Your growth? Your mentor, business, or organization?
Respond to two of the following prompts & post thoughtful responses on your blog (Please write at least 100 words per prompt question. Answer 2 questions (so, 200 words minimum)
You may do them at any point during the week, but make sure both are done by 10:00 p.m. on Sunday.
1. How do you see yourself growing or changing over the course of your internship? How do you see your role developing at your internship?
2. What do you hope to take away from this internship?
3. Describe/Brainstorm your project. You’ve been at internship for over a week now and you might have an idea of what your internship project will be. If not, now is the perfect time to brainstorm! What will you be doing? What will the final product look like? Which skills (academic, creative, technical) will you utilize and/or develop while you work on this project? How will the project benefit the organization?
4. What is the biggest challenge you face at your internship? How do you deal with this challenge?
5. What is a success you have had at your internship? What is something that you are proud of having done?
Week Two Visual Requirement: Post THREE photographs from internship to your blog. For each photograph, include a caption. (For a reminder of how to write a caption, see Week One.)
Week Three: April 23rd- April 30th (Blog post due Sunday, April 30th by 10pm)
Respond to two of the following prompts & post thoughtful responses on your blog (Please write at least 100 words per prompt question. Answer 2 questions (so, 200 words minimum)
You may do them at any point during the week, but make sure both are done by 10:00 p.m. on Sunday.
#1.Project update: You are now 3/5ths of the way done with your internship. How is your internship project going? Describe an update on the project details and share out the process from beginning to where you are now. What did you learn about yourself through working on the internship project(s)? Discuss challenges, solutions, skills utilized & gained, and overall learning achieved. Who can you ask for help?
#2. Free Choice: Please take this opportunity to write about something interesting about your internship. If you have had a lingering question or topic you wanted to include in your blog posts but haven't yet, post it now! If not, think of something! Though not required, try to make it entertaining for your readers.
#3. Internship Education: Has your internship influenced the way you think about school/education? In what way/s? What new courses of study or new major might you pursue?
Week Three Visual Requirement: (3 photos)
1. Post a photo (or include a visual representation) of your project in process.
2. Post your two favorite photos of the week. In the caption, explain why you posted these photos: What does each mean to you? What does each tell us about your internship? Your growth? Your mentor, business, or organization?
Week Four: May 1st- May 6th (Blog post due Sunday, May 7th by 10pm)
Special Blog Assignment for Week Four: Mentor Profile
Interview your mentor
You will be required to write a mentor profile when you return to school. This interview will be the basis for this assignment. For helpful information, please see Link to Mentor Profile assignment
In general, you will want to know and understand who your mentor is. Describe his/her/their life, education, career path and more. What did they do to get this job? Did they envision themselves with this job when they were younger? What has his/her/their journey been like? Record this information (write it down, record it, do whatever you need to capture the interview).
POST #1. (This post will be more than 100 words) Post the highlights from your mentor interview on your blog. Choose 3-5 specific quotes and explain what makes these quotes meaningful to you.
POST #2: What lessons or experiences offered the most growth for your mentor?
Week Four Visual Requirement– Mentor focus (2 photos)
a. Please post a picture of you with your mentor. If that isn't possible, post a picture of your mentor. If you are doing an online internship, please post a screenshot of you with your mentor.
b. Post an image that represents something unique about your mentor (e.g. what your mentor likes to do when not working, a hobby, your mentor's education, your mentor's favorite sports team, where your mentor grew up, etc).
Special Blog Assignment for Week Four: Mentor Profile
Interview your mentor
You will be required to write a mentor profile when you return to school. This interview will be the basis for this assignment. For helpful information, please see Link to Mentor Profile assignment
In general, you will want to know and understand who your mentor is. Describe his/her/their life, education, career path and more. What did they do to get this job? Did they envision themselves with this job when they were younger? What has his/her/their journey been like? Record this information (write it down, record it, do whatever you need to capture the interview).
POST #1. (This post will be more than 100 words) Post the highlights from your mentor interview on your blog. Choose 3-5 specific quotes and explain what makes these quotes meaningful to you.
POST #2: What lessons or experiences offered the most growth for your mentor?
Week Four Visual Requirement– Mentor focus (2 photos)
a. Please post a picture of you with your mentor. If that isn't possible, post a picture of your mentor. If you are doing an online internship, please post a screenshot of you with your mentor.
b. Post an image that represents something unique about your mentor (e.g. what your mentor likes to do when not working, a hobby, your mentor's education, your mentor's favorite sports team, where your mentor grew up, etc).
Week Five: May 7th- May 12th (Blog post due Friday, May 12th by 10pm)
Special Blog Assignment for Week Five: Exit Interview with your Mentor
After you and your mentor complete the Exit Interview, please pick two of the following prompts to answer on your blog. You can expect to use this information for your iPOL as well!
iPOL Prep- Please carefully review the requirements for your iPOL.
Special Blog Assignment for Week Five: Exit Interview with your Mentor
After you and your mentor complete the Exit Interview, please pick two of the following prompts to answer on your blog. You can expect to use this information for your iPOL as well!
- What did your mentor say about your strengths and areas for improvement?
- Did anything your mentor said surprise you or challenge your assumptions?
- How do you plan to use this feedback to improve your skills or work habits in the future?
- Did your mentor provide any advice or resources that you found particularly helpful?
iPOL Prep- Please carefully review the requirements for your iPOL.