A working vacation

This week marks school vacation week.  For 3 days, students in our program met as a group at the public library, in public school district offices, and at Boston College -- working together instead of hanging out at home or with friends.  They also started at new weekly internship placements this week within different organizations across the city. 

In conversations this week, students and teachers began discussing possible topics and questions to launch two small research projects this semester.  The first, which actually began last semester, will look into various professional practices, expectations, and experiences at their work sites.  Students designing interview questions and speak with adults at their internship sites and in their communities.

What does it take to be successful in different professions or fields? 

How does educational background relate to success and status in different professions? 

What support do people need to be successful in a field? 

 

In addition to this research, the group has launched a community research project to investigate questions related to interactions and relations between youth and law enforcement officials... paying close attention to ways that English language proficiency and ethnicity can influence these interactions between young people and police.  For the first time, 2 students are placed in job internships at the Police Department.  This provides a unique opportunity to explore these questions from the perspective of law enforcement.  By interviewing police and other law enforcement officials, as well as youth and adults outside in the community, the group hopes to gain insight into the factors that shape how youth and the police interface and perceive one another----and maybe offer ideas for how to improve interactions and understandings of one another.

A view from the bike shop

Last fall, Jon*, a junior in high school, was placed in an internship at Urban AdvenTours--a small private company in downtown Boston that provides guided bike tours, rentals, full bicycle shop & sales. 
(*pseudonym)

Andrew Prescott (owner/CEO) and Alex (bike mechanic & himself a college intern from Northeastern University), both said that Jon transitioned smoothly into the bike shop's daily activities, and that he always demonstrated himself as a conscientious and engaged young person.  Following the internship, Jon earned a standing invitation to drop by the shop anytime to lend a hand, or continue to learn about the business and mechanics of bikes.

 

Each week at the shop, Jon was asked to: 

• Assist with various ongoing projects like taking/stocking inventory, working on product displays, cleaning up, etc;
• Talk informally with staff about professional, educational, and personal interests & experiences; 
• Get  hands on 1 or more bikes each week.  For example, Alex would demonstrate an aspect of mechanics, such as how to remove/clean/replace the bicycle chain, how to fix a flat, how to true (align) a wheel, how to tune brakes and gears.  After showing the concept, as well as any tool needed, he’d guide John to work independently on a bike, a wheel, or some other part, tinkering and learning through trial & error. 

This hands-on quality of the experience was one highlight each week for Jon.  He recognized the opportunity to interact with professionals in their field, while at the same time beginning to learn some applicable skills associated with a fully sustainable form transportation that's also reasonably accessible to many if not most kids.

 
Along with any particular subject, however, such as mechanics (or management for that matter), there comes necessary background knowledge & unique terminology, which creates interesting and quite challenging learning curves for a student to navigate.

Overall, our hosts at Urban Adventours say it's great to have a young person in the shop: (1) for the energy and inquisitiveness that he/she can bring in the morning, (2) for the hands-on assistance he/she can offer to different tasks, and (3) simply because the presence of a novice learner pushes one to keep things fresh.    

Of note, Andrew and Alex have expressed a sense of feeling impressed at the ways that many young people (including Jon) carry themselves, often faced with a range of sometimes competing responsibilities between one's families, school, work, and community.

Last thing, a funny story.. Andrew (who’s been a close friend for years, and in whose business and community-activities I've volunteered in the past) said that when he first got my call about the internship, he asked himself,"S*/! Do I really need this right now?" ...And he didn't call me right back, knowing I might just go away, or didn't really need him in this instance.  In the end, of course, we did connect on the project.  And as partners, we are all better for it. 

Thanks for the support from all our past and present partners.

Feedback from a community partner

Following the fall internships, as usual, we talked with the partners about their experiences hosting student interns.  

Sophia Kim, Program Director at Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center (BCNC) explained, "[The student] was a great fit for our organization."  Since he was already a participant in our programs, the internship allowed him to get a bit of "behind the scenes" understanding of how things work at BCNC.

The student's main tasks while at BCNC were: 

• Doing background reading on the organization, on the history of Asian immigrant communities in the US and in Boston, and related materials in the office library. 
  
• Interviewing staff members about their experiences, interests, and professional practices. 

The student didn’t need too much support. Sophia, who served as the host supervisor, checked in with him weekly, helping the student tailor his interview questions and talking about what he was learning.

Foremost, Sophia said she wished there was more time each day and that it were longer-term to continue with the intern. It was a pleasure having him come to work once a week and getting to know him as a young person. Further, she noted that taking on an intern gives an opportunity to be reminded of how amazingly resilient young immigrants and youth in general are.

What we gained from this experience

The following is an article written collectively by students following the fall 2011 internships:

What we gained from this internship?

We learned a lot about the different workplaces where we went. When you work in a place, you will discover that you cannot solve the problems you encountered like the way that school teach you. Learning theories in school its different because in a job you can actually see the issue and learn about it because books can only give a little information but not exactly what you need to learn about. When you work in a place, you get to know some unintended conditions and how to deal with that. You have to deal with day to day challenges, and we enjoyed that. We also realized the jobs that we are suitable to do in the future, either it's a nonprofit organization or a commercial company. 

Would we recommend this experience to other students?

 The internship provided us with real life first-hand working experience. We would definitely recommend this program to other students because students can learn things from this internship experience that cannot be taught with a text book. They can have the opportunity to learn about a profession from a real expert’s perspective. For example, my internship taught me hands on experience of the professional field that I worked for four weeks. While school only teaches something from the test book, my internship taught me how knowledge can be applied in the real work place. Students also can learn how to be a professional employee. For example, I learned to be on time, respect other people at work place, and how to communicate with new people. In addition, if you would like to work in the similar field from your internship, it’s a great chance to have the real world experiences and see how the field works. Therefore, we would strongly recommend this internship program to other students. 

What advice do we have for future students in this program?

Our advice to the program staff is to send the students to different work places every week.  They can learn about what more professions looks like.  For example, you can send students to different community centers, can compare what is similar and different at the work sites. Or one week you can work with a lawyer, the next week work with a doctor.  Meeting more people in more work places, students can learn about different careers.  Our advice to future students is, first, to be on time.  Arrive early at your work site, 10 minutes before start.  Second, listen to your boss. Pay attention to what they want you to do.  If you are not sure what you are supposed to do, ask again.  Make sure you understand what you should be doing so you can do a good job.  Third, be patient. If your supervisor sends you to do something hard, do it.  Fourth, be ready to learn something new.  Meeting professional people, you can find out how they made different choices in life like with college or work.  Getting more ideas can help you make your own decisions about life.  Last, ask a lot of questions. Write them down. At first, you can be scared to ask questions, but it gets easier.  Some questions: Do you like what you do? Are you happy with work experiences?  What motivated you to choose your career? What makes you want to help kids? What makes you want to do what you do?  Do you have other interests that you want to follow?