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THEN
From: Phoenix, Arizona
Internship: Teacher's Assistant in the Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center at the Natural History Museum and the American History Museum
Location: Washington, D.C.
When: Spring and Fall semesters of 2003
The Experience:
I did an internship at the child development center in the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. I helped the teachers in the classroom and in our daily field trips into various museums. I taught sign language to the children, interacted with them as they worked and played. I also did a different internship at the American History Museum. My experience was similar to my first Internship at the Natural History Museum. A new thing I did was to create learning games and played them with the children. They really enjoyed it.
NOW
What are you doing now: taking time off, working, and/or going to school?
I am currently working full-time for Deaf-REACH as a day program specialist as working with the clients who are deaf and have additional challenges of mental illness and mental retardation. I plan to resume my graduate school this fall to either focus on Social Work at Gallaudet or transfer to Arizona State University in Early Childhood Education.
Do you enjoy working and/or going to school?
I really enjoy my job as it applies a lot to education because I work to educate my clients. My job also applies to social work because I work with clients in my day program. I am looking forward to restarting school this fall to pursue my master degree so I can succeed in my long-term goal.
Do you think your FCS major or your internship benefits you now?
Yes, my FCS major has benefited me because now I really adore children; it was a struggle for me to decide on a major. If you really want to work with children, FCS is very helpful because you learn more about children. My internship benefits me now because I had a lot of experience working with children in different child development centers and gained knowledge of how to interact and learn from child and was able to get advice from teachers and teacher aides. It was also a good opportunity to add those experiences on my resume.
What is your advice for future FCS majors/minors?
Think carefully about the number of credits you take each semester. Also, I recommend you to intern at Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center because it was a very rich experience for me. Good luck on your studies so you will succeed in the future.
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