Throughout the course of my internship I have been assigned multiple tasks with some of my team members. Along with that I also have some individual tasks that I need to accomplish in order for our team to move onto the next project. If we are being told to answer the question of how I have advocated for myself during my internship, or seen advocacy demonstrated in other situations, I think I can say that I have made sure that the work I am doing is work that I am comfortable with and not things they are forcing me to do. At the San Diego Zoo's Safari Park a lot of the horticulture work involves intense labor, digging, moving large rocks or plants and even just sitting in the hot sun pulling weeds. I have made sure anything I take on is stuff that I know I can handle, it is all work that I choose to do and that I take on wanting to help my team mates. I am sure that if I ever come across something I don't want to do then I will be sure to tell my mentor. I want to be getting the most out of my internship and making sure that the work that I do is in my limits. Doing so will just add to this great internship experience. So far I am having a great time and I making progress on my project while also fulfilling daily tasks.
We read a post about how to be an intern that everyone remembers (for the right reasons). It was basically a post saying how to make a great, if not good impression on your colleagues and mentors. In the article there are five tips: Always be doing something, don't go to a meeting without a notebook, get to know all of your colleagues early, show up on time or early for everything, and finally dress more professionally than you need to. If I were to check myself on all these I would be able to say that I match all of the requirements except dress professionally, but I think I have a strong reason as to why I don't do this. At the Safari Park, we are always outdoors, getting dirty, pulling weeds and stepping in muddy areas, there is no reason or necessity to dress professionally unless we are attending a meeting or conference in which case I have dressed professionally. I don't really think it's something that is needed to be fixed because my mentors and colleagues always remind me to dress in the most causal clothes possible mainly because of the weather and the intensity of the work. I will continue to follow the first four tips and stay consistent on them, this will also help other people like me more (not that they already don't) but I'm glad I'm working at the Park. Everyone here is really welcoming and I don't think I could be working with nicer people. My first two weeks at The San Diego Zoo's Safari Park have been great and I have started my project as well. But what exactly is my project you may ask. For my project I am creating a crevice garden. Now initially when I say that people automatically assume that I am making a rock garden, but no it's not just a rock garden. My supervisor and I will be using rocks to create crevices in which we will place plants. The plants will vary, most of them being from the countries in the African continent. This project is being created on an island area with walkways surrounding it on all sides, so people can explore the crevice garden from all angles. As cool and awesome as this project might sound there is a lot of preparation work that is needed to be done before, after and even during the construction of this. I will need to keep strong communication and verbal skills in order to stay on top of my game and to always know what I need to be doing in order to get the project done on time. I will also need to be physically in shape to be able to dig large holes for irrigation, move large boulders and shovel decomposed granite from one area to another. Finally I need to be knowledgable about the plants that I am actually using in the garden, and the reason for this is because some plants need more shade or more water and need to placed in specific areas of the crevice garden. I am being supported really well through this project and in my opinion I see this as a whole team effort, it would be nearly impossible if I had to do this on my own. I have support from the irrigation team, other horticulturists and also arborists for this project and I am proud of this. I am really looking forward to see how this piece comes together at the end and how I will be able to come back and say I did this, I created this.
Interview (Part 1) Over the past few days I got to know my mentor and the Safari Park a lot better. To learn more about my mentors and their jobs I asked them a few questions over the course of three days. These are the paraphrased responses I got from them: * What is your mentor's job title and what are your main duties and responsibilities? - My mentor is one of the few leads in the Horticulture department at the San Diego Zoo's Safari Park. Her team is mainly in charge of the more labor intensive aspect of landscaping the park. My mentor's team is responsible for the lower regions of the park and the side areas. The park is split into multiple regions for different teams to focus on so that one person isn't overloaded with a ton of work. In their individual regions my mentor and her team members take care of weeds, invasive plants, replanting, cleaning and also new projects and additions to their areas of the park. * How did you end up doing the job that you do? - My mentor started out in a junior level job when he was at the park. He operated the old monorail system that was used to show tourists around the large animal field at the Safari Park. After doing this for a few years he decided to try something new. He enjoyed the outdoors and working near, animals. However, he didn't want to be the man cleaning up after them. He was then offered a job at the Horticulture department taking care of the plants, and he loves it. He enjoys the fact that he is always around some sort of animal and that he is always outdoors. * Do you consider a career in this area satisfying? And if so in what ways? - He really enjoys what he does, "When you enjoy what you do that is all you need to satisfy yourself". My mentor loves being outdoors and near the animals, he is also able to successfully support his family and himself and that is great. * What is the typical work day like here? - "So typically, we come to work at 6am, change into our uniforms and meet our teams in the office. We then discuss what our weekly schedule is, if it is a Monday, or we discuss what we will be doing that day. Then we grab our tools, snacks and anything else we might need for the day and head over to our designated areas of the park. We work till 9am, and then get our first 15 minute break (we have two 15 minute breaks in the day). Our lunch time is 10:30am and we have a thirty minute lunch. We then have another 15 minute break at around 1pm. In between the breaks and lunch we work on our tasks and then meet at the end of the day for a daily de-brief. Then the team heads home at around 2:30pm." Reflection (Part 2) * How are you getting to and from internship? What's it like to be commuting? - When I first signed up for this internship I was a little worried. I was told that I had to arrive to my internship at 6am and and be there at least 15 minutes early. I immediately was hesitant about accepting the internship because I like to sleep. On the first day however I was too excited to feel the sleep. I woke up that day at around 4:50am and got to the park at around 5:55am and couldn't wait to start. I was really excited and had lots of fun. I think as the days go on I will get more comfortable with the timings but so far it has been good, because I have been looking forward to every day. The drive honestly is not that bad. It takes me between 15 to 20 minutes to arrive with absolutely no traffic. The drive home however is a little less interesting because first of all I'm leaving the park, which is pretty sad, and secondly I always feel somewhat sleepy on that drive home. Otherwise everything is good and I can't wait for the next three weeks! Today was my first day at San Diego Zoo's Safari Park, and I'm happy to say that I had a really awesome first day. Although the work that I did was somewhat tiring, I had a fun time helping out my colleagues and learning about the plants and animals at the Park. The thing that strikes me most about my workplace is that my workplace is the a large open area in the outdoors. I'm not confined to a little office cubical, instead I am working close to animals and working with plants. I really like my colleagues too, each one of them was very welcoming and encouraging and they all made me feel super comfortable in the environment I was working in. Throughout the course of my internship I will be going around and shadowing different members of my team to help them with their daily jobs. My job specifically will be assisting them, but I will also be helping one of my colleagues with a crevice garden that will become my internship project. Something that I like about my job is that I am working with a new person almost every other day, because I am able to learn something new, and learn more, by doing different things. I'm most excited about working on my project. The crevice garden is a really cool addition to a part of the park and I can't wait to actually start putting it together. I think I am most worried about leaving the park. I am worried that when I leave I will miss the experience and I will want to revisit the Horticulture department once again. I can't wait to continue working tomorrow and for the rest of the 4 weeks of my internship.
For my junior year internship this semester, I will be going to the San Diego Zoo's Safari Park. I will be working with an expert in the Horticulture department at the park. Unfortunately I haven't been assigned or connected with my mentor yet. I am excited to learn about what takes place behind the scenes of the park and also about the efforts of landscaping and protecting the plants. Although learning about plants may seem boring, I find it interesting, due to the fact that we learned about plants in the second semester of biology and I was really interested in the topic. I am nervous about meeting my fellow co-workers and also going on the first day of internship. I am also nervous for what the day will look like and what to expect. Other than that I am looking forward to next week and all the fun that it is going to bring.
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