final assignments

Final Paper: Reflection of Internship

Over the summer of 2018, I got the chance to have four jobs. Through working while

taking the Learn & Earn Business Internship class, I got the opportunity to develop and build the

professional skills that I would not have been able to obtain during the school year. This class

made me reflect on the work that I have done at the end of the day. If I did not take this class, I

would not have taken the time to reflect. The goals that I have set for myself during these

internships for the summer are to build professional connections, gain teamwork skills, become a

more effective and efficient speaker, be a better problem solver, and to gain technical skills.

The Youth Enrichment Services is a private, non-profit organization that provides

affordable and impactful sports-based youth development and leadership programming for

Boston children and teens. Before working for them over the summer, I was a YES kid and

volunteered through their leadership corps program. Every winter since I was thirteen, I would

come into their office and down to the shop to help out with preparing equipment for the

weekend where the kids will go out to ski and snowboard. Over the weekend I also volunteered

to teach the kids ski and snowboard. Without YES, I would not have become a certified ski and

snowboard instructor. Matter of fact, I would not have had the chance to ski or snowboard

because my family could not afford the high expenses of the sport.

This summer I am grateful that I could help them out by assisting the marketing director,

be the outdoor adventures assistant activities coordinator, be an office assistant, and help with

track and field as a coach. As an office assistant, I did a lot of tedious work like scanning, filing,

data entry, and entering surveys. I did a lot of reporting and writing which helped me to become

a more effective speaker and writer. Before this summer, I always had trouble summarizing what

I did effectively and I did not quite know what was important and what was not. I disliked

teamwork and was given projects where I had to work with others. Through these projects, I

learned to grow as a team member by contributing my ideas and coming to conclusions with

everyone. I did not know that you had to be tech-savvy in marketing though by working with

YES, I learned how to use several tech-based applications in marketing. For an example, my

coworkers taught me how to use photo-shop, publisher, InDesign, etc. I did not know that in a

non-profit that there was even a marketing department.

At this workplace, I discovered that I have endless career paths in the field that I would

like to pursue in. I met many people and built on my socialism skills. When I am the outdoor

activities assistant coordinator on trips with my boss, he explains all the financial literacy that I

do not understand. He explained to me how the real world works when you start working. He

explains to me how he got to where he is now, how salaries are determined, how I can achieve

my goals, and how I am the only one that can truly determine the future that I want. It is amazing

to see how different people from different fields can come together as one. We all talk during

breaks, lunches, and car rides on topics of work and personal life. As everyone is older than me, I

feel as though when we have conversations everyone is teaching me life lessons. That is what I

have discovered that I love a lot of working at a place like this. At YES, we take kids out to

extreme sports like rock climbing and it is important that we stress over safety. One day when we

were on a trip, kids were tripping over a ledge and getting hurt. I decided to try out the course

myself to see what was wrong. I realized that the ledge was hard to see when you were up there,

so I had to switch the routes before more kids get injured. This shows that I have improved in

problem-solving, by realizing something is wrong and fixing it.

I loved working as a coach for the track program because I got to get my daily workout

while working with kids. We have an adaptive program in track and field. And there are two

blind kids in my group that I help instruct. It was great to have them in our group. We made sure

that they did not feel different and that the kids were interacting with them too. It is always great

to see how supportive the kids are to each other when they are doing sports like track. I

remembered that on the last day of practice the kids all started to run linking hands. When

somebody wanted to give up, the kids would all encourage each other. The kids even invited me

to join in with the chain. Small things like this touch my heart and this is the reason why I love to

work with kids. I joined the track and field, not to make money. I joined not for the money, but

because the smiles the kids have on their faces on Monday evening is what makes my week start

out the best. Helping out with community programs like these are the best. After the program

ended I sent out emails to all my coworkers and coaches thanking them for the great experience

of working with them in this program. I would have not done that if this course did not remind

me that I should always do things like that to let people know that the work they have done is

appreciated.

The Chinatown Main Street is a small, independent non-profit organization that supports

the important work of the Chinatown district. My role in the company as an office assistant does

tasks like scanning, filing, checking emails, picking up phone calls, helping out with financial

documents, inquire about local businesses, and checking on the community. Ever since the third

week of July, no one wanted to take over the position as the head organizer of staff meetings. I

took the initiative to take over this role to work on my public speaking skills. The first meeting

took me hours to prepare because I had only been to one staff meeting. This was when I utilized

my socialism skills to open up and talk with coworkers. I had to ask my coworkers for help, and

this was another goal that I needed to improve on which was teamwork and building

connections. I was proud of myself for opening up.

I have been through some conflicts when I worked here, as I went into work one week

late due to my slow application process. Being behind had me at a disadvantage because I missed

a lot of information at orientation. I did not let that get to me as I told myself that I was capable

of performing as great as all the others. I did daily check-ins with my supervisor. Another

conflict I went through was the fact that I was basically only 3 times a week and so I had to

maintain fair communications with my boss when I am out because she gives me several

important projects. One time I did not get back to an email in 24 hours and I was in big trouble.

Another time was when I was accused of sending out an email with no subject or message. I did

not argue or talk back, but afterward, I explained to her that it was not me though it was my

coworker. Another issue is that I am an ESL student and Chinese is my first language, but all my

dialects are slowly dying out. I can speak English, Cantonese, Mandarin, Toishanese, Spanish,

French, and Latin. I study English, French, Spanish, and Latin. I stopped my studies in the

Chinese language last year (completed 10 years of studies). Due to where I go to school, work,

and live I do not use much Chinese unless I am here in Chinatown Main Street. We receive a lot

of phone calls with Chinese speakers and at times I do not understand what they are saying. I

would ask my coworkers or boss to take over. When I am writing emails in Chinese, I would

forget characters. While working here, I slowly gain my knowledge of the Chinese language

back. I utilize this time to improve and learn.

One of the two major projects we worked on preparing was the National Night Out and

the Lantern Festival. At the National Night Out, we were in charge of seeing what to present and

give to the community and we decided to reach out to the Noosa yogurt company. We did a

collaboration with them and I was in charge of distributing out the schedules of the event, task,

changing schedules and timesheet for everyone, and making sure that we stay interactive with

the community. We want the community to know that our organization exists.

Teamoji is a small bubble tea shop located on North Beacon Street in Brighton, MA. We

recently opened last year and are not as established as some of the top chain bubble tea stores out

there. I learned a lot from simple research for this shop. It was interesting to see how marketing

works in the food/drink industry. I enjoyed reading articles and books on the evolution of

marketing in history. An important role that you need to understand as a marketer for a startup

business like this is that it not simple! At times you may not have projects from days to weeks to

months. You may feel as though it is unfair. I felt that it was unfair, but then I started to realize

that the operation's team was actually in a struggle. I learned that operation comes before

marketing. We have been through many conflicts, and we are barely making it off. I started to do

more research for free work for them because if we do not get more customers, the shop could

shut down for good. In a business, a solid operation's team means that you can start other

departments. If your operation's team is not well managed, business falls down in the food

industry.

A lot of marketing is not done through flyers, posters, and billboards as much. Marketers

are reaching out to the people on social media. I started to look for food bloggers and I look

forward to doing collaborations with them. We want to get shout-outs and highlights from them,

so we can have more customers. We are also still looking for a new loyalty program because the

one that we have currently is not working out too well. There is a lot of things that I need to learn

and develop. Through working here, I feel like I am entering into the new world A reason why I

choose to work here is that I truly love bubble tea and the taiyaki!

In the future, I know that I want to be working in a international technology company as a

global marketer. In order to obtain this goal, I look forward in majoring in business marketing,

computer science/information technology and minor in international businesses relating to

China, France, and Hong Kong. While also getting a MBA, I look forward in possibly seeing

possibilities of creating a startup business so I may need to major in business management later

on. There will always be short term and long term goals. This summer has been packed and busy,

and I love it. All my goals set at the beginning of the internship were met at the end of the

internships. Thank you Professor Nyakurimwa for instructing this class; especially for staying

interactive with the students during the course. I am glad that you assigned this because this

helps me recollect everything that I have done so far and it makes me feel good.