So Close to Internship

During my all of time spent working hard and having fun at Year Up I have developed a lot of technical skills that would add value to any company I intern at. I took two CNIT classes and properly trained in a hands on environment to improve my overall knowledge about computers and operating systems in general. I know my way around the entirety of the Windows 7 operating system and can effectively troubleshoot the majority of problems, maintain the system so that it remains up to standards, and optimize the system so that it can be used most efficiently.

The skills I have most improved while at Year Up are my interpersonal relationships and effectively communicating. I have always been an earnest student, and will remain and earnest intern wherever I work, but at the start of Year Up I was extremely shy and timid. I joined Year Up to improve my confidence and to learn how to manage all of my thoughts and time in a positive way to become a role model for my sister and any young person who aspires to be a functional member of society. Every skill I have improved upon was through feedback from my colleagues and Year Up staff, and I like to take feedback to heart and reflect on anyone’s input to make me the best that I can be.

When I go to my internship I plan on furthering my growth in every way I possibly can to get the most out of this opportunity. I really hope to develope a workable schedule so that I can actually have some time to get enough rest at night and time to explore more hobbies and interests of mine, but also to prepare myself for my future career path and positively influence my family and friends around me. I just want what could be best and to do that I am willing to sacrifice any amount of time to do so.

I plan to stand out with complete swagger at internship and display my personality in a very nice and confident way with all of my new coworkers and friends. I like to be myself and everyone else seems to love it too, and I want to come in everyday feeling great and at the top of my game. I will reinforce this with a positive attitude and by setting realistic goals.

What I am hoping to do after this internship experience is find a full time position anywhere where I can continue to grow and work to contribute financially to my mother’s income. I work just as hard as her right now, but very soon I'm expected to work a whole lot more because she shouldn't have to hold the responsibilities of a single parent like she has anymore. I also want to continue investing in my education so that I can make major differences in anywhere I plan to venture. My dreams seem so far but Year Up has brought them closer and I will never ever give up on myself thanks to this program.

12 Internship Tips

1. Avoid Negativity: This is my number one ranking for the best tip you can take advantage of during internship. I believe that this is the first thing that should be on your mind before you go to internship because if you are in a bad mood or have some negative thoughts about something, any negativity will only spiral itself outward during your day and can possibly hinder any oppertunities that come your way! I plan to apply this by having a good attitude toward the company and a good attitude toward myself and my actions so that anything I do is reinforced positively.

2. Learn About the Company: I'd rank this number two in the list because if you don't make any effort to learn about where you are placed you will find it easier to put yourself in a negative mood like the first tip. It also helps to have an overall understanding of what the workplace is so that you can relate with your co-workers as well. I am definately going to apply this by reading anything that my manager gives me and by researching about the company myself.

3. Set Small Goals to Reach Your Larger Goals: This is an important one. Keeping your final goals in front of you will motivate you to eventually accomplish them. Setting small accomplishable goals will break up the massive effort toward your overall goal. I plan to take advantage of setting a goal every week during my status report to my advisor.

4. Take on all Tasks: Accepting work or even meaningless tasks that come your way adds up. If you are asked to do something then graciously accpect it knowing that you now have an oppertunity to show you can perform at any rate. I will accept almost any work thrown at me just because I love the challenge.

5. Ask Questions: This will most definately only serve to help you at your internship. If you are unclear on anything ask someone for help. Or if you need to know something asking a question will help you out.

6. Take Initiative: You want to appear as a well balanced and respectable individual so taking initiative at all moments is essential. I will demonstrate this by owning any mistakes I may make during internship, or simply by showing I can make deadlines with assignments and by staying productive.

7. Network: There is a lot of value in networking with others, especially at work. I will plan to make some nice friends and build a relationship with my manager by engaging in small talk but mostly just being a positive person to work with.

8. Schedule Meetings to get Feedback: Its nice to check in once and a while and feedback is a way to communicate effectively with my manager to know if I'm doing well at my internship. I can always be in touch with my manager

9. Find a Mentor: Finding a mentor to support you during internship will help tremendously. I don't really need to look far for mentoring on the Year Up side of internship, but at the internship itself I will need to seek out someone who I can ask for a little guidance in a questionable situation. I can always ask politely for help and when I get comfortable with them I can ask for more guidance.

10. Get as Much Exposure as Possible: This is what internship is all about even though it is close to the bottom of the list. I guess these last three are just things to always keep in mind before graduating from Year Up. I don't want to miss a day of internship because this is an awesome opportunity no matter where I'm placed.

11. Leave with Tangible Accomplishments: Yes, most of all be sure to take advantage of your time in internship and do your best. And finally,

12. Enjoy it

Experience

The best paid internship I had was at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. I interned as a "Young Artist at Work" which meant I had to participate in art activism and attend workshops to rehearse any art I was creating. What made the job enjoyable was being able to work with youth my age and I got paid to attend contemporary art performances. I also learned a lot about what it means to work as a professional artist. The skills I took out of this experience were some very basic soft skills and learning about how to manage art events and gatherings. I learned a very important lesson while interning as well. When I first started the internship we were expected to be taught some filming workshops and participate in discussions with our head director, but what ended up happening was both the filming instructor and our head director got laid off and our dance teacher took on the role of head director. We were all really disappointed about what happened but we continued to show up and work anyway. So the lesson I learned throughout this internship is the show must go on even when plans greatly change. We did suffer from some inadequacies during the internship (due to lack of support) but I would always contribute to the team everyday I had to work. 

Reading Rainbow

Reading for me is sometimes hard to start but easy to finish. I have implemented the strategy of reading on Muni and also reading before I go to bed to make it more enjoyable (if you read before you sleep you will have some pretty cool dreams; this works for me at least). As for annotating, I haven't started writing my thoughts on paper or highlighting sections I find interesting, but I do pay attention to what I'm reading, anything I may be thinking in the moment, and immediately reflect on what I read after so that when I go back to review I can remember what I payed attention to and any ideas I thought up. Mostly just paying attention to anything you found interesting or anything you thought about (relatable or not) helps to wrap your mind around the entirety of your reading. Then, simply reflecting on what you just read is very important when you want to remember it all for later. If I don't understand something while I'm reading, first, I don't panic and I read it again, if I still don't understand the content I will usualy just think about what it means to me and try to make sense of it to the best of my ability. I made sure I was keeping up with the reading by reading a couple of pages a day or even reading a chapter in one sitting. Whenever I'm at home in my bed I can read as much as I'd like but on Muni I can only read around 10 pages per sitting. But if you were to read a 200 page book at 25 pages a day you would be finished in about a week so break up the reading into chunks or chapters and it will be easier to start and finish! Patience is also key!

The First Gay President

 Obama has recently announced a switch on his stance on same sex marriage as a response to the comments of Joe Biden on the issue. Obama believes that the issue around the matter of same sex marriage is going to evolve in the next couple of years and that is why he is supporting it. Although this is not the most important issue today in politics, Obama also believes that this will help him win the November elections this year. Many voters still support Obama and will continue to support him throughout the rest of the year but some have started to change their support for Obama and his new policies based on this new decision. (Peter Baker and Dalia Sussman 2012) http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/15/us/politics/poll-sees-obama-gay-marriage-support-motivated-by-politics.html
I think this new change in Obama's direction is a positive choice but still was heavily influenced by politics. This seems to have been a sudden change without much personal reasoning behind it, he just really wants to win the election this year. If this was such an important issue it shouldn't have been so sudden and should have been discussed in greater detail before the announcement. I also believe this issue was going to reach the supreme court anyway and be decided as unconstitutional sooner or later.

The Social Superiority Stigma

Many people live with stigmas attached to them by society and are easily judged immediately by everyone else because of it. I have had to deal with a stinging stigma throughout all of my schooling; I was consistently the outsider to most, and was simply labeled as "that white kid". Every grade school and  both high schools I went to about 90-95% of the population was made up of every other race and ethnicity and only a very small portion of students were the same color as myself, making me to be the only white kid in most of my classes. A lot of students liked to judge me based solely on this and would work to intimidate me or make me feel less than them because they all probably felt less than me most of their time. Having to deal with mostly white teachers, white police officers, and authority figures throughout the majority of your life makes everyone feel that there seems to be an unbalance when it comes to the color of your skin. The notion that white skinned people think that they are better or more educated than others is sadly prevalent in today's time, and when I meet people who like to look down on other races because they truly feel that they are smarter and more "proper" disgusts me but mostly just makes me sad to see the continuation of such stereotypes (I mean come on now grow up).

A lot of teachers and authority figures have also given me this "extra privilege" or "free pass" to behave differently than others in my classes or to not receive as harsh a punishment than the other kids ALL throughout my school days. For some reason people would like to treat me as separate than the rest because of who I appeared to be but now I am glad to finally be treated as equal in Year Up where we all receive the same amount of attention and resources. I plan to change the minds of youth about this stigma in my future and really get children to appreciate who they are and to not feel less than anybody else or put down by these seemingly powerful greedy white authority figures who are way better off than everybody else because they were treated as better and they took advantage of their position in society. Right now I'm guessing that this stigma is the residue of all the crazy history in this country and really it is up to all of our generation now and ahead of us to change our thinking around it and finally put an end to past and make our own history.

Proper Pledges

For the next two modules of my learning and development phase at Year Up I am pledging to myself and my colleagues to succeed and achieve all of my goals. I have detailed these pledges below.

I Ray James Fleming, pledge to give my full focus and attention to all the tasks in front of me and to complete them with all of my knowledge and skills, on time. I can accomplish this by listening and following instructions and allotting myself the proper time to work in a non-distracting environment. In class I will need to stay focused on all current tasks and remain genuinely compassionate and helpful towards others completing the same tasks.

I Ray James Fleming, also pledge to avoid earning any infractions for being late or unprepared in class. I can accomplish this by always showing up at least five minutes early to class and never missing a deadline for an assignment.

I Ray James Fleming, finally pledge to bring a positive attitude to Year Up and contribute some more to class discussions and activities. This can be accomplished by positive self encouragement and also avoiding any negative distractions outside of Year Up. I can also practice public speaking and talking in front of groups during class as much as once or twice a day to develop this skill.

These are my pledges and I promise to keep them now that they are public. I am looking forward to the more productive and positive weeks ahead. Thank youuu~