Have a Slice of Humble Pie

My first official week of internship is over. The students all seemed really excited to be back at school, catching up with friends, and getting into the swing of things. I was just as excited as they were to be at the school. I won't bore you with the details of my first week as a school counselor intern. Let's just say, it was a bit boring! I can definitely see value in what I was doing during the two days, but it just wasn't exciting. I sat in on schedule changes, made some bulletin boards, read through a very rough draft of a RAMP application, and printed schedules. I shuffled around trying to stay out of people's way and asked most of my questions while trying not to be a pest.

I talked to some other girls who were in their first week of internship and they all felt similar. The first week was very humbling. I am used to being in control, knowing the answers, feeling a sense of mastery in my school work or tasks on the job. I don't have a home at my site; no desk, not even a drawer to put my purse, let alone my own supplies. It's so strange having to ask for EVERYTHING. stapler, staples, scissors, computer log in, etc. I know this is part of a new job, but I felt like having an intern was somewhat of an afterthought of the department. (This is probably absolutely not true, but it's just where I was at that moment.)  I think it would have been helpful if they had a binder of general information for the interns. Things they could include in the binder would be a bell schedule (they have 4 different schedules depending on the day or week), a list of the teacher and their emails, a list of the programs and services they are currently providing, the code to the copy machine, etc. There were times in the day when my supervisor had absolutely nothing for me to do so I came up with my own suggestions. I asked to get a Naviance account so I could explore the site and to read through their RAMP documents. Even with these ideas to work on, there were times I felt helpless, like more of a burden than asset. This upset me because I felt like I could be working at my job instead of bumming around a school like a lost puppy. I kept telling myself this is normal for the first week and it will certainly get better. Drinks with my student colleagues certainly helped. They all had similar experiences and we pepped each other up!

DISCLAIMER: I hope no one takes this the wrong way, I am so blessed to be at a school with such great teachers, administration, students, and parents. I can't wait to get more involved in the school. This is just my processing the first week in an informal candid way.