As a Junior at Animas High School we students get the amazing opportunity to intern with a business of our choice. Were tasked to reach out and figure out an internship where we will spend 3 weeks and 90 hours interning and hopefully learning more about any given workforce.
I did my internship at Colvig Silver Camps. For my internship I was doing a sort of summer camp preparation job. But in regards to Colvig as a whole, the camp itself makes a strong community of campers that love going to camp each year. Colvig is centered around backpacking and the outdoors but also revolves around fun activities such as doing art, cooking, and playing games. I was preparing for the camp so the kids in the summer could enjoy these things.
For my link project I had help. Luckily Cassidy and I had the same internship so we worked on everything together. The second week was when we began our project; simply we had to refurbish a garden that was very overgrown and not worth planting in. Through the project we lopped and cleared all the dead and alive brush. We also stained the fence and weeded all of the flower beds. After that we removed all the plastic tubing/extra trash and then hoed in a mixture of compost and soil into the old dirt. Below are a few photos of the garden before and after the work.
Link Reflection
At the beginning of Link I found that I matched my job pretty well. As a past camper at Colvig Silver Camp, I knew the location and environment very well, therefore I knew where everything was and didn’t have many questions. This proved that my skill of knowledge played a factor in my success there. I also believe I have a pretty solid work ethic and try my best to get a job done quickly but efficiently. This played out when Cassidy and I worked on sanding and staining twenty picnic tables. We were able to find a quick rotation in which we efficiently finished all of the tables in a timely manner. I also am a pretty big guy and that was a great asset for this job. There was a lot of heavy lifting, loading and unloading things such as bunk beds and mattresses.
The first skill that was the most important gain of my internship was learning how to have a good time and not complain about the dirty jobs. This came into play mostly during the last week. I started by cleaning out cabins by vacuuming mouse droppings and wiping up other remains that burdened the cabin. The point is it wasn’t that much fun. But I persevered and found that music always helps lighten up the mood which made the jobs better. I then cleaned out ten or so more cabins sweeping them and aimlessly attacking the spiderwebs. I learned that being patient helps make the day go quicker and helps make the day better. Another skill that I possessed throughout Link was simply working very hard everyday.
During the second week we both worked our tails off to complete a total transformation of this garden. I weeded a ton of beds and worked on cutting down all the overgrown bush. After weeding the garden I mixed compost and soil and made the flower beds perfectly new and ready to plant in.
Throughout my link there were a lot of challenges. The main first challenge was the first week of link. I didn’t have my car and needed to figure out transportation each day. The first day I biked home from camp and then made sure I would set up a ride each day before to make sure I was on time and ready to work. One night I had trouble setting up a ride and was planning to bike in the morning when I finally received a text back leading to my rescue. From this I grew because I was still able to show up on time and work hard even when I didn’t have a car and had to figure out the long drive. Another challenge I had was getting tired or being tired to begin with at Colvig. I solved this by getting more sleep and just persevering through the work I had to do. Personally I feel like I grew because I helped out a lot there and a lot of the days I was tired but I just pushed through and worked because I wanted to finish whatever task was at hand.
I also grew because my mentors weren’t with me the whole time when I was working. So I had independence to screw around and not do anything but instead I worked and took some breaks which allowed me to get lots of things done for example I painted a walk-in, redid a garden, set up the cabins for the campers, cleaned dishes, swept and vacuumed rat scat, and also stained a lot of wood around the camp. I think the biggest way I grew was simply that I was able to continue my work even when I was unsupervised and able to do other things.
If I had to argue to have more interns go there in the future I probably wouldn’t have to. I did a lot of work for them and multiple times I received gratitude for the work I did do. I guess I’d say I was a pretty big help and did a lot of stuff that would have been done later in the summer. I think that Colvig really liked the help and that they would in fact take more interns down the road. I was outside a lot of the time and got pretty exhausted and dehydrated some days. However after the fact I realized that within the internship I learned a lot and learned that I wouldn’t be a cleaner, strainer, exterminator , or a dishwasher which are some good things to know. So I think that if an Animas student down the road went back they would have to be committed but at the end of it they would feel stoked with all the work they did. I would say that the most valuable part that Cassidy and I played was that we did the work that the other staff didn't want to do or couldn’t get to and I think that really helped move the preparation phase in the right direction.
After completing this link I definitely know that I won’t go to college for any type of handy work. I want to do something further down the line that proves to be important and either helps the planet or other people. I learned that cleaning, staining and trail management aren’t the right fit for me. Though living forward I did learn that I want to have an outside job so I think that I am going to strive towards that in college. Working outside helped me feel fresh and nature was a blessing instead of being cooped up all day. In regards to college I am going to try and find a dope location because I realized that I was happier outside and in a nice place and I worked very well in the environment. So I basically want to copy that and find a nice location and environment for my future college life. I believe this will help me finish my work on time and work well when I am working.
The first skill that was the most important gain of my internship was learning how to have a good time and not complain about the dirty jobs. This came into play mostly during the last week. I started by cleaning out cabins by vacuuming mouse droppings and wiping up other remains that burdened the cabin. The point is it wasn’t that much fun. But I persevered and found that music always helps lighten up the mood which made the jobs better. I then cleaned out ten or so more cabins sweeping them and aimlessly attacking the spiderwebs. I learned that being patient helps make the day go quicker and helps make the day better. Another skill that I possessed throughout Link was simply working very hard everyday.
During the second week we both worked our tails off to complete a total transformation of this garden. I weeded a ton of beds and worked on cutting down all the overgrown bush. After weeding the garden I mixed compost and soil and made the flower beds perfectly new and ready to plant in.
Throughout my link there were a lot of challenges. The main first challenge was the first week of link. I didn’t have my car and needed to figure out transportation each day. The first day I biked home from camp and then made sure I would set up a ride each day before to make sure I was on time and ready to work. One night I had trouble setting up a ride and was planning to bike in the morning when I finally received a text back leading to my rescue. From this I grew because I was still able to show up on time and work hard even when I didn’t have a car and had to figure out the long drive. Another challenge I had was getting tired or being tired to begin with at Colvig. I solved this by getting more sleep and just persevering through the work I had to do. Personally I feel like I grew because I helped out a lot there and a lot of the days I was tired but I just pushed through and worked because I wanted to finish whatever task was at hand.
I also grew because my mentors weren’t with me the whole time when I was working. So I had independence to screw around and not do anything but instead I worked and took some breaks which allowed me to get lots of things done for example I painted a walk-in, redid a garden, set up the cabins for the campers, cleaned dishes, swept and vacuumed rat scat, and also stained a lot of wood around the camp. I think the biggest way I grew was simply that I was able to continue my work even when I was unsupervised and able to do other things.
If I had to argue to have more interns go there in the future I probably wouldn’t have to. I did a lot of work for them and multiple times I received gratitude for the work I did do. I guess I’d say I was a pretty big help and did a lot of stuff that would have been done later in the summer. I think that Colvig really liked the help and that they would in fact take more interns down the road. I was outside a lot of the time and got pretty exhausted and dehydrated some days. However after the fact I realized that within the internship I learned a lot and learned that I wouldn’t be a cleaner, strainer, exterminator , or a dishwasher which are some good things to know. So I think that if an Animas student down the road went back they would have to be committed but at the end of it they would feel stoked with all the work they did. I would say that the most valuable part that Cassidy and I played was that we did the work that the other staff didn't want to do or couldn’t get to and I think that really helped move the preparation phase in the right direction.
After completing this link I definitely know that I won’t go to college for any type of handy work. I want to do something further down the line that proves to be important and either helps the planet or other people. I learned that cleaning, staining and trail management aren’t the right fit for me. Though living forward I did learn that I want to have an outside job so I think that I am going to strive towards that in college. Working outside helped me feel fresh and nature was a blessing instead of being cooped up all day. In regards to college I am going to try and find a dope location because I realized that I was happier outside and in a nice place and I worked very well in the environment. So I basically want to copy that and find a nice location and environment for my future college life. I believe this will help me finish my work on time and work well when I am working.