E-Portfolio

Chapter 1

I will be starting my internship at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore in the

Upward Bound program. Upward bound is a program designed to help high school students

work towards post secondary education. I think this will be a great program for me to intern at

because of the close connection it has with my alum school, and the community in my area.

While there I hope to have a lot of hands on understanding on organizing an adolescent program

and what it takes to make it successful. I want to work on furthering my comprehension on

grants and coordination of activities in the community and in the schools associated with the

upward bound program. In the end of this semester I hope that I could receive a job offer, if not

an awesome reference to help me further my career upon graduation. The most challenging

things I feel for me will be balance of time management because I am a full time worker and I

am in other classes. I do feel I can handle it but that will be my biggest struggle. Another

challenge would be dealing with grants. I want to really learn how to build a grant and keep in

professional all throughout. Grant writing is something I can turn into a career if become good at

it. Overall I am exciting to begin this journey.

Chapter 2

The Upward Bound (UB) community is based upon the lack of college educated parents

and the lack of opportunity for their students to do more. In the Somerset and Wicomico area

there is 78% of adults who do not have a bachelors degree. With is the likelihood of the child

going to college and finishing is low. UB program not only encourages students to go to college,

but they incorporate college courses in their program to give students the hands on element of
college. Their main piece of the UB is the summer program. This program used to have the

funding to allow students to stay on campus during the summer to really get the feel for college

life. Now because of budget cuts and adding STEM (science, technology, engineering and math)

they have since had to incorporate the college feel as a commuting student.

Upward Bound is known for sending students to local colleges for free or for lower rates.

This is why UB is well known throughout the local counties and why parents encourage their

children to go. UB is not a culturally based program but there is a huge minority of colored

students in the program. I have learned that this program is basically set up to help students build

on their lives. Show them they are not statics and they are the holder of their future. The

downfall of being a government funded program is the waiting game for grants to be approved.

Without the funding the summer program will not go on. Summer program brings in college

visits, trips to other places, even a trip to study abroad. My job as an intern is to plan the summer

program without knowing until may the ends and out of funding, it ties my hands on how much I

can plan.

Chapter 3

In my internship I do not have ethical concerns or have never been in a situation that

would lead to any ethical problems. However in my work place there have been a few. I work at

a school with three to five year olds. One of my job requirements is to help the families build

goals and search for resources to build their family. One thing we as a center are dealing is the

behavior of the children and the safety of them, and the staff. Some behaviors have gone from

throwing blocks to throwing chairs. Imagine having to tell a parent that there child was hit in the

head with a building block or a chair flew over their head barely missing them. As a Family
service worker and a human service worker one of our jobs is to make sure our clients are safe.

Our system in our agency does not allow us to expel children, suspend them or even put them in

time out. Yet we need to find a solution before someone gets hurt, staff becomes hostile or the

child does damage to self.

How do we handle this situation within our guidelines? We started with team meeting for

the staff to get input on how they feel and what we could be doing differently to not trigger the

behavior. The next step was teams meeting with the childs family to see if this behavior was

present anywhere but school. We learned it was just not the aggressive part. We did learn from

the meeting the child loves to car for animals and loves listening to stories. Since we cannot have

cats or dogs in the room we decided to try listening books since the behavior normally triggered

during nap time. This worked for a week and the behavior started back and more aggressive. The

next step was to have the family go to behavioral health or the child will be on a half a day

schedule. As of right now there is some improvements with the behavior of the child. He does

still have moments of aggression but not towards his teachers and fellow students. As much as

we the staff wants to expel the child, there are certain procedures we must follow to make sure

all things are in order, to be able to conduct a serious investigation on a child to have them put

back on the wait list.

Chapter 4

Step 1. Gather objectives data from concrete experience

As any usual day of working at a school I travel to my specify classes to check on the

overall class and how they were. Walking into Ms. D room I realize one of the children
 are acting out which is unusual or his behavior. We talked and he calmed down and I

moved to the next. After weeks we notice this behavior becoming more common. I spoke

with the teacher and mom on the difference in behaviors. There was a difference but still

the main attitude towards the action was the same. I told them we need to work to finding

the trigger and what are we doing the same or different to resolve.

Step 2 reflecting

Even at home I couldnt stop thinking about the child. I understood the behavior was

disruptive and put other in danger because of throwing things or tearing down wall art,

but I could not shack that this was so unusual for him. When he is crying he cries out for

his dad, but lives with mom. When mom comes in he goes back to his normal self. I am

concerned because it is like a switch.

Step 3 identifying relevant theory and knowledge

I remember in an adolescent psychology class, we talked about when a child feels

neglected their actions can change. Absent parents can affect their behavioral and socio-

emotional development. Personally dealing with these children ages 2 to 5 I never

realized how much it affects these children to see a parent one night and maybe not for

the rest of the week. Children internalize things because they are not capable of putting

them into word. We scheduled a meeting to have all hands on deck to see what the issues

cause was.

Step 4 examing dissonance

 In the meeting we began to discuss the child and behavior. We realized dad is no longer in

the home. Without dad being present but only weekends the childs behavior has

escalated. Having a male figure in the home helped with the talks and understanding the

attention he needs. Mom is a great mother but is very passionate but never assertive. We

knew mom needed a back bone or dad needed to be more present. Phone calls at this age

were not helping the child and sayings of I am calling your dad have worn away.
As workers, the teacher and I needed other approaches to handle the child. I remember

training on behavioral children and how neutral comments could lessen the disturbances

in a classroom. Even though your frustrated try and speak with a calm voice, coming to

their level but stay arms length away. We discussed bringing a third party from a

behavioral health center.

Step 5 articulating learning

While looking back on this situation I realized how frustrated I became having this child

in my case load. Everyday being called to the same classroom wears you down. Being

hit by a child, things thrown and spit on and you cannot do a thing. I felt too involved and

way in over my head because I was still new fresh out of college. Looking back I still

understand the frustrations but now I realized somethings you cannot control or take

charge on.

Step 6 developing plan

In this situation I noticed I kept this child in the front of my mind. Trying to find the ends

and outs of how to communicate with him. Yes he was an amazingly bright child but the

lack of communication was a huge downfall. Building connections with behavioral health
 was a tremendous help then and to this day they come in. I was taught through this to get

to know my resources, build trusting relationships with my parents and communicate

well with staff. Team meeting are a great help to have all parties on the same page.

Chapter 5

I have had a total of nine jobs and two internships since I was fifth-teen. In the mist of all

of these jobs, I have come across many types of supervisors. Over the years I have realized I like

to work solo, or in a group but not with my supervisor hovering over me. I like my freedom to

work and push myself. What I need from a supervisor is guidance. Teach me how to do the task

but give me the freedom to do it, and if I have questions are open to help. I need leadership and

respect; I have come across jobs that because I was the youngest on the team I was treated as

that. If my credentials and actions show I am on the same level of others I should be treated as

such.

I have not gone through major challenges in my internship, minus the struggle of initial

power with the students. Seeing I am younger they were hoping I was a push over. Very quickly

my supervisor told me to no matter what control the conversation. This helped me a lot and

realized she was teaching me a life lesion. I think my internship supervisor raised the bar high for

future supervisors, and when I choose to branch off I want to have that same push as a leader of

an organization.

Chapter 6

While in my internship I deal with a lot of individuals, groups and communities. Our

Saturday sessions sometimes require me to step in as a teacher. I normally would be nervous for

this but surprisingly they welcome me and the students are very attentive and talkative. I work
with the community because all of the students stem from different counties and have different

views based on their schooling and day to day life. The students are very comical but what I like

most is the feedback I receive from them. The family intervention I do not have much contact

with as an intern but in my work field I get that experience.

If I were to work at my internship, I would incorporate all four levels of intervention. I

would do this by implementing or suggesting parent involvement is a requirement. The

community I live in there is a low standard on family being involved in their childrens life. I

grew up in a family where no matter what someone was at your achievement ceremonies, sports

events or even class assemblies. It never made me better than anyone but I did feel love. This

upcoming generation I feel lacks that family love because they do not have self love. Self love

for me was brought on by my family, implementing family/ parent training on how to love a

teen, how to be an ear to me would be a great way to start bringing in families.

Looking introvert, I see my biggest intervention that I need to work on would be

individual. I am okay with speaking to a crowd and groups but one on one tends to frighten me.

Again, looking into my own family we are a big family and talk loudly to be heard. While this

work in groups or the communities it does not work face to face with a one on one client.

Building the connection and networking alone is what I need most help on. I have become better

spoken over the years but I want to become memorable so that whomever I am building a

connection with in the work place or volunteering I want to be that highlight.

Chapter 7

During my internship I did not come across many cultural differences. Many of the

students are from the same area and know one another from their schools. Most are colored
students and if not they have grew up in the culture. With being a part of a high school program

you do notice the segregation between the schools and individual cliques. This is because this

generation rarely socializes outside of whom they know.

The most apparent culture difference is the openness of sexuality and sexual orientation. I

previously worked for this agency and the students then were less open about sexuality and hid

their true selves. Now students are who they feel they are. Lesbian students, who identify with

males, will wear clothing as such and vice versa. I believe this has to deal with social media and

the outpouring of people who are accepted by the public. Personally I do not have any issues

with communicating with this culture or any for that matter. I do wish to learn more about

different religions to get a full grasp on how to approach and connect with all people as a human

service provider.

Chapter 8

Over my internship I did not do as much writing as I did using my graphic skills. I will

attach my newsletter for students and parents, charts for grants that I was task with. With the

program planning there were many emails to vendors but from my advisors account. In my

internship I did public speaking about myself, in the classrooms It was based upon the class they

gave me to fill in. One thing both my advisor and I spoke on in our evaluations were the lack of

time we had to do research with one another.

Chapter 9

With only being in my internship such a small time I do not have any individual stressors.

What I have notices is when having work piled on me, no matter the due date, I start to

overwhelm myself. When I do this I tend to over think my work, worry on what needs to be done

and how I should approach the task. It sometimes scary to think I cannot make something happen

so I will over extend and over exert myself. I thought this was something I could not control

because I do it so usual it has become a norm. Yet, Instead of defeating, myself I have realized I

need relax and take one task on at a time. I am also learning full organization can help me

prepare. If I write down week to week what is expected of me it helps for me to identify the

bigger picture.

While being empathic to others problem s I tend to allow the feeling and emotion to carry

over to my life. I find it hard to disconnect when putting myself into others shoes. This has been

going on for years but as I exited undergrad I finally saw the issue. Now working with

adolescents in my internship I have to detach and help to build solutions. Outside of work I have

to leave work at work this is the way I have distressed myself. If I dwell on the things I cannot

change or not in my power, it triggers stress. When I get home and enjoy my peace, I can come

back to work with an open mind and new thought to help client succeed.

While keeping safe in the workplace is detrimental no matter what field, in ours it will

become physically tiresome. This being said I have realized in my workplace, not so much

interning that I cannot come level with a client or child. This is putting me in harms way.

Chapter 10
 As my internship is coming to a close, it is a great time to reflect. My regret in my

internship would be the time and hands on work. Working on your masters and having a full time

job, that is not your internship, pulls you away from the experience I could have received. My

agency was working on grants, and even though I helped some it would have been more

beneficial if I was able to get better with research for grants and writing. One thing I can

appreciate most if the feedback and experience with the youth in the program. They really helped

me in ways to connect more with them. Their conversation helped me even better there summer

program to make it more modern to better connect with students.

My feelings as I leave my internship, is sadness. My internship is a great team and work

well together. I will take what I have seen with them in hopes to apply it to my job. As I prepare

to begin my own non-profit I will take those qualities and apply them for my team. Just staying

in your own lane can be a big deal in any business. What I need as I leave this internship is to

prepare myself to be bigger and better. I cannot settle on the little things but to broaden my

horizons. This is something I need to take into consideration for my personal and professional

growth. The main thing I have learned is to be more organized and to make it happen. My

advisor told me no matter what plan you week and do not make excuses. Make it Happen!

Chapter 11

As my internship coming to a closing, the question of so whats next? comes knocking

at my door. Ever since undergrad I have known middle and high school students are whom I

connect most. Most people feel they have too much attitude, or know it all. We all thought we

knew everything at the age, and personally no one could tell me differently. I had to learn over

and over after falling on my face that my parents, family, church, and school community were
here to help. There was one person in my life name Kat; she was my mentor in high school. Kat

changed my life and perspective. Having a mentor that recently had just gone through the things

I was currently experience helped. My confidence boosted, my awareness, and my push for my

future, all by her keeping it real with me.

My career plans consist of me keeping it real. My long term goal is to build a non-

profit organization of young adults working to build the youth. The name of this organization is

Rebirth; this non-profit will be a voice for our young people. Our mission will be to change the

statics of teen pregnancy, gang violence, and drug usage in teens and increase the likelihood of

success. We will do this by teaching them the effects of being involved in such things, while

striving to turn negative circumstances into positive outcomes. To empower, uplift and provide

alternative activities to relieve stress and build successful young adults. The vision of the rebirth

is to take ordinary and adverse teens and mold them into a powerful generation of leaders.

Rebirth will show them how to create opportunities for themselves with the proper guidance

from our staff and community.

How will I get to this point? This would be my short term goals. I must do my research

on my community and environment. I must continue to work with youth and gain the more

experience, build networks, and mainly start somewhere! I am soon to graduate but the learning

is still beginning. I want to go back to school and receive a certificate in child and adolescent

psychology, and take a course in guidance and parental counseling. I will do research on

community work and agency policies to gather new information to help build my own. I know

my mission maybe far fetch right now, but I will start my non-profit with doing clothing drives,

and school supply drives. This will get my name out, letting my community know I am here to

help. I will stay working because my job helps me build character, gain trainings in different
areas of youth and helps build relationships. I am a dance coach. As a coach I will continue to

use this platform for my community to see how well I work with the youth, in hopes that they

will want their child to work with me. My future is bright and getting my masters is only the

beginning.