My Three Goals:
- Learn to use my knowledge and experience to guide others.
- Make meaningful and trusting relationships with those I am tasked to mentor.
- Create new friendships and grow established ones with the students of Arizona FFA.
Week 1: This was a prep week with hours spent studying scripts for conferences, going over curriculum, and packing supplies. This week we got all of our work done and were fully prepared for our first summit conference, but morale was pretty low; I think the state officers were feeling a little burned out from school visits and I was feeling a lot of stress trying to figure out how to organize and plan an event. I learned the value of creating schedules and the value in communicating often and clearly. I was tested on my abilities to do executive tasks and grew in that area and I got an idea of the time commitment I needed to make for my remaining weeks in this role. These skills don't seem to apply to farming, but they do. Someday I will have people working for me and I will be running my own business; executive task completion is an essential skill when you're the boss and those are skills I lack that I need to develop.
Week 2: This week was the start of the actual Summit Conferences. We were all satisfied with how smooth our first conference went in Safford. The beginning of the day was spent figuring out what our roles will be for the rest of the conferences. I had to let my guard down a little bit this week. At last year's summit conference I had a job and I was the one that did it; I'm not going to be around FFA next year so I had to take someone in, teach them, and let them help me with MY TASKS. Sharing my roles is hard for me because I have a way of doing it and no one does it exactly the same as me. I’ve noticed this with my dad trying to work with me on the farm: he doesn't want to teach me new things because it's better and faster if he does it himself. I will have to teach people new things my whole life and my job will only get easier if I can learn to teach people and have them take on some of my roles.
Week 3: Week 3 was a week where I really appreciated FFA members and our state FFA team. I got to see the state officers grow immensely in their facilitation. Over the two conferences this week in Waddell and Chandler the state officers figured out how to be awesome facilitators. I really enjoyed watching state officers create meaningful relationships with students at these two conferences. I also felt that I got a lot of student interaction this week seeing a lot of students that I’ve had in my small groups at camp and kids who I see at every FFA event; it was really nice getting to talk to students. I also get to mentor state officers and this week I spent time in their groups while they taught, I was able to give valuable, experienced, advice. I don’t want to say that I’m an awesome person to get advice from, but practicing saying your thoughts and giving suggestions never hurts. Though I may not be the most knowledgeable or wise person I can offer my perspective and it is valuable.
Week 4: The busiest event week of my internship was week four with three conferences in Cottonwood, Tucson, and Yuma. I was tested in my logistic and time management skills. Part of my job is to create guides of how everyone gets to our conferences based on their schedules. It was a challenging week for me in school, but dealing with nine college freshmen and trying to get an organized schedule that works for everyone was a nightmare. We made it through, but at cottonwood on monday we forgot our microphones and it definitely put a damper on the conference overall. I could have put more time into prep and been a little more hands on and this week may have gone perfectly, but you live and you learn and that's what an internship is all about. There have been many times in my life where I haven’t dedicated quite enough time to my endeavors and they don’t turn out perfectly, one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned over this internship is you get what you put into things.
Week 5: The final week of my internship went well when it came to the conference itself, but my scheduling was not good; I learned how important it is to be prompt and prepared in order to keep credibility among your superiors and peers. This week I had to exercise the part of my job that is, “put out fires”. One of the state officers was very sick and I filled in her spot; I learned her script part in a night and got to be her at the conference. It was cool to be more involved with the students for a change. Throughout the course of the conferences I have been required to step in when there are problems with student discipline, any audio visual questions or problems, or a facilitator needs assistance. I had the chance to be someone people go to for help and the person who figures things out when there are issues. The Arizona FFA Summit Conference has been a great opportunity for me to grow as a mentor of others.
Key Take Aways
1. My relationships with others are constantly changing and they will never stay the same.
2. If I want successful results I have to put in the time to get them.
3. If I don’t communicate with others very clearly and constantly we cannot be on the same page.
These are valuable lessons that I repeatedly use in life and the only way to actually learn these lessons is through experience. I believe that any internship or job you take in high school and college is a chance to get life experience that other kids don't get. I know through my internship that I can challenge myself and learn new things; in my future career I will constantly challenge myself and gain knowledge. If I could do this internship again I would, but I would take any opportunities that are interesting to me because you can't have too much life experience. One of the coolest parts about internships is that they are very low risk; there is no need to worry about the long term and no guarantee that this has to become your career. I would change nothing about my Arizona FFA internship because what it lacks another opportunity later will make up for.