Prior to this internship I was a little nervous, because I really didn’t know what to expect, I had worked the front desk job at my high school, but I was convinced this would be different in many ways. A week before the students arrived on campus ,the interns came in to get the beds made, and make sure the keys were usable. Walking from the Stephenson Institute to the Rogge living unit was harder than expected due to the hot weather. Even with the summer heat, we got the work done early so we could return home and enjoy the 4th of July with our family and friends. The first week was easily the most relaxed of the three, with lenient hours and no after-hours responsibilities.
When we came back from our 4th of July weekend on Sunday, we hit the ground running as people started arriving at noon. My roommate arrived first. Marcello is a bilingual Columbian college student. A few more people arrived later with their families, and some drove themselves to Wabash, but around 5pm the bus
from the airport came, which had about the other 85% of the seminar attendees. It was very hectic during the arrivals, but once everyone settled in, we interns could relax a little bit.
The work during the week for the actual seminars was not as hard as I expected. The majority of the time we sat in on the lectures and were on standby for the program manager of the Stephenson Institute, Violet Benge. We were provided breakfast, lunch and dinner, and typically ate with the other seminar attendees. Our work typically entailed doing a little bit more than the average seminar
attendee, for example ,when we watched Pursuit of Happiness we made the popcorn before the movie started, then we cleaned it up after the movie ended.
I met many intriguing people who weren’t even in college or high school who were working on so many creative different projects. For example, I met Angelo Bardini, who was working on a presentation to pitch for Sony, which revolved around the new Tom Holland Spiderman movie. I also met a guy from Texas named Armando Parrish. He told me he and his mom had created a way to battle homelessness in his hometown and recently got a huge investor interested in his business.
Another interaction that I will remember was when Carson Dolezal, a Washington college attendee, told me that his Door Dash driver had crashed his car while trying to deliver his Culvers order. I offered him a ride to Steak n’ Shake since I was already going and he accepted. On our way to my car we saw Leonardo Leonel, and I brought him too. While we waited for our food I learned more about them. Carson was on a swim team and Leonardo had never had Steak n’ Shake before. While this was a little less formal of an interaction than the previous one, I just know I wouldn’t forget it.
This internship matters especially in this time where a lot of immigrants might not feel as embraced in this country as they once did. Here they can feel that they truly are welcomed. I don’t know why some people are in favor of isolating ourselves from other nations; America has always been built on diversity. This was an opportunity for me and others to interact with a more diverse student body, which reminded me of the years I spent growing up in Singapore and attending an international school. That’s why I believe that this internship really isn’t just a regular summer job as you are interacting with people with varied backgrounds and lifestyles that you would otherwise not witness if you worked at your local pool in Mooresville. If you are considering going to work at the Stephenson Institute at their summer seminars or their organization in general, I would highly recommend it.
