At Winship this week, my director had a conference at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. Although I had known this, I assumed she would have brought in a replacement to take care of all of her “Director of Guest and Volunteer Services” duties, but that was not the case. DaVida turned to me and said I would be in charge of the resource center and volunteers while she was gone. I was completely honored to be trusted with such a position. I was in charge of ensuring all volunteers were where they were supposed to be and that the resource center was running smoothly. Of course, DaVida set me up perfectly and everything went fine, but I was given an opportunity to step up and prove myself. I have learned so much as an intern at Winship so far, and I knew that I could handle taking care of DaVida’s duties while she was gone.
Additionally, I have been working on my Open House/Orientation slideshow for the artist volunteer Open House that I am in charge of, as part of a way to bring in more artists to our Arts in Health program at Winship. On Tuesday, I gave my final presentation of the slideshow to the Arts in Health Committee so they could approve my material and give me feedback. Of course, I was very nervous to present in front of my boss, co-workers, and fellow committee members, but I had extreme confidence in knowing my material and how I wanted to portray the Arts in Health program to potential volunteers. I got great feedback from the committee and they told me it was thorough and that I perfectly expressed the importance of the program. After my presentation, my supervisor, DaVida, told me that I would be the only one presenting at the Open House and that she would be videotaping my orientation to give to other Winship locations to show their own volunteers too!
I’m so grateful to have experiences at Winship that will prepare me for a career in public health. I have learned so much from my internship so far, and I can’t wait to see where this internship leads me.