Hello, my name is Kelly Tinkham and I just finished my first
year at Gettysburg College. This past
week I had the privilege of externing at Boston University under the Associate
Dean of Academic Life, Stacy Godnick.
Although, I have to say, before I arrived my expectations about the week
were not that great. I was looking
forward to the week but I did not think that I would enjoy my experience to the
extent that I did. I enjoyed every
second of my externship, and by the end of the week I was wishing it was
longer. As I have been reflecting on my
week I have been trying to pinpoint exactly why I enjoyed my time there so
much. There were many different factors
that contributed to my time but I believe two really made a difference; the
people I met and the variety of my days.
I met so many people all over the University starting with Stacy. Stacy was amazing; she had great pieces of
advice and always made sure to explain to me what was going on in meetings or
just her everyday work. Plus, in
addition to being a great resource herself, she also set up meetings with me in
different offices that I was interested in.
I had a meeting with a representative in the Office of Student Affairs,
Admissions, and the International Students and Scholars Office. I learned a lot about how the environment of
the University really affects everything that goes on inside the school, and
about how Boston University manages collaborations between offices and colleges
despite its large size. I was able to
ask a lot of questions and really find out what their days are like and the
pros and cons of each office. Another
person I met was a Gettysburg alumni who graduated in 2011. She currently works in the Provost Office for
Undergraduate Education. It was really
interesting to hear how she ended up in her position and her experiences since
leaving Gettysburg. In addition to the
people I had met with I also got to know the people who work in Stacy’s office
area. They were all very kind and
welcoming and I enjoyed getting to know them.
The other factor that I believe really added to my experience was the
variety of my days. In addition to the
meetings Stacy set up for me, I also spent time observing her in her office, shadowing
her at various meetings, and getting to help during orientation. The meetings were interesting because I was
able to learn a lot about meeting etiquette, as well as how meetings change
depending on who they are with. However I think my favorite part of the week was
the orientation experience. Getting to
actually work with incoming students was fun, but to also see it all from the
faculty’s point of view was really interesting.
I also learned that I really liked having a variety of different things
going on during my schedule, not a rigid routine every day. I believe knowing that about myself will
really help me in future career explorations. Another part of my experience that was
fantastic was the time I had every night to explore Boston. I got to visit some really fun places like
Quincy Market and the Boston Public Library.
Overall my experience at Boston University made me realize that working
in higher education would be something that I would enjoy having as a
career. It was truly an eye-opening week
and I am so grateful for the Center for Career Development at Gettysburg
College and Stacy Godnick for making this experience possible.
No comments:
Post a Comment