Today was a big day for my internship. Since I joined the East Liberty Development, Inc. staff in early September, another intern, Carlyn, has been planning the biggest tree plating in Western Pennsylvania. This required a ton of planning, a very early morning/long day and about 150 volunteers. The day went very smoothly, and 115 trees were successfully planted on the median of East Liberty Blvd. between Highland Avenue and Negley. While I did not get to plant a single tree, I did get there 3 1/2 hours early to set up. I also got to sign in volunteers and meet a lot of press people. I met a lot of cool people who were affiliated with ELDI and spent a lot of time being in awe of the fact that I got to help plan and pull off such a huge and exciting event!
So why did we feel the need to plant so many trees? ELDI was involved with getting rid of a traffic lane on East Liberty Blvd going each way for bike lanes, and the trees are great for creating a calming effect on traffic. So our hope is that not only will East Liberty Blvd. have great astecic appeal, but bikers will be safer.
Showing posts with label internship. Show all posts
Showing posts with label internship. Show all posts
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Anarchy at the library...
Complete chaos. That perfectly described my experience on Monday night when my internship supervisor (Rose) and I headed with 47 lovely refugees to the local public library. Prior to loading the massive school bus that would be taking us to our destination, Rose tried to describe bus and library protocol to the group using rudimentary English and other students as translators. The truth is no matter what she said or how she said it, nothing would have prepared this group (or me) for what laid ahead.
After unloading the bus and making sure no children were left on the bus (seriously with 30+ children on the bus it is bound to happen sometime soon), our massive group bolted into the tiny library thus producing the biggest commotion that suburban library had ever seen. Kids were running around grabbing books, DVDs, and coloring sheets from who knows where. More than half of them were scurrying back and forth between the children’s section of the library to their mothers who were chatting loudly at the library’s front desk to each other as they waited to procure their newest connection to American culture – a library card.
Despite the evening causing me to run around like crazy woman as I tried to set up e-mail accounts, Google Burmese soap-operas, find musicals on DVD, and make sure the kids were not going to give the children’s librarian a heart attack, it was truly a beautiful experience. Growing up I went to the library once a week and I love the opportunities, conversations, and worlds that were produced by its contents. It was truly wonderful to be able to connect these families to a place that has been such a large part of my life.
Moreover it was great seeing the families get plugged into American culture. From the popular children’s book When You Give a Mouse a Cookie to the Black Eyed Peas Elephunk album, these people who have been displaced from their own homelands were gaining the tools necessary to connect them to their new American life. Even the death glares the library’s other patrons shot at the group could not bring down the sheer joy I had on my face. How could you not love the beauty of the scene? Yes, the night bridged upon anarchy, but it was about people overcoming their past and carrying on their lives. It was simply amazing.
After unloading the bus and making sure no children were left on the bus (seriously with 30+ children on the bus it is bound to happen sometime soon), our massive group bolted into the tiny library thus producing the biggest commotion that suburban library had ever seen. Kids were running around grabbing books, DVDs, and coloring sheets from who knows where. More than half of them were scurrying back and forth between the children’s section of the library to their mothers who were chatting loudly at the library’s front desk to each other as they waited to procure their newest connection to American culture – a library card.
Despite the evening causing me to run around like crazy woman as I tried to set up e-mail accounts, Google Burmese soap-operas, find musicals on DVD, and make sure the kids were not going to give the children’s librarian a heart attack, it was truly a beautiful experience. Growing up I went to the library once a week and I love the opportunities, conversations, and worlds that were produced by its contents. It was truly wonderful to be able to connect these families to a place that has been such a large part of my life.
Moreover it was great seeing the families get plugged into American culture. From the popular children’s book When You Give a Mouse a Cookie to the Black Eyed Peas Elephunk album, these people who have been displaced from their own homelands were gaining the tools necessary to connect them to their new American life. Even the death glares the library’s other patrons shot at the group could not bring down the sheer joy I had on my face. How could you not love the beauty of the scene? Yes, the night bridged upon anarchy, but it was about people overcoming their past and carrying on their lives. It was simply amazing.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
more internship goodness
here it goes...
Last week I had my first couple of days at the Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council (GPLC). The branch of the GPLC that I will be interning for is the Families for Learning division located in Prospect Park outside of Pittsburgh. In the family literacy program, children develop language and literacy skills with the support of their parents or primary caregivers, who also have the opportunity to improve their own skills. This program includes the following four elements: adult education, parent education, intergenerational literacy activities, and early childhood education. This program can literally lift families out of poverty. What is especially exciting about this location is that it specializes in serving refugee and immigrant families who come into the Pittsburgh area.
Being the lowly intern that I am, I will have an array of responsibilities that include, but are not limited to:
- Providing Early Childhood Education to refugee children participating in the ESL program.
- Planning and instructing Interactive Literacy Activities during the Family Literacy Classes.
- Providing one-on-one tutoring to adults or school age children who are ESL students.
- Assisting in developing and maintaining collaborations in the community.
- Developing and instructing theme based managed enrollment mini classes to ESL adults.
- Participating in relevant professional development trainings.
So far I have only had a limited exposure to the site, but I am looking forward to the challenges and experiences that lie ahead...
Last week I had my first couple of days at the Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council (GPLC). The branch of the GPLC that I will be interning for is the Families for Learning division located in Prospect Park outside of Pittsburgh. In the family literacy program, children develop language and literacy skills with the support of their parents or primary caregivers, who also have the opportunity to improve their own skills. This program includes the following four elements: adult education, parent education, intergenerational literacy activities, and early childhood education. This program can literally lift families out of poverty. What is especially exciting about this location is that it specializes in serving refugee and immigrant families who come into the Pittsburgh area.
Being the lowly intern that I am, I will have an array of responsibilities that include, but are not limited to:
- Providing Early Childhood Education to refugee children participating in the ESL program.
- Planning and instructing Interactive Literacy Activities during the Family Literacy Classes.
- Providing one-on-one tutoring to adults or school age children who are ESL students.
- Assisting in developing and maintaining collaborations in the community.
- Developing and instructing theme based managed enrollment mini classes to ESL adults.
- Participating in relevant professional development trainings.
So far I have only had a limited exposure to the site, but I am looking forward to the challenges and experiences that lie ahead...
Internship Goodness
Last week was another new one. We had our first day at our internships on Wednesday and our second day on Friday. I am interning with East Liberty Development Inc. (ELDI) on the east side. East Liberty does a lot of bricks and morter type development for their community. I have two supervisors, Emily and Nate. Both of them are really relaxed and care a lot about what they do. The other neat part is that they are just a few years older than me.
Right now my biggest responsibility is to finish up whatever their old intern, David, didn't. So my biggest task is to continue the cigarette butt campaign that he started. This includes getting people to agree to empty cigarette butt recepticles near their businesses. I also need to install the cigarette butt dispensers and do a couple scans after they are installed to see how many butts were not put in the recepticle. I am also doing some normal intern stuff like getting a bunch of addresses for mailing out the annual reports.
So far I am feeling very optimistic about the internship. I am excited to get involved in what East Liberty is doing in their community, as it is very visible via the buildings and projects they have already completed. They also have a lot of exciting plans for the future, and ELDI is in a very exciting growth period.
-Emily
Right now my biggest responsibility is to finish up whatever their old intern, David, didn't. So my biggest task is to continue the cigarette butt campaign that he started. This includes getting people to agree to empty cigarette butt recepticles near their businesses. I also need to install the cigarette butt dispensers and do a couple scans after they are installed to see how many butts were not put in the recepticle. I am also doing some normal intern stuff like getting a bunch of addresses for mailing out the annual reports.
So far I am feeling very optimistic about the internship. I am excited to get involved in what East Liberty is doing in their community, as it is very visible via the buildings and projects they have already completed. They also have a lot of exciting plans for the future, and ELDI is in a very exciting growth period.
-Emily
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