Megan Johnson and Johnny Guemple are rising seniors at the Apex High School Academy of Information Technology, part of the National Academy Foundation network. The pair worked as interns at NC New Schools/Breakthrough Learning this summer within the Research and Development team, using their skills in programming and technology to help with work in data analysis, mobile app development, and information systems management for the organization. Megan Johnson’s reflections about internships and work-based learning from her experience this summer are captured in the essay below.
The best advice I could give any student who really wants to prepare for his or her future is to get an internship. One can learn about history, how to write, the water cycle and how to solve for “x” in the classroom, but nothing has compared to all that I have been able to learn from getting real world experience.
I came into my internship wanting to figure out if I wanted to be a programmer, learn more about the work place, how to improve time management, work cohesively with others and try to learn something new every day. All those goals were fulfilled, and then some. I did meaningful work that not only helped the organization, but as I collated documents, updated systems and wrote programs to solve problems, I learned so much about myself and was able to grow astronomically. I came home every day able to excitedly tell my family and friends something new I had learned like how to use the command prompt, code in Python and solve a problem that seemed impossible at first. When I had questions, I had a supervisor and coworker/friend I could turn to and if they couldn’t help me at first, we would all work together and use other resources like Google and YouTube. I always thought that to have a job you have to be a master at the topic. That scared me, because I felt so far from being proficient at a skill, especially one that interested me like computer programming.
Through this internship, I realized that proficiency comes with experience and that the most vital skills you can have in a job are abilities like how to communicate, work with others, be cheerful, learn on the fly, make presentations, be diligent, be hardworking and manage time. What a comfort that realization was. Now I am able to focus on enhancing my character to prepare for the work force while learning helpful skills like proficiency in programming, Microsoft Excel and Tableau data visualization software that will help me in future jobs.
One of my favorite experiences about this internship was the ability to teach myself Python. I learned about a fantastic website called CodeAcademy that guided me through a new programming language and was able to finish the course with a firm understanding of how to code in Python. Even as I was taking the course, I was able to take those skills and apply them to one of my projects where I had to collate many Excel documents into one. This was hard because I was going in fairly blind and teaching myself as I went. But I was able to learn how to teach myself, how best to debug and logically think through a problem. I found similar smaller projects later went by a LOT faster because I knew what I was doing and I was able to use past experiences of what would and wouldn’t work to enhance programs down the road. What a perfect opportunity to learn more about myself, about what to expect from the future and how to be ready for it. I am so grateful for this internship and how it has allowed me to learn and improve.
The best advice I could give anyone who really wants to prepare for their future is to get an internship. One can learn about history, how to write, the water cycle and how to solve for “x” in the classroom, but nothing has compared to all that I have been able to learn from getting real-world experience in an internship. I came in wanting to figure out if I wanted to be a programmer, learn more about the work place, how to better time manage, work cohesively with others and try to learn something new every day. All those goals were fulfilled, and then some. I not only did meaningful work as I collated documents, updated systems and programmed in Python but I learned so much about myself and was able to grow and improve astronomically. I came home every day able to excitedly tell my parents and friends something new I had learned. Some things I learned included how to use the command prompt, code in Python and solve a problem that seemed impossible at first.
I always thought that to have a job you have to be a master at the topic. Through this internship, I was able to realize that proficiency comes with experience and that really the most vital skills you can have in a job are soft skills like how to communicate, work with others, be cheerful, learn on the fly, work hard, and time manage. Now I am able to focus on enhancing my character to prepare for the work force while learning helpful skills like proficiency in Python, Excel and software like Tableau that will help me to be advantageous in future jobs. I learned how to write a professional email. Feedback I was given after my first draft entailed that I needed to reduce my use of contractions. Since then, I have been able to consciously make those changes and feel more confident in my writing. One of my favorite experiences about this internship was the ability to teach myself Python. CodeAcademy, my supervisor and Google were some of the most vital tools in this endeavor. While taking the CodeAcademy course, I was able to take those skills and apply them to one of my projects where I had to collate a bunch of Excel documents into one. This was hard, because I was going in fairly blind and learning as I went. But I was able to learn how to teach myself, how best to debug and logically think through a problem. I had to do similar smaller projects later that went by a lot faster because I knew what I was doing and was able to use past experiences of what would and wouldn’t work to enhance programs.
What a perfect opportunity to learn more about myself, about what to expect from the future and how to be ready for it. I am so grateful for this internship and all that it has allowed me to learn and improve upon.
