eBAY IS AWESOME

Yesterday was my first day of my internship at Ebay. The campus is huge. The people are friendly. The atmosphere is calm. I am so thankful, I can't even put into words how I feel to be working in an enviroment like this. Everything that I learned during my Learning and Devlopment Phase at Year Up is really helpful. I am working in the IT Financial Systems Department, and learning a bunch of new tasks. I have a project in the works, that I hope to make my "baby" over the course of the next 6 months. I am soaking up all the information I can get. All the nerves, and questions are cleared up, and I am more motivated than I have ever been in a  long time. Without the support of my fellow colleagues, friends, family, and Year Up Staff I don't know if I would have made it here today. With that said. THANK YOU EVERYONE!

Excited About Internship

In two weeks I will be leaving the comfort of the Learning and Development phase of Year Up and transitioning into my intern position. I am overwhelmed with a plethora of emotions; excitement, anxiety, nervousness, but most of all eagerness. I am confident that the Internship Team has taken their time in selecting a great corporate company that I will be able to succeed in. I'm assuming that since my strong skills are generally communications related I will be placed in a position in which I can show those skills. I think the first skills I will use, and am ready to use are my professional skills. I am confident that I will approach my manager or team lead with a ready handshake and smile. I will be dressed in professional attire, ready to dominate my role. I am looking forward to using some of the tech skills I learned. I am strong in Microsoft Word and Excel so hopefully I will have some projects in which I will utilize those skills. My anxiety is mostly stemmed from the fact that I'm not sure where I will be going, but the not knowing is also exciting. I am hoping the work environment I am in is friendly, full of positive attitudes, as well as professional. I must admit that I am a tad bit nervous about being placed in a position where I would have to rely heavily on my tech skills, only because I know that I am stronger at my soft skills. I will be willing to learn and do anything asked of me, and will be asking plenty of questions. I know that if I remain confident in myself and remind myself that if I can make it this far then I'll make it through internship with no problem. My goal is to get hired through the company that I intern for, however I am aware that even if I am not hired, just having the experience is good enough for me. I am so thankful for this opportunity and am eager to dive right in to my new role, wherever and whatever it is!

I LOVE THE HOLIDAYS

During my everyday life I don't get enough time to spend with the family. I really cherish the moments that we all come together for special events. The holiday season is a big deal for me. Being the youngest in the family, I feel it's really important to keep a steady tradition going so our family can stay close. I am the youngest by many years so I’m always thankful whenever I’m given the chance to spend quality time with my older brothers and sisters. My family has a great sense of humor, and I always enjoy their company. The holidays are a time where families can spend without the worries of everyday life getting in the way. I am thankful for the long break, and truly took advantage of all the time. I have young nieces and nephews growing up and it's very important for them to have the same traditions in their lives that I've been able to have. My family is very close knit, and I don't think it would be that way if it weren't for the fact that we always come together during the holidays. It can be easy sometimes for people to take their families for granted, so during the holidays I think everyone should spend time with the people they consider to be family members, because you never know when those days will be over.

My Brother's and Sisters

There is another tradition that is followed close in my immediate family. I am the youngest of six children. We all share a father, but have different moms. My mom and my step- mom decided that we should all spend Christmas together. Since I've been a child that's what we have done. We celebrate our Christmas on Christmas day. We all go over to my sister's house or other siblings. We have dinner and open gifts. My immediate family is also growing. I now have three nephews, and two nieces. I love the tradition of getting together because we all lead busy lives and it's always a great time to come together as a family. Since this family is constantly growing we've begun picking names for Kris Cringle. This year was great just like all the other years. The kid's had a ton of gifts to open and it is so adorable watching them grow up. I am thankful that my family seems to stick to these traditions. I plan on keeping them going for as long as I can.

Christmas Traditions

Christmas time is a big deal in my family. We have many practiced traditions that have been in place for as long as I can remember. I have a huge family and Christmas is a time where we all come together. Every year on Christmas Eve, my family comes together for a huge dinner, and gift opening. Before my grandmother passed away, all of my aunts, uncles, and cousins would get in our pajamas and go over to her house around nine ‘o’clock. My grandmother would cook a big pot of gumbo and other traditional Christmas foods. I have seven aunts and two uncles, whom all have children. I have about thirty or more cousins. We have made it a tradition to pick names out of a hat to see who will buy whom a present. Since my family is so big, and is only getting bigger, we have categories of name picking. It gets pretty hectic but it's my family so I'm used to it. Now that my grandmother has passed on, each of the aunt's take turns having the dinner at their house. Most of my cousin's my age or older have had their own children, so now we make sure that they get the same experiences we had and dress them up in pajamas. We open all of our gifts at midnight. This year it was the same, and I am happy each year to see how big my family has grown.

"You Know You're Ready For Internship When...

At Year Up we talk a lot about being Internship Ready, and what makes a good Intern. As students we have established what qualities and characteristics someone should have in order to be an all-star at their internship. This person should be dependable, willing to learn, punctual, professional, sociable, and ready-to go. During my time at Year Up I have been able to work on developing these skills. So far I've demonstrate my skills by being consistently professional, positive, upbeat, wiling to learn, and punctual. In module three I plan on continuing these behaviors as well as becoming more consistent with my attendance. As of right now I do feel like I could walk into a Corporate setting and be a good Intern  because it is easy for me to adapt to my surroundings. I feel confident in the tech skills that I have learned, but even more confident in my people skills. I know that I have struggled with attendance, and that is the biggest improvement I need to make before going to my internship. I really feel confident in my ability to blend in with the Corporate crowd, and I am sure I have shown throughout my time at Year Up that I can be a consistent professional adult. I have an easy-going personality, and I am determined to be sucessful. I know if I keep pushing myself even harder throughout Module 3 to really focus on my growth areas then I will be 100% ready for my internship.

Dead End Jobs

I have been working since I was 18 years old. My first job was a cashier at Little Ceasar's Pizza. I ended up working there for over a year. I knew I was working a dead end job, so I started seeking out something else. I figured I would enjoy doing something with phones, and or typing since I took some office training classes in high school. Thankfully I landed a job at an answering service, Direct Line. Here I was in charge of answering phones for clients that have paid for our services. Basically I was the person you talked to when the real person you wanted to speak to rolled their phone lines over for various different reasons. I was so excited to have this job. It paid 5 more dollars than my previous job, and I got to be on the phone all day. I also had to type messages, relay messages, and dispatch. I enjoyed the atmosphere because I had a cubicle with about 15 other people in an office. I felt very official and important, and I thought I had achieved an actual adult position. Unfortunately I was let go due to attendance issues. The last full time position job I held was at Panera Bread. I worked on the food line making sandwiches, salads, pouring soups, and consolidating orders. I really did not enjoy this job, only because they put a lot of pressure on us to have all orders out in no less than 1:30 seconds. It was called "Speed of Service Standards". We were constantly told we weren't fast enough, good enough, and we basically could be replaced at any moment. The restaurant was a close knit group of people. We were all young for the most part, and our personalities were very compatible. I stayed in this position for over  a year only because of the close bond that I created with my co-workers. I constantly felt under appreciated by the management team, and was aware that they did not lead by example. I went above and beyond my duties, and I noticed other people getting promoted over me. I begin coming to work late, not working as hard, and some days not going at all. Eventually I quit. I still have kept in touch with a few people from there, and overall even though I hated my actual job, I am thankful for the people I met.