Clayton Turner | CIIP 2023 Blog Portfolio

Orientation Week

In my orientation week of CIIP I learned a lot of helpful information and skills that may lead to my success in my internship program. There were many aspects of the orientation that I enjoyed, and many parts challenged me to reevaluate how I interact with the city of Baltimore and its community. I really appreciated all the speakers that came and presented to us as it was very insightful to hear from individuals who share similar goals as us interns in serving the Baltimore community. The experiences and stories of the speakers are very good learning opportunities, and I was interested in how almost every speaker spoke about the mistrust of Hopkins within the community. This fact really changed my perception of how I should carry myself within the community both inside and outside this internship. It was also nice to see all the previous CIIP interns and workers come back and speak about the program as well as hear about their current endeavors. This made me feel like I was taking a good first step in doing what I want to do in the future. Another very impactful part of the orientation week for me was the scavenger hunt. I found it quite educational to go around Baltimore using public transportation, especially visiting new areas that I have not seen before. This portion of the orientation was good because we were able to truly connect with the residents of Baltimore in areas outside of the Hopkins bubble. Some of these experiences were slightly uncomfortable at first but still fruitful nonetheless as it was good to put what we learned in previous orientation days into practice. Ultimately, I believe that orientation did a really good job of teaching us a lot about Baltimore and our roles in our internships, and I am excited to go out and try to have a good impact on this community.

Week 1

My first week at Calvin Rodwell Elementary/Middle School was pretty solid. Even though school was still in session for the first couple of days there was still much to do. I wanted to make a good first impression by trying to be very helpful this first week, but I wanted to keep in mind that the first week should be meant for primarily listening and learning. I worked with different people at the school on different projects and got to know my new environment a bit. It is interesting to see all the moving parts that go on behind the scenes of the school. I am learning a lot of hands-on skills as well such as tool usage which has already helped me in my personal life. My main goal as of right now is to be of as much help as possible while finding my own place within the program. I was not able to work with many children this week, but I have met a couple in the school, and they have been nice. Though I have only been here for a week I really like the culture of the school so far, everyone is lively, and the staff and students seem to have good relationships. I do not know yet what my role will be within the program as the summer camp has just started, but I am currently working on a flyer to help promote summer camp resources. All the staff have been patient and supportive of me and are helping me get into this work. A main takeaway from this week for me was flexibility because anything can happen, and one must be prepared to adapt in the face of an unexpected challenge. I believe I can learn a lot from this program, and I am excited to see what week two has in store.

Week 2

A given day at my placement may be quite different from the day before. The main program I will be working with starts July 3rd, so my work so far leading up to this date has been in preparation for this. There are many things that need to be worked on within the school. There are inspectors at all times working with us to make sure everything is up to code. A new development has been getting items off the ground that could be a potential hazard. To accomplish this, we have been trying to organize spaces and reallocate different school supplies to areas with space. With this I have been working with many different people within the school to streamline this process. Making these relationships in my workplace is nice because I feel like I am acclimating well to my role. However, I will be doing different work moving forward as the summer program starts. It seems I will be working with the students in the camp more now and I am excited for the shift. I have also been offered the chance to go on a field trip with the camp for a few days in July and I am excited about that as well. While I do not know what exactly all of my roles will be in the coming weeks it will definitely be an enriching experience. One thing that I appreciate from this placement is that there is no one typical day, there are many things to potentially do within one day and that unpredictability is very important in my opinion. This helps me think on my feet and adapt to multiple situations while learning many different lessons as opposed to just doing the same thing every day. Ultimately, I am excited to find out what the coming weeks have in store for me.

Week 3

The third week was very similar to the second week in my experience> We only worked four days as we were off for Juneteenth. This added pressure to us as a result because we only had four days to prepare. The first day of the summer camp starts this coming Monday and there was a lot to do ahead of that. With the speed of the deadline for the school to be ready we had to speed up production in order to be on time. This required a lot of teamwork and problem solving. As I worked on different projects during the week, I made many connections with different people within the school. It was good to get to know my coworkers better and by the end of the week we were all working smoothly together. This coming week will be another adjustment for me as since the summer camp is going to start, I may have different roles within the school. This might mean working with students. Either way I am fitting into my routine nicely and I am balancing life outside of work well. This experience so far has taught me a lot about living on my own within the workforce apart from school life. I find this very valuable as this is my first summer away from home and my first non-part-time job. I have learned how to be more independent which has let me be more open to the world around me. I am looking forward to what this next week brings and so far, my intern experience has been very fruitful.

Week 5

This was the second week that I worked with the summer camp for my program. I am working as a classroom assistant for the 8th graders in the morning and I help with enrichment in the afternoon with all of the middle schoolers. I feel like I am getting to know my students well and they are warming up to me. Even the louder kids started to listen to me a bit. I have a younger brother, so I have experience connecting to people younger than me and this gives me knowledge on how to connect with my students. I find that they respond better to treating them with respect rather than trying to dominate them. Interacting with them is teaching me how to have respect for different people. Just as we should respect people who are from different backgrounds, we should respect people of all ages as well. I think that as a society we should work harder to be more respectful and kinder to each other. I feel as though that is how we as a planet can all live together. I am glad that I am being able to practice these skills at my internship. I believe this is a goal in my life to be able to be respected by many and the first step to that is respecting the other person. As for this, next week I want to continue being consistent at my placement and gaining more responsibility within the camp. I hope to accomplish more goals within the coming weeks.