Gabie Schuster

Responsibilities

I was the administrative intern for the Iowa State Child Development Lab School. I learned a lot about the behind-the-scenes work of running a childcare center. I helped the Lab School set up Brightwheel, an online communication childcare software. I helped with the Child and Adult Care Food Program, accreditation standards and the first ever online enrollment process at the Lab School.

Accomplishments

My greatest accomplishment during my internship was successfully helping the Lab School switch many of their processes to online, including the enrollment process. This was the first year that the enrollment process was completely online and it was very successful.

Learning experience

The greatest lesson I learned from my experience is that I am more knowledgable and capable than I thought. I gained a lot of confidence in myself through my internship. My dream is to one day be a childcare center director, but I have always been afraid that I would not be good at it. I learned that I am more than capable of running my own childcare center from my internship.

What advice would you give?

My advice for future students in my major is to advocate for yourself. The Lab School was not advertising or looking for an intern this year. I asked and advocated for myself to complete my internship here. You need to be your biggest advocate. It never hurts to ask, the worst that can happen is that you get told no.