Avery Brekke

Responsibilities

As a Life Enrichment Intern at a senior living facility, I helped plan and lead a variety of activities and programs designed to engage residents both physically and socially. This included leading exercise classes regularly, as well as organizing special events like a walker car wash and resident happy hours. I also designed and created flyers to promote upcoming activities, ensuring residents knew what to look forward to each week. Beyond the planned programming, I made it a priority to spend one-on-one time with residents, getting to know them personally and building genuine relationships throughout my internship.

Accomplishments

My greatest accomplishment was the connections I built with the residents over the course of my internship. Taking the time to sit down, talk, and truly get to know each of them made my work feel meaningful far beyond just checking tasks off a list. I was especially proud when residents thanked me directly for how well I planned and led activities, because it showed that my efforts were genuinely improving their day-to-day lives. That kind of feedback reinforced that I was in the right field and doing work that mattered.

Learning experience

The greatest lesson I learned is that things can still turn out well even when they don't go according to plan. There were plenty of moments, big and small, where an activity or a day looked completely different from what I had originally envisioned. Instead of seeing that as a failure, I learned to adapt in the moment and trust that a positive outcome was still possible. This mindset shift made me more resilient and more comfortable with uncertainty in my day-to-day work.

What advice would you give?

My biggest piece of advice is to stay open to change, because your plans will shift, whether that's your schedule for the day or the direction of your career. I started in college having no idea what I wanted to do; I changed my major multiple times, and at times it was very stressful for me not to know my plan, but it could not have worked out better! Rather than seeing those changes as setbacks, try to view them as a normal and even valuable part of work and life. Some of the best moments in my internship came from days that looked nothing like what I had originally planned. Learning to adjust with a positive attitude will not only make your internship more enjoyable, but it will also prepare you for a career where flexibility is essential.