Morgan Wendel

Responsibilities

At first my responsibilities were mainly greeting people as they came in, taking down any information needed and then walking them through the food pantry or assisting them with LIHEAP applications, I would pick up purchase orders and take in donations. As I got more comfortable I was able to pick my role so I began to go on home visits with the Early HeadStart Workers and create goals plans for families. I went to our HeadStart classroom and helped the lead and assistant teachers with the daily schedule.

Accomplishments

During our slower days at the food pantry I would often work on updating the Story County Resource Guide. Updating the information was great for making sure every family is receiving accurate information but I also learned a lot about the many resources Story County has to offer.

Learning experience

The greatest lesson I learned from my experience was the importance of being an advocate for myself. I'm so glad that my internship site allowed me to decide what I wanted to do and how much I wanted to do of each but it definitely took personal initiative and advocacy. It taught me a lot about my professional self.

What advice would you give?

Be an advocate for yourself and your learning! The internship experience is to help you grow as a professional so take your time in finding a place that will help you achieve that. Try to follow through with the goals you create because those will make your time feel more valuable and those little accomplishments can add up to be a lot. You want to leave your internship feeling you made an impact, small or large!