Sofie Stern

Responsibilities

I am a teaching/administrative intern in a childcare setting, so a lot of my responsibilities are focused on the direct care of children along with administrative tasks in the office. I would say my main duty is to help teachers in their classrooms; assisting with lessons and activities, playing with the children, serving snacks and lunches, changing diapers, and making sure they are safe and cared for. I also do various administrative tasks such as filing accident reports, submitting attendance to DHS, keeping records for the food program they are a part of, updating and creating the bulletin boards, helping better organize classrooms, taking photos of the children for the website/facebook/events, etc. There is never a dull moment!

Accomplishments

I would say my greatest accomplishment was getting to know the children and their families so well in such a short period of time. Play and Learn really gave me the opportunity for direct care and interacting with clients, which was extremely beneficial. Making connections with the children is what made my internship such a good experience.

Learning experience

The greatest lesson I learned was to always make sure you are on the same page as your co-workers and superiors. I had a few moments where communication could have been better on my end, and so I learned to always ask questions if I was confused or wanted clarity on a situation, and it made things easier for everyone!

What advice would you give?

My advice for HDFS majors would be to try out something that you maybe don't think you will like or don't know if it will be a good fit for you. The experience will be so rewarding and even if you don't especially like it, you will have a better understanding of what direction you want to go in career wise.