Final Reflection

Nathan Sousa
HDF 417
SOLC Intern
Being at the end of my internship I have decided to look back and reflect on my original
goals and see where I progressed in each goal and how I grew to become the leader I wanted to
become. My goals for this internship were to educate my students and prepare them to lead and
facilitate a retreat, to get my students to a spot where they are comfortable reaching out to me,
create strong class plans that convey information well to my students, and to work well with high
education staff in order to learn the tricks of the trade. For my first goal was to prepare my
students to be great facilitators, myself and my fellow intern Brian made sure we coupled our
lessons with activities in order to accommodate all learning styles and give examples of how the
lessons we were teaching actually fit into the consulting work. For example to teach our class
how to plan a retreat according to the needs of the group Brian and I split the class into 4
different groups and handed each group a sample intake form, each group had 10 minutes to
create a basic retreat outline tailored to the needs of the organization and its request. Each group
impressed me, Brian, and Allie, which lead us to be comfortable with them taking part in future
retreat planning.
Another one of my goals was to make sure my students were comfortable enough in my
ability and demeanor that they could approach me with questions and guidance. I accomplished
this goal by building my credibility very early into the semester, I made sure when I spoke I was
professional and made sure I was well versed in my material, I then lead a retreat and
demonstrated my ability to the class. This inspired my students to ask for my help and advice in
order to be successful, I saw this whenever the students had a big assignment due, or needed help
with running SOLC retreats.
While I did write down that I wanted to be able to create strong class plans, I feel as
though I already covered my creating of class plans in a past paragraph. I would rather like to
reflect on working with higher education staff in order to get a taste of their job, and what I
would be doing if I continue with the career path I am on. I believe I was successful in working
well with the Higher Education staff, by sitting in on meetings and having weekly meetings with
my supervisor I feel as though I learned how much behind the scenes work goes into being a
higher education staff member, and how important that work is in the growth and development in
the students around them. This is seen by the impact I felt was made on the students by the
higher ed staff that became part of their learning process in HDF 413.
My training for this position was very experiential in nature in order to prepare for this
position of intern I first had to take HDF 413 in the spring of last year. This in itself set me up by
allowing me to learn the material and watch that semesters interns teach the class in their own
style. After that initial view of the position I sat down with past interns and inquired about the
work I would have to do and the strategies that they found lead to success, followed by a very
similar conversation with my supervisor. Each of these sit down meetings allowed each group I
met with to tell me about how they presented their information, and the activities they used to
convey the lessons to the students, such as the retreat planning activity I addressed in an earlier
paragraph. I feel this training set me up for success and I was better able to assist the class and its
needs.
I felt as though I was integrated into the process very easily. Having a prior studentteacher relationship with my supervisor allowed for an easy transition into a teacher-intern
relationship, the only adjustment was the level of maturity and openness in the relationship. The
same can be said with integrating with my co-intern, Brian Condon. We started with a peer-peer
relationship, and when we realized our roles we matured and became a colleague-colleague
relationship. I feel as though I was able to keep these relationships strong and effective by being
very open with my needs as an intern, and being vocal about my opinions while still respecting
the process and the pre-existing notions of the group. This trust allowed all members in the class
including staff to bond and build a strong bond. I feel as though my integration was very
satisfactory because I know that I can always turn to my colleagues for assistance, and I am now
better prepared for a real world application of integrating into a professional staff while building
and maintaining a working relationship.
Currently we do not have a staff development program, but my advisor, fellow intern,
and I meet weekly to discuss what we were working on in class, and any issues that became a
presence in the class prior to the meeting. I feel this was adequate to develop my skills and align
myself with my colleagues.
I believe I have affected the internship environment by introducing a new set of ideals by
looking at consulting through my own lens and applying it to the material. I was able to take
what worked for me when I first started my journey as a consultant and polish it by adding
supplemental material and different forms of presentation in order to maximize the growth of the
students. My supervisor stated that your positivity and experience helped the learning outcome
of the students greatly, and allowed them to grow in a comfortable environment.
I believe I have changed a lot during my semester as an intern. Naturally I am not the
most organized person, or the most punctual, and I had never really been tasked with translating
so much information to such a diverse group of students. Alison my supervisor had many of the
qualities that I wanted to obtain, and with her help, and under her guidance I feel as though I was
able to become a bit more organized, and more professional. With her input I feel as though I
learned how to put together a successful class plan that helped create mini-professional
consultants. I feel there was also a lot of personal growth that came along with being an intern. I
had to learn how to connect with many different people, and I believe that in order to connect
with a diverse group of people you must first understand yourself, be comfortable with yourself,
and know how to utilize your strength and weaknesses, and I feel that through this process I truly
grew in that manner.

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Nathan Sousa

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