Starting Where I Began: A Full-Circle Moment
After such a meaningful experience, I thought it would be important to end my internship the same way I started – with a blog. As a reminder, I am a Health Education and Behavior major and my main objective for the summer with 4-H was the Health Rocks! program.
Health Rocks! focuses on teaching life skills and decision-making to reduce the amount of tobacco, alcohol, vaping, and drug use in middle school students. I had the opportunity to go to teach nine lessons at two different middle schools. Here, I was able to form connections with the site leaders, as well as the middle school students. From this experience, I learned a lot about how to adapt lessons based on the personality of the group. Where some groups were very energetic and hyper, others required me to be more mellow to match their personality. The change in my personality based on each group was needed in order for the youth to be engaged and for me to make a connection with them. Besides this, I was in charge of the social media posts, and I was able to increase engagement throughout all of the social media accounts. I did other intern duties, such as organizing the closest, printing and scanning, and guiding the other intern.
Growth Beyond the Internship
I am so grateful for this experience because I feel like I learned so much. I was able to learn how to stay calm and patient with the kids, learned how to adapt lessons, and learned that sometimes youth are engaged even when they don’t seem like it. I know the lessons I learned I will be able to carry with me in my future as an occupational therapist. Working with many types of people helped me understand them and make changes based on their personal needs, which I will need to do as an Occupational Therapist (OT). I learned to be flexible based on what I felt the groups needed, which is a very important tool as an occupational therapist. I really value the holistic approach of 4-H, which is something that I am excited to navigate as an OT. Lastly, I was able to learn important professional skills, such as time-management, problem-solving, and collaboration. I am so glad that I was able to get experiences in this internship that will not only help me in any workforce, but specifically in the career that I would like to go into.
Gratitude for the Journey
I would like to give a huge thank you to Kenan Bridges, my supervisor and mentor throughout my whole internship. Your constant support showed me that I could do anything I set my mind to. I will carry the lessons I learned from you for a very long time. Thank you to Leah Acevedo, our other intern, who was part of the reason this internship was so fun. I will miss our lunch and coffee breaks and cannot wait to see how far you go. Thank you to the whole Extension team for welcoming me with open arms and showing me the ropes. The amount of friendly faces in the office made each day better. I am extremely grateful to 4-H for giving me this opportunity and allowing me to grow as a human.
I can say with full certainty that 4-H definitely knows how to make the best better!
Written by: Amy Suarez
Amy joins the team to support the 4-H Health Rocks!® program, a grant via National 4-H Council.
ABOUT HEALTH ROCKS! ®
Health Rocks! applies 4‑H’s successful Positive Youth Development model with life skill development and decision-making philosophy to the challenge of reducing tobacco, alcohol, e-cigarette/vaping and drug use. Through the power of youth/adult partnerships, Health Rocks! instills in youth participants invaluable confidence and communication skills necessary to make responsible decisions and develop the internal strength to resist risky behaviors.
ABOUT FLORIDA 4-H
4-H is the youth development program of the land-grant university system and Cooperative Extension System. The program provides hands-on educational programs and experiences for youth ages 5 to 18 with the objective of developing youth as individuals, and as responsible and productive citizens. In Florida, 4-H is administered by University of Florida/IFAS Extension and Florida A&M University.
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