A Realization

This is the 7th year I will have held a job for at least part of the year.

I started working at my local pool following my freshman year of high school. I submitted my application later than most; I didn’t expect a call back because I figured they had already picked their new hires. But apparently one of the returning staff members quit unexpectedly after getting a late internship and a few days before the first training the boss at the time was on the phone interviewing me. After a few questions, she offered me a spot on staff.

I ended up working at the pool for 5 summers of my life. My fourth summer I was the concession supervisor, a position which was then eliminated the next summer because they had not given the position any real responsibilities. I hear that it was recently reinstated, with additional (and appropriate) responsibilities and powers attached to it. As it should have been in the first place.

In high school, I also worked as a technical support member at a 2 week writing camp for a few year. I helped oversee the computer lab, helped the students type up their work and created the end of year compilation. I spent a few months working in a retirement home, serving dinners a few hours a week. There I was introduced to a whole new world of competitive bingo. Just as important was the advise the residents gave me, words of wisdom like ‘Study hard in school.’ and ‘Never get old.’

As a sophomore in college I got my first internship, working at AccuWeather in the new media marketing department. I worked about 20 hours a week, riding the bus from campus three days a week, while carrying a full course load. That summer I worked on the help desk as an IT intern at Medrad in Pittsburgh. At the time I was not exactly happy, but I did learn quite a bit throughout the summer and became a lot better at communicating with people.

I have been off of work since that time, but in two weeks I will begin my latest opportunity in New York City.