This week I'm creating a profile describing myself and my mentorship...
Profile:
My name is Grace, and I'm 17 years old. I play volleyball and tennis, and I'm also involved in several clubs at my school. I'm a follower of Jesus Christ, and I go to Lakewood Baptist Church. At this stage in my life, I'm discovering my passions, along with things I don't particularly enjoy. One of my bigger passions is learning about brain development, and I also love kids. I took AP Psychology last year, which is what got me interested in human development and the study of the brain. While I couldn't do much with psychology through a mentorship, due to confidentiality, I was able to find a mentorship involving child development.
Mentorship:
I mentor with the Lakewood Baptist Kid's Cove daycare every morning for two periods. Every morning all the teachers at the daycare arrive about 30 minutes early to get everything ready, and we have a prayer/praise circle, catching up with each other. Then we go to pick up the kids in carpool and walk back to the Kid's Cove area. I work with ages one to two so we usually start with a little playtime and then snack. I help clean the kid's hands and get their snacks ready for them. After snack, depending on the day, there will be other activities like music, crafts, or playtime. By this time I have to get back to school. My favorite part about my mentorship is getting to watch the kids grow. I love building relationships with the kids because even if they can't talk, I can tell when they start to recognize me after a while. One little girl is just starting to walk, and I am so amazed when I watch her learn on her own. I love my mentorship at Lakewood; it has taught me not only about kids and how they grow, but also about myself.
Future:
I hope to attend the University of Georgia next year and major in Human Development and Family Science. This would be ideal because I am so interested in how children and people in general grow and mature, and I would also love to learn about how families function. This ties together my passion for psychology and my passion for children. My mentorship is preparing me for this because I'm getting real-world experience in a daycare, and I'm learning all about kids and how their minds work. I am extremely thankful for my mentorship at Lakewood, and I can't wait to see what my future holds.
Over the course of this year (so far), I think I see the church in a whole new way. I've been a member and attended Lakewood regularly for a while, but now that I've been behind the scenes for a few months, I know it's much more work than it may seem. There are people I've met at my internship at Lakewood that I didn't even know (which I think is rare at a church). For example, I'd never thought of custodians at Lakewood, even though it seems like an obvious necessity. Also the financial staff at Lakewood does so much that I wasn't aware of until this year. When I think about a church like Lakewood, I think of church on 2 out of the 7 days of the week and assume not much work is put in to organize these services. However, Lakewood does much, much more than host two church services a week. We have a missions team that works on yearly mission trips, an adult ministry alone with the student ministry, and there's also a kids ministry. Lakewood even has a preschool program every weekday morning that I didn't even know about. Speaking of, as you know (if you regularly read my blog), my mentor just moved this past week. That means that I need a new mentor. I decided to stay at Lakewood and I will now be working in the Kids Ministry with the preschoolers every morning. I am extremely excited to work with these kids, and it fits perfectly because after recently applying to colleges and researching majors, I've realized I want to major in Human Development (or something of the sort). I will start working with the kids on Monday and I can't wait!
I am going to make sure that at this new internship in Kids Cove at Lakewood I will work on improving my all- around behavior and responsibility level. This is not to imply that my new mentorship is any more important than my last one, but I know that my new one will require much more responsibility since I will be trusted with young children, and I will be a role-model/example to the kids.
Lately my internship has been teaching me a lot. Not just about how a church student ministry runs, but also about characteristics a great employee should have. For example, I'm learning to be more responsible, because I can't be late to my internship. I'm also better at communicating with professionals (like my mentor), because I have to let her know in advance if I can't make it to my internship. These types of qualities are what I'm learning all about, at my mentorship this year.
Just to recap what I've been doing at my mentorship recently... I've been making another copy of a folder full of information for planning the Girls conference (that just occurred a few weekends ago), Imprinted. I understand it's not the most glorious job at Lakewood, but I also know that I'm helping my mentor. She is moving this next week and wants to bring the original copy of this folder with her, in case she plans another Imprinted. However, she also wants to leave a copy of the folder here at Lakewood for when we hire another Girls Minister, in case she needs help planning Imprinted. As I copy every page of this folder, I remind myself that even the "boring" parts of my internship are imperative to the church. I know that one day my mentors replacement will (hopefully) be very grateful for the planing folder, and my mentor will be able to continue planning it where she moves. By making these copies now, I may be helping many girls across the country learn more about God because they'll be able to go to these conferences with the help of the planning folders.
Over these past few weeks interning at Lakewood Baptist Church, I've learned a lot of "unwritten rules" around the offices of my mentors. Without my mentor having to tell me directly, I understand that the high school minister is technically "above" me and the other employees; therefore, I should be quick to help him with anything he needs, even if I'm in the process of working on something for my mentor. If what he needs is urgent, that should be my first priority. Also I sometimes go help out the head pastors secretary, because she is so busy all the time. However, I know that if there is something that my mentor needs to have done, I should be helping her instead of the pastors secretary. I also know this woman personally, but I know that I shouldn't be going in her office just to socialize, because she is very busy and needs to focus on her work. I also know that if I ever can't be at my mentorship, I need to tell my mentor at least by there day before, in case she was planning on having me work on a specific project.
Around the Lakewood Student Ministry, most people dress pretty casually, but still professionally. Obviously, on Sundays and Wednesdays everyone dresses more nicely, but on the weekdays no one comes in except for the student ministers. This means they can can dress casually, but of course still appropriately. I follow my mentors lead and dress nice on most days, but still go for casual on occasion. If I know I will be going over to the Fellowship Hall (where the head pastor and financial department employees work), then I will dress more professionally because I know that, as an intern I should be an example of the church.
At the church I only work closely with about 4 people, those being my mentor (the girls minister) the high school minister, the middle school minister, and their shared secretary. Two of these being men and the other two being very mature women, there isn't really any "office-gossip." This is very helpful to the entire Student Ministry, and it's a big part of how it runs so smoothly.
I love my internship, and although my mentor will be moving soon, I have enjoyed every day spent working for her, and I look forward to working with another mentor at Lakewood.
