Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Like a boss.

My boss arrived back to work today, and gave me the outline of my summer tasks as an intern.
  • Fall RA Training Prep
  • Welcome Week programming development
  • RA class material based on instructors' feedback
  • Special Projects - including Roommate workshops, Residential Circulum development.
  • Leadership workshop development for summer students
  • Fill in with Camps and Conferences as needed.
He answered some basic questions about their housing department and my responsibilities here as an intern.
Then he give me a copy of the RA class material and told me to get started. He knew that I was leaving tomorrrow and that I wouldn't have alot of time to get started.

I got down to buisness.
Researching new workshops and activities to add to this pre-existing material for the RA class.
This will be fun.

Oh by the way, it's the first day of Orientations so we were told to wear our Valdosta State shirts we got in our welcome package. YAY!
We matched the rest of the students staff so V and I thought it would be nice to snap a picture.
We Match; VSU Housing and Residence Life
Oh and here in GA, they have this place and it's called Zaxby's. It's great and that's where V and I went to dinner.

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Intern(al) FAIL

Yesterday was Memorial Day, so the offices were closed. My weekend consisted of getting up at around 2/3pm and getting a "late lunch" with V.
Today I "started" work. I was only given one task, which was that I had an HR appointment to get on payroll and that I needed my paperwork packet completed, along with two forms of ID. Of course I had filled out all the required paperwork before I left for Valdosta, and made sure that I had pulled out my Social Security Card. Thinking ahead, I put it in a safe place...BAD IDEA.

Nevertheless, it is Tuesday, and the Housing Office opens at 8am. Like any good intern would do, I go to breakfast on campus with V, and head into the Housing Office as it's opening. I sit in the lobby for a couple hours. I had not been given clear instructions on what I was to do on my first day. Because my boss was still on vacation, V's boss didn't know what to do with me. I triple check my paperwork and soon realize I had missed placed my SS card. I frantically searched my now unpacked room, wallets and purses - knowing I brought it with me. I called my mother just to asked if I had left it behind at her house, but she said she cleaned since I left and she did not find it. I couldn't believe I was already messing up on my first day.

Some background story, because I knew I was heading to this internship, I had gone shopping for new "semi-professional" business attire. I also bought a new wallet purse, which I was now using as my main purse with my keys attached.
After searching and searching, I got so frustrated so I went back to the Housing office to meet up with V, because he had his HR appointment before mine at 10am. While I was sitting in the waiting area, a student desk assistant answered the phone and said my name. I went over to answer the phone, and some lady (who I've never heard of before) started asking me why I wasn't at my 9:30am meeting....I was so confused! This lady had apparently spoken with my boss (whom I have yet to meet) and arranged this time to meet. She said that we would just reschedule for Thursday. Knowing that I didn't have any plans yet, I said okay and hung up. I INSTANTLY REALIZED I MADE A HUGE MISTAKE. I was leaving Thursday morning for NACURH (a housing student leadership conference) in Wisconsin and I would not be in the office much on Thursday, needing to catch my flight out of Valdosta.
Now I have three issues:
  1. I can't find my Social Security card
  2. Apparently I missed a meeting I didn't even know about
  3. I reschedule this meeting with a person that I've never heard of before with a time that I am not available.....
I walked V to his HR appointment and I thought I would take the time to call some of my family to see if they had spare copies of my SS card or Birth Certificate.
After talking with my mom a second time, she said she would go home and that she was sure she had copies of my documents at home. But I needed them at 2pm for my appointment.
Even if I wanted to get a replacement SS Card, you have to have your Birth Certificate. And to get a new Birth Certificate, you need to be able to go to the city in which you were born, which happened to be 4 hours away. By the time I could drive down to Tampa, the offices would be closed for the day, and I would miss my HR appointment. So I got desperate. I looked online and found a site that could give me an Online Birth Certificated. I hastefully paid $50 for some Certificate I knew was not legitimate, but I needed something to go my way.
V finally finished his appointment, and I went on to fix issue #2....I e-mailed my boss and let him know that I missed this...meeting I was unaware of.
After talking around, I found out who I talked to on the phone (she doesn't even work in the Housing Office), and e-mailed her explaining that I was going out of town on Thursday for a conference and would not be able to attend this make-up meeting I schedule.

By then, it was lunch time, and our 1Cards had been activated with our dining dollars. We got food at the Chick-fil-A on campus, and I REMEMBERED, when I got this new wallet purse, I moved over my important papers, to a secure pocket on the inside of the wallet. I HAD FOUND MY MISSING IDENTITY. hahahaha no, but that's really what I had felt after feeling like I was crazy!

After lunch, I felt little relief when the lady e-mailed me back saying that we could reschedule for next week and by the time I was finished responding, I was headed off to my HR appointment. Everything went smoothly, and I could relax. Although I had still not heard back from my boss, I can only assume that I was fine because I had no idea about the meeting planned for earlier in the day.

I headed back to the housing office, and finally found my office space, which is located in the Resident Assistant (RA) Resource Closet so it's filled with arts and crafts. There was a welcome banner hanging on the door and I felt relieved. After a long and stressful day, I felt comfortable again. Being in a new environment is never easy.


So a couple tips for those who care....
  1.  ALWAYS BRING A BACKUP FORM OF IDENTIFICATION for payroll purposes. 
  2. Maintain contact with your boss and know WHEN you should start working. 
  3. When you're talking on the phone, always get the contact information of the person you are talking to on the other line. 
  4. Always keep a calendar, and write down ALL aspects of schedules so that you don't overbook when you aren't thinking. 
  5.  Don't freak out and remain calm. 
 

Monday, May 26, 2014

Interns Move in

Disclaimer.... I will be using the Georgia font....for very obvious reasons.

I got the okay to move into the Complex Directors apartment at Valdosta State University.
However, there were three semi-serious catches....

  1. My apartment would be ready on Friday, however at VSU offices close on Friday at 2:30pm...which means if I wanted to move in, I would have to get there as early in the day to make sure that I could get all my paperwork submitted and get my keys and 1Card.
  2. If you can't tell by the date, this is also Memorial Day weekend, so offices are also closed Monday.
  3. My boss is on vacation so he asked that I call another lady in the office to get situated before the weekend got started.
Of course I can't sleep the night before I was supposed to drive up, so I finished packing up my car and left around 7am to beat the morning rush hour. A simple four hour drive from my hometown, and I arrive in Valdosta right around 11:30am. I call the number I was given, but there was no response. Navigating around the campus with the virtual camp map while driving, I found the Housing Office where I hoped I could find someone to help. After parking into a "no parking" spot, I arrive in some random residential hall, however they directed me to the main housing office.

I got to the reception desk and stated my name and that I was one of the incoming housing interns. The student workers were obviously no aware I was coming, and a lovely lady walked out of her office to assist me. After running around from office to office, she finally found my paperwork on the lady's desk that I was supposed to call. She showed me on a campus map the places I needed to go: 1Card office, Key shop, Parking and Transportation, the Library to set up my Wifi and finally my apartment in Patterson Hall.

Beginning my adventure...I went to the 1Card office to get my school ID with the paperwork I was handed. After I took a picture the lady printed my card and handed it to me. I
immediately started laughing because it had my picture, but the name of the other intern "Vinícius Vargas". She reprinted my correct card, and I moved on to the key shop. Here I handed in the paperwork to sit for about 20 minutes. There was apparently confusion because the person that is supposed to authorize access to the Complex Director apartments was also on vacation so they had to double verify I was supposed to get the keys. I signed off and headed across campus to parking and transportation. Let me tell you something....there is this street called Oak Street, and it's one way. I hate this street. Anyways, I got lost and I went to about four different parking garages until I found the office "under" the garage. Once I got there, I was offered two different kinds of passes and I'm so glad I chose to pay $3 more for the official staff parking or else I wouldn't have a parking spot close to my building. At this point I was starving, but got a call from the lady I was originally supposed to call with and she wanted to meet up with me to see how I was doing.

I traveled back to the main Housing Office where we met in the break room, and I met a couple of the Assistant Directors and the other intern "V". We exchanged phone numbers and got a tour of the housing office. Because my boss was not there, I was free for the day so I began moving in. I decided to skip the library because as a Management Information Systems major, I would hope I could figure out some simple instructions to get my Wifi hooked up. After about an hour of moving, I was finished and the offices at VSU closed for the weekend.

Since I had really only met the other intern V, we decided to go exploring and we got dinner. We were in a small town, which is something I'm not used to. Getting used to this change in pace was not going to be easy.

Sunday, May 25, 2014

Week 2 - Blog Introduction

       1) What is the main idea of the blog topic?
 I have created a blog to talk about my Association of College and University Housing Officers - International (ACUHO-I) Summer Internship experience. This will help those student leaders interested in gaining Student Affairs related experiences, and more specifically within university housing. I have worked within housing since my freshman year, and I am currently a senior as well as a third year Resident Assistant (RA) on Florida Atlantic University Boca Campus (FAU).
2) What types of information can be added to this blog each week?
 I want to talk about all aspects of the process including the application process, interviewing and tips, acceptance information, traveling, and other things that I learn during this experience. I will also include what I get to work on each week so that people interested in the program can understand what my roles and responsibilities are here at Valdosta State University (VSU). In addition, I can share my personal journey about how I got to where I am today through getting involved on campus and within the Housing and Residential Life at FAU.
3) Why will this blog be interesting?
 I searched for information about the ACUHO-I Internship when I was interested in applying, and I honestly didn't find anything that helped me understand more about the program. Hopefully this blog can help future potential student leaders understand what this program as all about.
4) Which other blogs and websites are similar to yours?
      5) Are there similar types of information that all these sites give amongst themselves? What information is missing?
 I like that all of these blogs share personal information about their experience, and each one is different because they are at completely different university completing various roles within their host universities housing department. However, I feel like there wasn't much information about the application and interviewing process, which is why I wanted to make a blog like this.
6) What can you do to your blog that would make a person want to visit your site instead of these competitors?  What value would you give your readers? What would you make your competitive advantage?
 I can give a more holistic perspective to my entire Internship experience. Start from the beginning to learning about the program, and then I can blog about my experiences at VSU. My competitive advantage would be that I'm currently in the program and I can use this blog to not only earn credit for this class, but also document and record my experiences for my personal use, but share it with others that might be interested in this type of summer internship!
7) What are some of the things or features of these other sites and blogs that they can provide that you probably won't be able to?
 I think once I explain the application and searching process, I will only be able to describe my experiences as a Marketing and Publications intern. Other individuals who are accepted elsewhere may be supervising an RA staff or working with summer conferences, but I can only share my experiences from my experiences at VSU.

This is due by 6/01/2014 at Midnight
Please repost your class introduction below so I can remember who you are:
Hello everyone, I'm Kaley Van Zile. I'm originally from Tampa, but I work and live on campus as a Resident Assistant where I ensure that the students are complying with policies and maintain security within the residence halls. I'm a senior Management Information Systems major with a minor in Criminology and Digital Marketing. After graduation, I will be attending grate school for Higher Education Administration to work within Student Affairs, more specifically within the residence halls as a Hall Director. 
I really love Tumblr and use it as my main form of creative blogging, since I'm an RA I tend to blog about unique programs and decorations that I find so that I can get ideas for the future. Maybe creating a blogging database for all RAs.
On another hand, I am currently moving this week to Valdosta, for an internship at Valdosta State University, and I could write about my experiences as a housing intern, creating a public form for others interested interested in applying for an ACUHO-i Summer Internship. I can begin with the application, and interviewing process giving tips I found to be helpful in the process, and move to packing tips, updating to a professional wardrobe and what I learned during this internship. The last thing that I could blog about is my experiences as an student at FAU and sharing my story on how I am graduating from college debt free with an offer to go to graduate school free of charge with housing and meals included.