Photo Essay

The B1 is the worst transportation I have used in my life! Sometimes I had to wait in  the bus top over 20 minutes and I got to internship very late. But, I never had a problem with my supervisor because I got to internship a little late.

My endless duty! I did this every single day during internship, this were for the next day's lunch service for the seniors that paid $1 for their lunch everyday. Most of my time was spent on doing this silverwear.

Shredding papers was very fun! I had to check a huge cabinet full of papers from 1990s to 2011. I shredded papers from 1990s until 2004. Most of the papers were from activities, lunch, and some other things that were not important anymore.

 This was a huge challenge! Alphabetizing all this participants emergency contact cards, it was really boring and I really hate it but it was my job to finish alphabetizing and I finally did! 

I entered a thousand participant forms into the computer system, sometimes I disliked doing this because the handwriting  

was very hard to read. I noticed that JASA is a Jewish Senior Center but most of the seniors that go there are Russians.

Karen (right) was my Internship Supervisor and Marina (left) is Karen's co-worker. 

This is the Bingo class which happens every Thursday afternoon. 

Me and Karen on the day before Internship ended. 

Final Reflection

My main goal was to complete my internship hours before internship weeks ended and I did achieve my goal, I did about 6 more hours than what I was suppose to do. After the last 10 weeks I was able to experience life outside school- its very overwhelming and requires commitment. My supervisor was very nice and my relationship with her made me notice that if you want someone to take your job seriously you need to be a hard working employee or volunteer. First I was very freaked out about working at a senior center but once I was working there, I didn't work with seniors at all, I helped with the setting up and things like that. The professional world can be very stressing if you don't stick to it or aren't mature enough to handle things well. Unfortunately my thoughts about college haven't change after internship because I was doing things that were easy to do. The biggest challenge was not being able to go to internship sometimes because of personal reasons but I made up my hours during the spring break.

If I were to start a brand new internship, I would make sure that it has more challenges for me to gain experience and try to do an internship that I would really enjoy doing. A new intern at JASA has to be friendly, hard working and needs to have a lot of patience. I will really miss hearing Karen argue with staff members when it was time to do the food ordering. 

Thank You Letter

May 23, 2012

Dear Karen,

I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you for being such a wonderful internship supervisor. You really taught me a great deal about being a project director.  Working with seniors is not an easy task but I was able to see you do it every day. Twenty years is a long time! I’m impressed.

This internship truly fulfilled my expectations. You and JASA’s staff members really made me feel comfortable at Shorefront all the time. You also taught about how to work with others. For example, listening to you argue with Websther, Marina, and Mark taught me that even if you have spent a lifetime at a job, you still have to work hard to resolve difficult issues at your job. I admire you so much because you care for people and especially the seniors.  I would be very upset if the government ever decided to close JASA down.

  

Even though we didn’t have so much time to interact, I still learned many things from your background. For example, when I asked you a thousand questions at the interview, I learned so much about how you used your communication and networking skills to get a great job.  I hope that you never change and decide to take an International High School intern next year.

Thank you for providing me the chance to serve the elderly and help make JASA a great place. I really appreciate it.

Best regards,

Gladys Torres

New Vocabulary

Advisor - Supervisor
The person who you can turn to whenever you need help at internship. 

She is lucky enough to have a supervisor that understands her situation. 

Appropriate - Apropiado
Something that is adequate for an occasion or an activity.
Her schedule was appropriate for her situation.

Attitude - Actitud
Your body posture defining your emotions.
He was fired from his internship because he was always giving his supervisor an attitude.

Colleague - Colega

A partner in your profession. 

All Bridges' teachers are colleagues. 

Co-worker - Compañero de trabajo
A person working in the same site as you. 
Marina is Karen's co-worker at JASA.

Criticism - Critica
People giving feedback about somebody else's work.
Hearing criticism is a good way to improve your work.

Discrimination - Discriminacion
Talking bad or making a thread against a certain group of people.
Discrimination is a big issue in the United States.

Duty - Deber
The tasks you need to finish at work or school.

My number one duty is to complete my internship hours before the deadline. 

Employee - Empleado

A person who works for another person. 

He was able to become an employee at his internship site. 

Evaluation - Evaluacion
Someone checking how well or bad you do at work.
Her supervisor has done several evaluations to others at her work.

Flexible - Flexible
Something that can be changed constantly.
My schedule is very flexible every week.

Harassment - Acoso

To bother or touch another inappropriately very often.
My internship place is a harassment-free area. 

Recommendation - Recomendacion
A representation in favor of a person.
A letter of recommendation is required at a job interview.

Reference - Referencia

Something addressing where you obtained information from.

Ms. Kara always makes us do a reference page in most projects.

Salary - Salario
The amount of money you get paid at your job. 

A person who goes to college has a better salary than a person that doesn't attend college. 

Mid-Point Reflection

These are part of the activities that seniors do at JASA. I've only seen some of the activities being done. For example, having lunch, exercise, bingo and much more. 

I work in a Senior Center called JASA at Brighton Beach. This organization offers many different classes like citizenship, exercise, current events and many more for people over 60 years old. There would be many consequences if this organization closes down, the seniors won't be able to stay active and especially the ones that live alone, there would be no one to feed and take care of them. This is a Jewish Senior Center but I haven't seen any Jewish at all, most of the participants are Russians. My internship workplace is very different from IHSL, JASA is very quiet and most workers are adults, I think I'm the youngest volunteer there. This internship was totally what I was expecting after the interview with my mentor. My job is very easy and has no deadlines at all so I can take my time to do my assignments. Karen is such a wonderful mentor that always understands me, my relationship with her is very nice even though we don't interact a lot. She is always busy ordering food or making the week's menu. I was attending internship during the Spring Break, there were so many challenges. I was interacting with the seniors a lot during lunch time. JASA is a Kosher Kitchen so I didn't know that seniors were not allowed to put milk on the tables. I learned few other things about this senior center during this past week. My schedule is normally from 1:30pm to 4/4:30pm and it only takes me about 10 minutes to get home so I haven't had any trouble getting my school work done or at least not yet. I use the bus to get to my internship but its very stressful having to wait for about 20 minutes for a bus that is full of passengers and arriving late to internship sometimes. Time goes by really fast, I'm hoping to be able to interact with adults in a much clear way and pass this semester without failing any class due to internship. I work in front of my mentor's office so most of the time I'm by myself finishing my duties up. I don't think that my communication skills have grown that much.

JASA's Vocabulary

1. Paper Shredding



Meaning: Place where you get rid of personal papers. 
Context: I have done this a few times at my internship. I've shred papers from the years of 2000-2004. 

2. Silver Wear

Meaning: Plastic forks, knives, and spoons.
Context: I do silver-wear packing everyday at my internship for the senior's lunch service. 

SAT Words
3. Antiquated

Meaning: Something that is old fashioned. 
Sentence: Old-fashioned cars are very expensive in New York. 

4. Choleric

Meaning: Someone who gets angry really fast.
Sentence: A choleric person doesn't like to be bothered. 


5. Marshal

 
Meaning: A group of people gathered in a meeting or event. 

Sentence: There is a marshal of teachers every Wednesday afternoon. 

Interview with Karen Sussman

Karen Sussman, 63, is a Project Director at Jewish Association for Services for the Aged (JASA). She was born in Brooklyn, New York. 

1. How long have you lived in New York?

I've lived in New York all my life!

2. If you're not a native of New York, where did you live before?

I was born here so I'm a native.

3. Where did you go to high school? What kind of student were you in High School? What were your favorite classes/least favorite? What sports and extracurricular activities did you do?


I went to a high school in Queens. Forest Hills High School. I really don't remember what kind of student was I, maybe higher than a C, I was mostly a B or B+ student. I went to high school a really long time ago, I enjoyed History. I didn't like taking language in high school, I took French and Spanish in College. I really disliked the French teacher, he had a thick accent and it was hard for me to understand him. I didn't really stay after school for anything, this really didn't even matter.

4. Did you go to college? Graduate school? If so, where? For how long? What degree(s) did you earn? 
Are you interested in going back to school? If so, what do you plan to study?

Yes, I went to college. I also went to a graduate school, to NYU here in New York, but I just stopped. I probably went to NYU for more than 1 year. I have a degree in my bachelors, T.R. I'm not interested in going back to school at all, not at my age anymore, its too much for me.

5. How did you choose your current occupation?


 I've always worked with people, when I was in college I worked with a Spanish community center. When I came home from College I just decided I wanted to go working with older people. Especially development disabled people.

6. What steps did you take to get this job? How did you learn about it? How many interviews did you have? Was the hiring process difficult, not difficult? If a person were looking for a job at your company, what advice would you offer?

I decided to apply to senior center and nursing home. My background really helped, social service. I learned about JASA through news papers to be honest with you, its a long time. The old director introduced me to the place, it was really with the agency director that I interviewed with. I could say the hiring process wasn't difficult because I was familiar with the community. We don't have any openings but, the advice I would give is, if you're planning to work in a senior center, you have to ve very responsible for everything and you really need to be involved in the work, very active.

7. How long have you worked here? Have you worked in different capacities at this job? What jobs at this company have you done in addition to the one you do now?

 I've worked here for 20 years now. I haven't work in different capacities, I started as a director and I'm still a director. I only do a different job when someone is out, otherwise I always stay as a director.

8. What is your job title and what are the three tasks or responsibilities you do most often?

My job title is Project Director, I order food, make sure there are sufficient volunteers to serve food or to set up chairs and tables, enough bread and silver-wear.

9. Who is your direct supervisor and what is her/his job title? How much do you interact with him/her on a weekly basis? How many people do you supervise?


My direct supervisor is Elene Rockoff, she is a Director of Community Based Programs. Depending on what she wants and what I want, communication is done via email. I supervise about 5 people, 3 kitchen volunteers and 2 in the offices.

10. What are two examples of challenges you face working here?

One of the biggest challenges is the cost of food, that has gone up a lot. Trying to give people nutritions. The Kosher kitchen is a very expensive food, you know. Also, finding volunteers, now days people go to different places. Today we had a person but she left, what kind of person is that.


11. What is the best part of your job?

I enjoy working with people. Is hard but its very rewarding. When they come up to you for help.

12. What is something you would like to change about your job?

Not so much as changing it. But explaining a person what has to be done when by the time they have done it, I would have done it before them. Delegating is very important.

13. Did you work somewhere else before this job? Where? For how long? How was that job similar or different?

Yes, I worked at United Cerebral Palsy of NYC for about 18 years. This job was different than the one I do at JASA. There was more recreation, seniors, teenagers, kids, they were disabled.

14. What do you see as your future at this company? If you plan on changing jobs, what will you do?


 I'll be here probably until I retire -if I make it. Oh, I can't even think about changing jobs. I worked at Macy's when I was a younger. I used to tell everybody I'll work with Home Depot but I don't know anything about it.

15. How do you hope I, a high school intern, can most help your company or organization?

You are helping our organization a lot! With computer work, some of the work of the lunch program, just in general you're available when we need you. Very important to the program.

16. What advice would you give to teenage interns getting ready for college?

GO! It's really important for you to go to school. Even with a bachelors, is difficult to find a job. It's important even for yourself and education is a survival skill that you need and it keeps your mind thinking.


17. What advice would you give to teenage interns preparing to find a career?


Well to me, further education, college, technical is important. We learn more out of school instead of in school but you need a background. Even people with a computer, they need that skill. Education, college, training, its important, young people have no idea to where they are going but its important.