Final Post

This is my last day at my internship. :( At around 11, Mrs M. told me that Mr. O (superintendent) wanted to talk to me. When I went into his office, everyone from the building was there, clapping, and Mr. O handed me a bouquet of flowers and a card. It was so sweet! I felt very lucky to be surrounded by such caring people.


Part of the final assignment is to reflect, so that's what I'll be doing.

Interning here certainly made those weeks fly by. If I were stuck in school right now... well, it wouldn't be pretty. But that's who I am. I like to go out and do things. I'm a get-'er-done person, you could say. Having this opportunity to do something bigger than myself was very rewarding. Someone actually sees the work I end up doing. If I don't find that mistake on that bill, some employee will be upset. To know that I wasn't just doing this for myself motivated me every day. For students with an interest in this school system, I would definitely suggest interning here. This internship gave me a different perspective. It taught me how to work in a professional setting. I learned what I would like to do with my life, or at least, what I might enjoy. I also know now that choosing to go to a business school was a great decision.

I have less than an hour before I have to return to my high school and make my presentation. I need to start cleaning out my office :'(.

Maybe I'll get up that 300 viewer mark today. Thanks for reading :)

My Last Real Day

Since Mrs D. and Mrs H. will be out tomorrow, this is my last real day here. I took some pictures around the office and worked on my final paper. I can't believe it's over already. It seems like my first day here was just last week, but that's not true. I hope that after graduation and vacations and the removal of my wisdom teeth, I'll be able to help out here once in a while.

I don't really want to take everything down in my office or take my K-Cups home. It just seems too soon. And what about all the billing statements I've yet to go over with Mrs H? I have so much extra scrap paper, and I didn't even use up one pen! This is sad. :( 

I had fun, though, and I learned a lot. I'm really glad I did an internship here.

my office smells like cleaning supplies

If you know about WPS's Human Resources Department, you probably heard about Mrs D.'s infamous board. She has this monstrous white board that covers two walls, with a magnet for every person who works for this school system. The magnets are color-coded and carefully placed under categories that identify the school or department they work for. Monday and today I worked with the board on identifying the school and position that all tenured teachers work at and have. After many hours of searching, I finished the list. I then worked on  cleaning the orange magnets so they can be used next year, which is why my office smells. That's been my day. Maybe it doesn't sound like much, but I spent 5 hours on that list. Yikes.

I didn't post yesterday because I stayed home, sick. Hopefully that was a one-day illness, because prom is coming up and I am not missing that.

Because I was so busy Monday and Wednesday, the filing pile has really started to grow. Here come the paper cuts....

Biggest Project Yet

Blogger's been down all day, so this post will be short.
Since 9 am I've been working on a spreadsheet containing all of the teachers. I have to add their grade, step, and position. WPS employs over 400 teachers, full time. 454, to be exact. So it has taken a lot of my time. I was given more access in Munis, though, so I can see more information about teachers. It's interesting. And some of them live really far away. I feel bad for those commuters. I will not be finishing this project today, I can tell you that. Gotta go work more...

"The reward for having feelings is great joy."

So says my fortune cookie. I feel like its one of those sayings where it looks like its saying something, but it's actually not.

A few more pamphlets had to be thrown into the new hire packets, so I spent a few hours this morning getting that down. Besides that, I've been working on my paper. It's just over 4 pages right now. A huge chunk of the paper is my telling the history of the bulletin board. I had quite a few roadblocks, with getting permission to use the pictures, then printing them, finding one of the preschool, and decorating to best of my ability. After all, there's only so much I can say about paper work.

I was not able to post yesterday because I had my AP exam. I didn't go to my internship that day, but rather got a good night's sleep, reviewed a little, and took my nearly 4 hour long exam. I forgot to pick up the picture of the preschool that I took and had printed, so I'll have to do that sometime today. Hopefully that will fill the hole in my bulletin board and it will look lovely. I hope that they keep the pictures up there for a little while. More than just over the summer, I mean. Believe it or not, I've actually spent a lot of time making it look nice (and I'm not the patient type!).

My vase has been empty for a few days now, so I'm hoping to swing by Market Basket and grab some flowers to prettify my office. I love flowers. They just make everything better! (As long as the flowers don't appear sickly.) I got a lovely compliment a few days ago on the $10 Marshall's picture that hangs on my wall. Mrs M. was saying how well it compliments the other pictures on the wall and how much more interesting it makes the office look. (To my skeptical mother: See! It is pretty!)

I spoke with Mrs D. and she agreed that I might be able to assist them this summer. After graduation and my vacation, I'll get in touch with her and see if they might need some help. Mrs H. told me a few days ago that August gets quite busy.


Note: Carnies still here. Walked fast past them on the way to my internship today. Yikes.

"The carnies are here."

The above is what the administrative assistant, Mrs H., just said. The Apple Blossom Carnival has arrived in our parking lot...

When I drove past it last night on my way to a meeting, it brought back so many memories of being scared, hearing rumors of classmates getting sick on a Zipper, the falling-apart appearance of the rides, and the expensive tickets. Oh, and those creepy carnies. At least the fried dough is yummy. I don't think I'll be attending the carnival this year, unless you count having to walk through it for the next 4 days to get to my internship.

Today I've worked on the bulletin board a bit more. It's looking pretty full. I added the mission statements for the schools, which changes the board from just something pleasant to look at, to something containing information about the schools. My picture of the preschool was printed today, so I'll pick that up later and finish the board tomorrow.

I have to run back to school a bit early today to work on the senior trip. It's in a few weeks, so there's a lot of information that has to be thrown together. About 250 kids are going on the trip... yikes. Hopefully I can finish that all up today, though.

Pretty Pictures!

I hung up 10/11 pictures of schools for the bulletin board. I still need to add a picture of the preschool, so I sent a file to be printed. Hopefully I'll get it this week. Since I am horrible at art, it took me a very long time to measure the pictures and cut them.(They were printed on one huge sheet of paper.) I hope it looks nice when I finish, not like something a 6 year old made.

This week's assignment is something about a 'success story'. I'm not sure what I should write about. Maybe that this internship helped me become more independent? I learned how to manage my time? I learned how to multi-task efficiently? Yes, yes, and yes. But I'm not sure how I'm going to f ill 5 to 7 pages with my 'success story'. I learned that no one understands my organization except for myself. I also learned that I would be  happy working with numbers the rest of my life. I suppose I should have known that, seeing as I love Sudoku so much. But regardless, I am not excited for this paper.

busybusy!

I was planning on coming in around 12:15 today. I had Stats, I had some large pictures printed, and helped out with the senior Disney trip. But printing those pictures took about an hour, and there was a lot to be done for the Disney trip. When I finally could leave, I went outside to see that the buses had blocked my car in. Wonderful. The bus driver refused to move for me, so I ended up sitting in my car for another 15 minutes. So now that I'm finally here, I am eating my lunch. In a few minutes I have to go interview the superintendent as my weekly assignment. I'm actually supposed to interview the HR director, but she's away this week and I forgot to interview her last week :( . Thankfully Mrs H. suggested interviewing Mr O., so that's what I'm going to do. Since he only has time today, I have to prepare right now.

Finished!

Today I concluded my packet project. That is 50 packets, with over 100 sheets in each. Guess how many paper cuts I got? (scroll to end of post for answer) I think for the rest of the week I'll be working on the bulletin board. I found some beautiful pictures by a wonderful photographer named David Fingerhut and someone at the high school is going to print them for me. Unfortunately, I do not have a picture of the preschool attached to the Central Office yet. I asked another senior, who is doing photography as his internship, to help me, but he has not gotten back to me yet. :( Maybe I'll have to add that picture last. I tried to plan out how it will look, but nothing ever turns out how I plan. I'm not an entirely artistic person. I can't color inside the lines. I can't cut a piece of paper in half without it looking like a 5 year old cut it. My handwriting leaves much to be desired. But maybe, just maybe, I'll make a beautiful bulletin board. But $5 says less than 10 people will look at it while I'm still interning (not counting people who work here).

Also, I answered the phone once today. Yay!

Answer: ZERO!!

Tuesdee, May 3rd

Hello! I've been working on the same project today as I did yesterday. I compiled all the papers that I needed and started to make the packets. I have about 28 of the 50 done right now, so I'll finish them tomorrow. All the different sheets are in this organizing rack, but there are some packets and booklets that don't fit, so I put them next to the rack. By now, I've kinda memorized that order that everything needs to go in so it isn't so bad. The first time I finished a packet, it took be five minutes.

 I wonder how the superintendent does everything. All day I've seen people meeting with him or looking for him or calling for him. Sometimes he's running around to the schools in our district. He must drink a lot of coffee.  I don't blame him for taking a vacation a few weeks ago.

A women stopped by my office and asked where Bettie was. I felt horrible because I still barely know people's names. I told her that I was an intern so I wasn't quite sure of who everyone was yet... but she soon found the right office: HR.  >< I should have known she meant Betsy (Mrs H.)! I felt so blonde. After she left, I found out there isn't even a Bettie in this office....

When the cat is away...

First of all, yes I forgot to post yesterday. I'm sorry to everyone who was looking forward to my post (i.e. my dad). So here's what I did yesterday:

Mrs D. is off this week because her daughter is getting married on Saturday. (How exciting :) ) The office isn't much different, except that sometimes Mrs H. has the radio on. When I first started, I thought about listening to Pandora, but I figured it wasn't appropriate. But I love working with the radio on. Just like driving with music, it just makes everything a bit more interesting. I started a new project, making packets for the new hires. They won't come in for a few more months, but it's a large project. I went through thousands of sheets of paper yesterday making copies. Thousands. I basically hogged one of the copiers all day. I had one packet that I was copying that took 45 minutes to finish. It was like 29 pages long, front and back, stapled. And I had to make 50 copies. I think some people were rioting over the copiers. Whoops.

Yesterday was also the beginning of open enrollment for next year. A few parents were in the hallways filling out forms, hoping that their child can join the school system even though they don't live here. They have a fee to pay so that their child can go here, but I think that makes sense because they don't pay our town's taxes. And anyway, the fee is minimal (in my opinion).

My internship adviser told me that he liked my shout out to him in my very first post. I'm glad/excited he's actually kinda reading this (or anyone else not including my parents. Sorry mom and dad.). So hello again, Mr. C. You're really cool. I enjoyed pysch class this year. Especially Criminal Minds. Not so much memorizing all of the development theories (Paiget, et cetera). Oh, and I wore lederhosen once when I had to dress up at Freud. That was interesting.. at least I got a decent grade.

Fire Drills & Mini-Project

^^ My day in four words. I worked on finding the certification dates of some teachers and more life insurance. I'm hoping that I'll soon learn all of the costs adjusted to the payroll system just by looking at it. ( (N*12)/26). And yes, I had a fire drill today. Because one end of the building is a preschool, I guess we have to have them too. Brought me back to the days of high school.... sigh. I received my first every direct phone call today. Not that it was really about me. A man was looking for the superintendent and I gave him my extension so the man could call and see if he had returned yet. But still! I felt special.

I watched some of the Royal Wedding on TV this morning. I know that people are either in love with it, or annoyed with it, but I'm neutral. When I was watching it, however, it was too cute!!! I adored her dress because it's just my style: simple yet elegant. Everyone here is talking about the wedding too, but it's just so beautiful!

Interviews

Interns have weekly assignments, and this week I had to do a bit of research and interview two people in the office. I interviewed Ms M. and Mrs H. today, who work in HR and the Superintendent's Office, respectively. Ms M. told me about the crises she always had to be ready for. She never knows if something will go wrong or someone will be upset. Although she loves her job, there are downsides. Ms M. often cannot share her opinions about anything without people assuming that her opinion was the opinion of the superintendents, or the view of the school system. I'm not sure if I'd like that too much, since I'm very opinionated ;).  Mrs H. spoke about the constant deadlines and extreme multitasking. She works a lot with making sure everyone is taken care of and protects the school system at the same time. Both women I interviewed always have to be prepared, because they never know who could walk into their office. It's a type of double-edged sword, I was told, when working for HR.

My Tulips!

Happy Administrative Assistant Day!

...Or something like that! I don't remember the exact name of today. I came back from my Stats class and a doctor appointment to find my fake flowers were AWOL. Mrs D. had stolen them back. About five minutes into my paperwork (matching up disability billing and reports), I noticed there was a vase of tulips on my desk right next to my hand. Mrs D. had stolen my flowers in exchange for beautiful real ones! Yay! I'll upload a picture later. It totally made my day, that's for certain. Last time that I received flowers was Valentine's Day (from a very special person :) ).

I had a nice talk with Mrs H. about the DL on HR (I'm so cool). Somehow our conversation turned to teachers that were at the high school when she went there.... and are still there today. That means they've been teaching for at least 20 years at the same school.

I can't believe my week is half over. Interning goes by so much faster than school because I feel as if I have more responsibility here. At school I just have to sit at a desk, listen to a teacher, take some notes, and do homework. But no one's life depends on what I do there (except my own). I think that's why I like working so much; because I'm actually impacting someone. Whether it's in a restaurant or an office, working is always fun for me.

My Office!

Stats Takeover (Barely Interning Today)

I won't be here long today because I didn't get in until about 9:45 due to my Stats class... and I have to leave around 11 for pre-registration for AP exams. So I don't have much to report (sorry). The Central Office is a busy place today, not sure why. End of the month, possibly? Sorry if this journal entry is not what I'm supposed to do for my internship, but today is quite impossible to write about :/. Tootles!

Monday, April 25th

I could not think of a more exciting title for this post, so for that I am sorry.

I arrived at my internship after my Stats class. I was feeling like it was going to be a good day since my 3rd term grade in that class was 8 points higher than my 2nd term grade. But I am no longer a "pleasure to have" in his class....hmm....

Last Tuesday over vacation, I can into work in jeans because we were filing allll day. We moved boxes and boxes of files from the Ugly Closet to Room 3 (3rd grade classroom). I saw a man's file who was born in 1901! I also found some files with some of my own blood on it... it was a paper cut-filled day. Today, when I went into Room 3, there were boxes stuffed with paper all over the room. Thank goodness they belonged to Payroll. I don't want to do any more filing for a few days, if not weeks!

Today I used Munis for the first time (yay!). I moved retired employees from one file to another. It's more exciting than it sounds, I promise. But Munis is set up so that I had to print a report for each employee I moved; I think I killed a few trees today. The best part about the reports, however, was the bottom. It says "END OF REPORT --- GENERATED BY..." and then my name. I feel so special! It even says 'kgreer' at the top! Mrs H. showed me a part of Munis where I can change people's info to whatever I like. Of course, it only stays that way on my computer. She told me that I can give people I don't like weird middle names. I think I'll change my mom's middle name to 'Danger'.

After that, I worked on health care bills and insurance. There are so many choices for employees, and each deduction is different. I had to "tick and tie" to make sure that everyone is getting what they want. Some people want life insurance 15 times higher than others, and some people have life insurance for their spouses and children, as well.

Other good events:
- The Superintendent got my name right (finally, after 2 years of knowing me)
- I picked my college! Yayyy! I'll be in NYC next year. 5th avenue, here I come!
- I discovered cream in the frig for my coffee. Great success.
- I decorated my office! I'll put up pictures next time I remember to. It is now colorful.

Everyone's looking forward to the weekend!

My first week is done! That went by so much faster than a school week. I wanted to bring in some posters for my office but I wasn't sure what to bring in... so I brought in coffee! When I was using the Keurig, I selected the larger cup, not realizing how tiny my mug is. The coffee overflowed into the little tray so I tried to wipe it up. Good thing no one saw :)

The program was put on my computer, so now I have a Munis account! I really don't know what Munis is, though. My guess is that it's like iPass.

Today I worked on finishing up a bit of the project I started yesterday and started some new projects crunching numbers. (I've never used that term before. Weird.) Mrs. D needed help rearranging an Excel sheet that had formulas on it and I think I spent a good hour trying to figure out how to make a formula that would automatically fill in the number of row it was on. Then I realized I could just copy and paste the numbers into the different columns. I think in like 7th grade I was taught how to use the formulas in Excel, but to be honest all I can do now simple equations with only a few cells, or sums. Sad.

I won't be blogging next week because it's vacation. I will be coming in to intern Tuesday, but only to do some rearranging of the files. Hope y'all have a wonderful vacation! (:

ps: yes I did just use that as my title. Did I get that song stuck in your head? Sorry(:

postpostscript

If anyone knows what Pingy is and why that website is suggesting my blog, please tell me.

Thanks (:

(http://pingywebedition.somee.com/) <--- ??

Postscript

PS: whenever I post this link on Facebook, I instantly gain like 30 viewers. So if you clicked on my blog and are like "omg she does this errday", then you're right. I'm totally trying to see how many views I can get. I have like 113 so far and this blog has been live for like five days. I have views from the US, Germany, and Canada.... who the heck is viewing this from Canada?? (aber noch geil!)

Project Time

Today I got right to work. HR started a new project and I get to help out, so all day I've been reading and reviewing and comparing. No filing or phone calls today! I keep forgetting to bring in things to beautify my office. Actually that's a lie, I don't forget. I just don't have time :/. Next week will be such a nice vacation. I'm only coming in to HR one day to move some files out of the Ugly Closet and into my old 3rd grade classroom. Best part: I can wear a sweatshirt!

Now I understand why people need to have an exercise ball or something in their office/cubicle. I get kinda antsy. I'm not used to concentrating straight for hours, especially since classes last 50 minutes and I get to run around the school in between them. It's ok, though. I made some coffee this morning as a little break and when I ate my lunch I browsed online. It'll take a little getting used to, but its so much better than school.

I noticed a Keurig machine yesterday and Ms M. told me today I can use it whenever. Such a win! I have some K-Cups at home sitting in a box for college, but I think I'll break into them tomorrow. I'll have to bring a cute mug too. So excited.

Last night I had to do the first weekly assignment since I'm meeting with my adviser today. I feel like the assignments almost drag the internship down. Some of them aren't too helpful. Like last night, I researched the history of Microsoft. One of the questions was asked if it was successful... enough said. I don't even know what I'll do for my presentation. I'm supposed to take pictures, too, but of what? Computers and desks? Some people have internships at vets and have projects like painting murals. I'm not that kind of person, so HR is great for me. But nevertheless, my pictures will surely not be as colorful as the rest of the interns.

Secretary Sub

While Mrs D. and Mrs H. are out, I have to answer the phones. I like how every day they teach me something new. It is a lot less stressful than learning everything on my first day here! No one has called yet, so I can't practice. :(

The IT guys are going to install some HR programs on my computer today. I'm excited! Someone just called (yay!) so I put my hostessing skills to work. I feel like I always sound like I'm five when I answer the phone. Oh well!

I'm working on gathering things for the bulletin board that I'm going to redecorate outside of our offices. There's a local photographer who takes beautiful images, but all of his work is copyrighted. I emailed him asking for permission to use his pictures, but he hasn't replied yet... He's nice, though, so I'm expecting good news :)

I need to do my first Internship project tonight because I'm meeting with my adviser tomorrow after school. So after work, then Stats, then work, then Stats homework, I'll get that done. And my dad wonders why I don't wake up refreshed every morning...

Deductions

I have upgraded from my simply knowledge of checking lists to see if everyone is there. That's right. I made it to level 2. Today has contained a lot of math and numbers pertaining to health care deductions on payroll. There are so many different types of health care and dental care and family plans and individual plans. I guess because I'm 18 I've never really had to think about health care before. It seems scary, to be honest.

I have good news, though. I get to keep my office! Yay! I mean, I wouldn't mind switching rooms, but I suppose I've already gotten used to this room. Mrs. D. brought me some fake flowers in a pretty vase so my room is no longer white, tan, and brown. I think I'll follow her lead and add some more color to my room.

Every time the phone rings, I get nervous. It's a good think it only rings when it's going to Mrs. D. No ones called me yet, although I have my own extension and direct line (don't get any ideas). I don't know what I'd actually say, since I don't know too much about everything that goes on in Human Resources...
but that's ok! It's my second day, so I think that's a pretty good excuse.

First Day!

After getting up at 5:45 to get stuff for Teacher Appreciation week, sitting in my school's library for two hours, and going to my AP class, I finally got to my internship. I got my own cute little office with a desk and a computer and a phone that looks wicked confusing. Unfortunately, I won't be enjoying my own little office for much longer. The Superintendent said he needed it, so I'll be moving into his conference room. At least it's a bigger room and has a window so I can hear kids at recess even louder. (Kidding, it actually doesn't bother me. It's cute.)

I learned the basic layout of the building, which I was already a little familiar with from School Committee. The room where my 3rd grade class once vacated is now a storage room. Kinda weird to think about. I got to work on matching up records and bills to find any discrepancies, filing stuff, pulling records, and the like. It's scary to think about all the checking and typing and filing that has to be done to run a school system. It is so much more than I ever would have thought. Even worse was the 'Ugly Closet', which holds records that predate me by a good 20 years. It may be organized, but it's crazy to look at.

I got a few paper cuts when I was getting out some retired paraprofessional papers and bled on a few folders. Awkward.

This Blog's Background

Senior interns have to keep a journal or a blog or some kind of daily notes so that they can remember everything. As my handwriting is horrible and I can become lazy, I've found that the best way for me to do this is through blogging. It is entirely possible that no one will read this, but that is besides the point. I've never blogged before, so this should be internesting (ha!).

I will be in the Human Resources Department starting on Monday. I'm excited! I love helping out. I feel uncomfortable using full names since anyone can see this, so I will be referring to everyone by initial. For example, the supervisor of my internship is Mrs. D. My teacher who will be ensuring that I do all the little  (another joke) projects is Mr. C. He'll probably be reading this, too. (Hi, Mr. C!) Also, I'll call the school system 'WPS' so that no creepy person can find me. I'm sure there are many WPSes in the world.

Wish me luck on Monday!