Blog Posts

PRE-INTERNSHIP POSTS

FIRST POST: Describe your hopes, goals, and fears for your internship.  Please make sure your blog entry covers all three.  Consider your job placement, what you know of the company, what you’ve talked about with your mentor and how you see this overall experience fitting into your education, your life, and your future. 

​SECOND POST (Post Site Visit Reflection– Use your Mentor Interview)

What goods and/or services does your company provide to the community and how do they consider their role in the community, responsibilities to society? What is your company's (or mentor’s) mission statement? If they don’t have one, write it! How do you see it in their work? 

Describe and brainstorm the project you'll do at internship, including the skills and technology you need to do it and what you hope your project looks like as a final product. Which skills (academic, creative, technical) will you utilize and/or develop while you work on this project?  How will the project benefit the organization? If you don’t yet have a project, suggest some for your internship. 

Visual Requirement: Post an image of your mentor. Please include a caption with your mentor’s name and title.  In addition, you can include a photo that shows something your company contributes or an image that shows the effects of the work your company does.

Week One 

Choose two of the following & post a thoughtful response on your blog. 

​You may do them at any point during the week, but make sure both are done by 11:59 p.m. on Saturday.

Please write at least 100 words per blog post.

1. What has been most interesting about our first week of internship? What is most surprising?

2.What has been a challenge for you this week? How did you (or are you) dealing with this challenge?

3.What is something that you appreciate about your internship site or mentor? Explain.

4.Compare and contrast the work week with the school week.  How would you compare the two experiences?  How might your internship experience influence your next semester of school? And how might school influence the next time you intern or start a career?

​

Visual Requirement: Post THREE photographs to your blog. For each photograph, include a caption (see caption instructions below)

How to Write a Caption

1st Sentence: Explain what is happening in the photo in present tense.  Answer as many of the 5 Ws (Who, What, When, Where, Why) as applicable

2nd Sentence: Usually past tense and gives background information about the photo or the situation. The focus should be on sharing interesting information with readers and telling a story.

3rd Sentence: (if necessary): Gives a quote from someone who was involved in the photograph activity.

Week Two 

Respond to two of the following prompts & post thoughtful responses on your blog (minimum 100 words per blog post).

You may do them at any point during the week, but make sure both are done by 11:59 p.m. on Saturday.

1. How do you see yourself growing or changing over the course of your internship?  How do you see your role developing at your internship?

2. What do you hope to take away from this internship? 

3. Describe/Brainstorm your project. You’ve been at internship for over a week now and you might have an idea of what your internship project will be. If not, now is the perfect time to brainstorm!  What will you be doing?  What will the final product look like?  Which skills (academic, creative, technical) will you utilize and/or develop while you work on this project?  How will the project benefit the organization?

4. What is the biggest challenge you face at your internship?  How do you deal with this challenge?

5. What is a success you have had at your internship? What is something that you are proud of having done? 

Week Two Visual Requirement: Post THREE photographs from internship to your blog. For each photograph, include a caption. (For a reminder of how to write a caption, see Week One.)

Week Three

Special Assignment for Week Three: Interview your mentor.

You will be required to write a mentor profile when you return to school. This interview will be the basis for this assignment. For helpful information, please see Link to Mentor Profile assignment.

In general, you will want to know and understand who your mentor is. Describe his/her/their life, education, career path and more.  What did they do to get this job? Did they envision themselves with this job when they were younger?  What has his/her/their journey been like? Record this information (write it down, record it, do whatever you need to capture the interview). 

Two Blog Requirements for Week 3:

#1. Post the highlights from your mentor interview on your blog. Choose 3-5 specific quotes and explain what makes these quotes meaningful to you.

#2.Project update: You are now 3/5ths of the way done with your internship. How is your internship project going? Describe an update on the project details and share out the process from beginning to where you are now.  What did you learn about yourself through working on the internship project(s)? Discuss challenges, solutions, skills utilized & gained, and overall learning achieved. Who can you ask for help?

Week Three Visual Requirement: 

1.Please post a picture of your mentor along with this post! If you are doing an online internship, please post a screenshot of you with your mentor. If you are in person, please take a photo of you and your mentor. 

2.Take a photo (or include a visual representation) of your project in process.

Week Four

Choose TWO of the following & post a thoughtful response on your blog. 

You may do them at any point during the week, but make sure both are done by 11:59 p.m. on Saturday.

Please write at least 100 words per blog post.

1. Has your internship influenced the way you think about school/education? In what way/s?  What new courses of study or new major might you pursue?  

2. What lessons or experiences at your internship will you bring back to school to help you further improve in your academics?

3. Free Choice: Please take this opportunity to write about something interesting about your internship.  If you have had a lingering question or topic you wanted to include in your blog posts but haven't yet, post it now!  If not, think of something! Though not required, try to make it entertaining for your readers.

4. Wondering what your fellow interns are doing? Please read and comment on at least TWO other students’ blogs.  The link to 2022 student blogs is here. Write your comments, which should be about 50 words/or 2-3 sentences, on your own blog post, and add a link to your classmates’ blogs.

Possible questions to answer: What stands out to you from their experiences?      What experiences do you have in common?  What contrasts do you see?         What questions do you have?

Week Four Visual Requirement– Choose One:

a. Post THREE photographs from internship to your blog. For each photograph, include a caption. (For a reminder of how to write a caption, see week 1)

b. Post your two favorite photos of the week. Explain why you selected these photos. What does each mean to you? What does each tell us about your internship? Your growth? Your mentor, business, or organization?

Week Five 

Any of the following prompt responses may be used for your iPOL (Internship Presentation of Learning). Please respond to TWO for this week’s blog posts.

1. Gratitude.  Now that you are in your last week of internship, what are you most thankful for regarding your internship experience? Please identify the people, experiences, situations, etc. that helped you feel grateful. What new appreciations have you gained through internship and how did you develop these?

2. Reflections on your internship project. Describe your reflections on your internship project – what went well, what should you have done differently, what stands out to you (address all three of these)?

3. Advice to future interns. What advice would you pass on to future interns?  What advice would you give for selecting an internship?  What are the most important skills for a student to be successful at his/her internship?  How could another student develop these skills prior to beginning an internship?

4.TIK TOK-ish:...but posted on your blog. Use up to 4 (maximum) 15-second long videos that tell something specific or unique about your internship experience. Then write explaining why you created and selected these videos to tell your story.

iPOL Prep- Please carefully review the requirements for your iPOL. Brainstorm and post what you are planning for your iPOL presentation on TBD by reflecting on the following: 

What are you most excited to share? 

What will your presentation cover?  

What presentation tools are you planning to use?  

Where at your site will you be presenting?  

Are you relying on notes, a memorized talk, a powerpoint or something else? 

How are you preparing to address questions you might be asked?

*Please make arrangements with both your internship mentor and your HTHI faculty advisor so that they can attend your Internship Presentation of Learning*

iPOL Recommendations and Requirements

What is required for scheduling an iPOL?

1. The iPOL will take place on TBD at HTHI. 

2. We will schedule a time that works best. If possible, it would be wonderful if your mentor could present for your iPOL (we can connect via Zoom if necessary)

3. As this is a formal presentation, you should be dressed professionally to present your work. 

`What should my iPOL include?

• An introduction to the organization/site and the general work that takes place there.

• An introduction to the mentor and any additional supporting individuals within the organization/site​

• A formal, final presentation of the work you have been doing at your internship, particularly the project you have been working on.​

Some questions to consider:

• What did you do?  

• What did you learn? 

• How could you have improved on the project?

• What new appreciations did you develop while working as an intern? Why? 

• How did you make a meaningful contribution to your workplace (what did you do overall?  What were your day to day activities/responsibilities)?

It is recommended that the presentation includes a visual slideshow; however, this may not be appropriate for certain types of internships, but some type of visual aid is required.

Be prepared to fully participate in a Q&A (question & answer) session with your panel.