Brooke Weinhold – Internship

In my senior year of high school, I was given the opportunity to intern Mrs. Burke, a Middle School Gym and Health teacher at Garden Spot Middle School. Throughout my middle school and high school career, I’ve always had a strong interest in furthering my education in the health field. However, I was never completely sure what type of position, in that field, would be best for me. I knew I wanted to be around kids with my career too. Therefore, I decided to intern Mrs. Burke.

Throughout my experience, I have spent approximately an hour and a half each day doing various tasks and learning from Mrs. Burke. I am there for both health days and gym days, in which health days are on Tuesdays and Thursdays and gym days are on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Additionally, I help with Mrs. Burke’s assigned clubs, which is different every day. Therefore, my schedule of tasks looks unique every day. However, in general, on health days, I take attendance, help students with their work, and work on projects. On gym days, I take attendance, set up warm up groups and their stations, time their warm-ups, and set up the game or sport the students are playing that day. Additionally, every day I help with making copies of papers, organize, and help grade papers. During club periods, I will usually help students with homework or help set up gym activities for gym related clubs.

In terms of successes and challenges during my internship, there are many more successes. However, the biggest challenge that I’ve noticed is the diverse learning levels students are on in one class. In the first quarter, I usually helped a student who could not spell or form a sentence. However, it was so beneficial to be able to see her face burst with happiness when she read a sentence that she wrote. However, the challenge was helping Mrs. Burke make assignments tailored to students of all learning levels. Therefore, my projects were a challenge to create too. One of my projects included making nutrition flashcards where the students had to look at different breakfast meals and decide if it was nutritious or not and how many calories they thought were in the meal. Also, I made a bulletin board showing where sports originated from around the world. Additionally, I have made worksheets for various units of health. Moreover, I make the wall of fame sheets for the top 3 finalists in each event for the pacer test, crunches, and sit-and-reach.

All in all, this experience has done so much more than help me identify what job I want to do in the future. I have gained so many leadership qualities, confidence, responsibility, and motivation through my time spent with Mrs. Burke. My involvement with the middle school has given me a clearer view of my future career goals, I have decided to major in Nursing with hopes of being a physician’s assistant, specializing in pediatrics. I’m so thankful for this opportunity and thankful for Mrs. Burke for her kind heart and everything she does.