10.1 Chapter Overview
It is natural to form connections and attachments with people and projects as you advance through various phases of life. As you leave behind rewarding experiences and valued relationships, it will serve you well to remember that change is both natural and inevitable. Growing and evolving requires moving on and attempting new things.
Remember that there are many new and exciting possibilities ahead, like chapters in a book. They offer different opportunities for positive involvement with new people and new paths for you to explore. With each step taken, you will continue to learn more about yourself and your unique style. As a part of this never-ending process, you will discover things to change or improve on. Your increased self-awareness will help you take the next step in your professional evolution as well. Over time, you will help make the world a better place, especially for your clients and the general public.
Throughout this internship, you may have had to overcome personal, economic, and professional challenges. No doubt you made some mistakes, but you learned a lot as well. It is important to remember the failures or at least learn from them so that you do not repeat them. However, positive psychology indicates that there is value in focusing on success as well. It is also important to realize that with each step moving forward, you will encounter a new set of challenges and learn more advanced skills. When you complete the hours necessary for your internship, it is useful to look back again at the time you spent at your site. Think of the people you met and the things you learned. If you are not going on to a job, you might consider volunteering to work in another agency in the field. Volunteering in a variety of settings that interest you might be an excellent way to develop a better sense of what you would like to do while at the same time adding to your network and résumé.
Now the formal evaluation is over, the goodbyes are done, and you have completed your class. No matter where you were at the beginning of the course, you have improved as a professional and perhaps as a person. It is now time to reward yourself in whatever ways are meaningful to you.
Learning Objectives
After reading this chapter, you will be able to do the following:
- Integrate learning into practice
- Apply personal DEI lens to current human service practice
Preview of Key Terms
- Diversity: the practice or quality of including or involving people from a range of different social and ethnic backgrounds and of different genders, sexual orientations, etc., that may or may not intersect with each other.
- Equity: the quality of being fair and impartial and providing equitable access to different perspectives and resources to all students.
- Inclusion: the practice or quality of providing equal access to opportunities and resources for people who might otherwise systemically be excluded or marginalized, such as those who have physical or mental disabilities and members of other minority groups.
- Networking: the continuous development of a supportive system of sharing information and connections between individuals and groups that share common interests.
- Résumé: a summary of your experience, knowledge, and skills that demonstrates your ability to perform the job for which you are applying.
Chapter Overview Licenses and Attributions
“Chapter Overview” is adapted from Succeeding at Your Internship: A Handbook Written for and with Students by Christopher J. Mruk and John C. Moor, Bowling Green State University Libraries. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.
A credit class in which students apply theory to practice by using what you have learned in coursework in a real-world setting with a supervisor/mentor who is invested in your growth and development (often also referred to as fieldwork or practicum).
a summary of your experience, knowledge and skills that demonstrates your ability to perform the job for which you are applying
any method of measuring performance at your position. This may include informal methods, such as check-ins or discussions, or more formal evaluations such a report or grade.