After three years at Endicott College, the time to take on Senior Internship has finally come. This was a concept I dreaded but I felt like would never arrive. I was nervous about the concept of breaking out of the class schedule and entering the workforce during the school year. I had worked full time during breaks and over the summer but giving up four days out of my school week seemed like a lot. I felt like I was losing all my free time during the day, exercising, social time and afternoon naps.
Luckily for me the first official day of senior internship wasn’t intimidating for me. Since I have been with the same company since last December, it was all that came with the first week of internship that gave me the struggle. I wake up by 6:15 a.m. and I’m on the road by 7. I have found that meal prep the night before is a struggle midweek. While working at my second job until late at night I haven’t been getting back to my room until anywhere between 9:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. My nights became a choice of frozen dinners or cereal. Although challenging, after making it through the first week and a half, you start to find a balance, you start your routine and each day it becomes a little easier to wake up with the rising sun.
The great thing about the internship program here at Endicott, is everyone has to do it. There are no exceptions, so you’re never going to go through the struggle alone. Every one of my friends comes home exhausted but ready to get up and do it again the next day. You bond over the lack of sleep, push for the weekends, and the desire to receive a full time offer for after graduation.
Here are a few of my helpful tips for your Senior Internship:
- Always leave earlier than you think you should, you never know if there will be an accident, or how many stops a school bus will have. You never want to be known as the intern who always walks in late.
- Meal prep on Sunday night for Monday through Thursday, it makes getting up and going in the morning easier knowing that everything is already prepared.
- Lay out an outfit the night before! It saves at least ten minutes if you can just put it on, you don’t have to sit there pondering if it matches or if it’s internship appropriate.
- Remember it will be challenging but you are already doing better than you think you are, keep you head up and keep on smiling!