My internship was an awesome experience at Vidant Duplin. I had one mentor who was just amazing. She was very knowledgeable and helpful in the creation part of my product. My mentor, Ms. Krista, helped me narrow my ideas and focus on one main idea because I had many thoughts and ideas from almost every department visited. But that was good, that was my first two weeks at the hospital. She was a very dependable mentor as well. I was never left wondering what to do or where to go.
I had the chance to visit about 10 different departments within the hospital. Because I had the opportunity to visit many different departments within the hospital, I do not have any one particular moment that was most interesting. There were many interesting moments. However, one of my most challenging moments was when I visited the Women’s Center. Seeing a baby so fragile and hooked to tubes and everything. It just brought back a lot of memories of my own son when he was only a month old. Seeing the mother crying because she just wants to hold her son but she can’t, hearing her baby cry knowing nurses and doctors are doing what they need to help the baby, yet wanting to just cuddle and rock him so he can feel that everything is ok but she cannot. I knew exactly what she was feeling. It was just too much for me.
Within each department, the manager or director was very welcoming and knowledgeable about their field/area. They were all passionate about their job and able to provide me with a mountain of information, ideas, charts, etc. that I could take back and use to help my students understand how math is applied in their job everyday.
One of my biggest take aways from this experience deals with the inner person. I know how it made me feel when others welcomed me or stopped and asked how I was doing that day versus just saying hi or hello while they were still walking. If that made me feel good inside and helped me to enjoy being there, then what if I did the same for my students in my class. How would it make them feel? Will that little bit of interaction help to make them want to be in math class, make them want to participate? How do I make my students feel before they enter my class? What will happen if I stop and ask them about their well-being and day versus just saying hello to each student.