My Work Place 10/11/11

For my internship i will be interning at the athletic department at a private college in San Francisco called University of San Francisco. In the athletic department, they have athletic trainers who help athletes get ready for the sport which they will play in. They will be helping them by either giving them massages to help them get lose so they can be ready to play, they will be taking care each of the athletes injuries and try to make them healthy again or try to make the injury less severe so that they can play again. Mainly they help athletes but they can help other people too that are in different categories. In the department, there is not a lot of people  working, i say theres at least 6 people working. Some of the employees are actually still in school to get a specific degree that they are trying to achieve and they have some students from campus that are actually helping them out too. Strengths of the Workplace is that they all know how to handle their responsibilities and they even know how to handle each others responsibilities and they all know how to communicate efficiently. Some little weaknesses are that sometimes its not really organize because it gets too hectic in the athletic department, but that will only happen often times, that just happened on my first day.

My Mentor 10/18/11

I have two mentors and their names are Rosie Cheng and TIm Fischer. Rosie is one of the athletic trainers for USF and so as TIm but he is also a Baseball coach for USF. For their typical day, they have injured or hurt athletes come in and they either have them go on rehab and work with them so they can get better and get back into playing their sport. RIght now there are two female athletes that tore their Anterior Cruciate Ligament and they have to come in everyday to get worked on, thats something that they added on for their typical day. Both of our mentors were interested in their field because they both like helping people and especially for Tim he wants to be involved with sports. Inorder to be an athletic trainer or a sports medicine you need to take classes such as Kinesiology, Physical therapy, and etc. 

My Role 10/25/11

My responsibilities for my internship are helping out the Athletic Trainers if they need any assistance, being a student because they will be giving us a lot of information that we learn from a gain some knowledge, and also studying two athletes with their ACL injuries. Over the past few weeks that I've been here Ive been learning more about the ACL, the basics of it, how to prevent it from being injured, how to take care of it, and purpose of having an ACL. Other then that I've been studying two Athletes that has torn their ACL which will also give me more information about the ACL. Ive been introduced to the tools that they use in the training room so then if they need any assistance I'm there to help them out! A regular day is go in to my internship and i tell my mentor what i have done in the assignment that she has assigned to me every week then athletes come in and get treatment from the athletic trainers. Right now I'm not familiar with the told that they use, so right now I'm just there to help them to basic things such as handing them tools that they need, clean, making ice bags, etc. But eventually I will be able to use the tools! As they are working with the athletes my job is too ask any type of questions that i have for them and gain some knowledge. With the questions I ask it will help me better understand the work environment in my workplace.  The over thing that I also do is study athletes that torn their ACL, this will give me a lot of information about the ACL.

Project Brainstorm 11/1/11

For my WLE project I will be studying and learning more about the Anterior Cruciate Ligament. How I will be doing this exactly is by studying two Athletes who have torn their ACL from playing Soccer and Cross Country, and they are currently in the process of recovering their knee. As for making up or coming up with this idea, my mentor was the one who decided to have us work and study the ACL, which I am really interested in. For the next three to four weeks i am really excited about this project because Learning about the human body is very interesting, especially when you are an athlete. As an athlete i would like to know all my muscles and where they are located, what effects can happen to my body, and i want to learn how to recover from an injury. And learning and studying more about the ACL is a good way to start it off. My mentor and I actually started to work on the project since the first day I arrived in my workplace. For the next three to four weeks I will need to accomplish the ability of understanding the ACL, I already know what to do for my project. I just need to pay attention to every point of detail and be patient with all the information that will be given to me, but most importantly bring a positive attitude.

Progress On My WLE Project pt 1, 11/8/11

For my internship today we did things that we normally do such as helping out athletes on what they need, taking notes on the two female athletes with their Anterior Cruciate Ligament injury and how their knee is progressing in each week, and I also had my mentor and some other college student sport medicine volunteers help me on how to use more athletic training tools so we can help more athletes. My mentor and I talked about my WLE project and what i should do. We discussed that since I'm learning a lot of information about the ACL then I should create a presentation about the ACL and present it to the Girls Basketball Team or the Girls Soccer Team for our school. What i accomplished so far for my project is that right now i know enough information that will help me create my presentation about the ACL. I actually talked to my mentor last week and i asked her if "i can bring my laptop to my internship for the next up coming weeks so i can create the presentation as I'm there". So far I am on track with my WLE project.

Leadership Skills 11/15/11

For my internship the leadership skills that I am using the most are Complete Projects Effectively and Communicate Powerfully. For my Internship I have to use Complete Projects Effectively because for my workplace my project is based on studying two athletes with a torn ACL. My job is to complete my projects on time and make sure my project is efficient. I also need Communicate Powerfully, this will help me be successfully as I am there at my internship. It will help me complete my projects effectively because in my project I am working on two athletes that torn their ACL, and its my responsibility to communicate with them to get all the information I can get and complete my project. My workplace is also a social environment, I have to use this skill to communicate with others effectively in general so I can join the environment. So far I'm using these leadership skills very well. So far for my project I need to use these leadership skills in order to be successful and so far I believe I'm doing just fine. I am asking help and clarification when I need them. For my mentor she uses collaborate productively and communicate powerfully. During her work she needs to collaborate with every athletic trainer and she also needs to communicate with them in order to have the training room run smoothly, this will also help the athletes out.

What I Learned, Reflection 11/22/11

During my time here in the Athletic Department at USF, I faced a variety of challenges such as stepping in as an intern for the athletic department and just barely know anything about the type of tools they use for the athletes and types of muscles and injuries and that we need to know. Well of course since its our first time, my mentor didn't have me do the advanced work. But a way that I overcome these challenges is by paying attention to my mentor and to every other athletic trainers and student assistants thats in the department because they know what they are doing and they are experienced. Also besides facing variety of challenges and overcoming them, I was able to improve on my communication skills. By doing that I had to clarify or ask questions to my mentor or any athletic trainer if i had any difficulties on understanding anything. I even let my mentor know if i was going to be late for my internship. This is important to the profession as an athletic trainer because as a trainer you need to communicate with a lot of the athletes and with the athletic trainers that you are working with. This helps the athletic environment flow smooth.

Professionalism 11/29/11

Reflecting back when I had to find my internship and get hired I had to find what kind of workplace I would like to work in for the program. What I did, I was looking in the Yellow Pages book and I was also looking through the web. As soon I found the place were i wanted to work I had to call them and I had to act professional on the phone. Most importantly I needed to create a resume for myself just incase they wanted to see what kind of a person I am, if I get good grades in school or if I participated a lot in the community. Most importantly if they hire you, I needed to send them a formal email saying thank you for the opportunity. The most effective way to look for a job and get hired is by looking for a job that best fits you. If you want to be a doctor when you grow up, you can look for a internship that involves with medicine or helping other people etc. The reason why is because you will most likely get hired. But if you are looking for place to start you interest then thats good too, you just need be able to work hard and be professional and show dedication. As a result to my WLE I think being a responsible adult in the work world means you need to bring positive attitude everyday with dedication, with that everything will flow smoothly and you will be successful.

Life At My WLE 12/6/11

For my WLE today, I was doing the same work that I normally do ever since I've been here. I was helping out my mentor taking care of some athletes, helping other student assistants if they needed anything and most importantly my project. As an intern for today, My communication and my collaborating skills were improved. Since we have two more days of our WLE, I wanted to do really well, especially since we only have two more days of WLE left. They were improved by being more social in my workplace and with that I felt more comfortable working there and it made everything easier for me. The reason why my work place can be a good place to work at is because the environment can flow smoothly even though it can hectic at times, the workers there communicate effectively and collaborate productively and thats the reason it flows great and its consistent. Without it, the place might run differently and less smoothly. 

The End 12/13/11

Some final thoughts that i have left for my WLE is that I will be missing everybody in this community such as my mentors, student assistants, co-workers, and the athletes. My mentors taught me a lot, I learned about other things besides the ACL. When we had our chances, my mentors and I got to know each other better every time I was there. Even though I didn't really spend time with some of the employees, student assistants, and the other athletes I will be missing them too. They all made everything flow smoothly. There was never a bad time there in my internship. I can honestly say it was better then my internship from Last Year. For my future goals this experience helped me become more of a person that will start communicating a lot to solve problems. It will benefit me and other people. This will also help me make good decisions in life.