Change@work takes a second look at how summer
interns are having an impact on their workplaces.
by PATRICIA KITCHEN
Change@work

July 29, 2007

Fetching coffee, doing mailroom duty, sitting in on training sessions - these are some of the activities Jami Cantwell imagined she might be doing during her summer internship.

"I never thought I would be planning a workshop, ever," says Cantwell, 22, who, along with fellow intern Eden Solomon, 18, have ended up creating a three-session "computer camp" training program for tutors and students at Hempstead-based Literacy Nassau, which does literacy and English tutoring for adults in need.

With guidance from Tina Sanacore, executive director, they developed three one-hour sessions to be given in the organization's new computer lab:

• Computer basics, or "How Do I Turn This Thing On?"
• E-mail and Web use, and
• A walk-through for tutors of several resource sites.

"We are so proud and wowed," says Sanacore. A "fair number" of the group's 200 tutors and 300 students "are not technologically savvy - many don't use a computer at all," she says. This training program "has given us a huge push into the future."

For interns, the value of creating such a program is multi-fold: It provides a testing ground for their skills but also "shows that young people have a lot to offer; it's not just about them learning," says Lindsey Pollak of Manhattan, a blogger and author of "Getting from College to Career: 90 Things to Do Before You Join the Real World" (Collins, $13.95). Students also walk away with an excellent "resume point," she says.

Among the lessons the two interns say they've learned:

• How to break information into logical, sequential steps, says Cantwell, of Hempstead, a senior majoring in sociology at York College in Pennsylvania.
• The need to be thorough. Solomon, a sophomore at SUNY Old Westbury, says she realized in practice sessions that "I can skip a step and Jami will know what I'm talking about" - but her students probably won't.
• The value of proofreading and attention to detail. Just one example, says Cantwell: When she listed the three sessions on a flier and did not include the word "or," people couldn't tell if they could sign up for just one session or needed to take them all.

Other employers may consider asking interns to help seasoned staff with such computer tutoring. But there certainly are a couple of issues to consider: First, some young people may be intimidated about standing up in front of adults as old as their parents or grandparents and teaching what they know. Even Cantwell says she was a little fearful of presenting to the group's tutors - many of them retired teachers, some in their 70s and 80s. She winds up advising others to be respectful, but "don't be afraid to be the one in charge."

Sanacore says she made sure the interns were integrated into the office's operations and had a chance to schmooze with tutors on a more social level, in one case at a volunteer recognition event. It was then, says Sanacore, that two of the most active volunteers said, "'We don't like computers, but we want to come to your class.'"

She also would advise such intern presenters to do what Cantwell and Solomon did: start the session with a fun event designed to break the ice. In their case, they passed out a quiz on various smiley-face icons and what they mean.

There's also a concern that these Web whizzes may get impatient with the need to slow down and repeat information - and then repeat it again. Sanacore advises managers to allow the students some freedom to develop a training session, but to ask for a couple of practice sessions to help them see where they need to slow down, repeat, go into more depth or pause for questions.

Today's students have a high degree of comfort with the Web. "This is second nature to me and Eden," Cantwell says. "It's so easy for us, and we may think we can teach it in five minutes." But their class members were raised in a different era, and she understands "this is not routine to them." She came to see that with her grandparents, who kept resisting the family's suggestion they get cell phones. Once they got them, she says, "they couldn't imagine being without their cell phones."