Blog Assignment 2

1) Briefly describe your internship site. Provide background information of your agency that you work in this semester (e.g. location, services offered, population served, etc). 

My internship site is at Montclair Community Pre-K. Montclair Community Pre-K is an early childhood education facility that provides the quality of education of a private school, and has a strong focus on diversity and inclusion that gives the students the strong education that they need to succeed. The children attending school here are ages three through five. The pre-k is located in Montclair off of Bloomfield Avenue. In addition to providing a classroom education for students, they also offer the services of the Developmental Learning Center which provides services to children who may have special needs or may need services from Speech-language pathologists or therapists.

2) Discuss why you chose this site and how you think it may play a role in your future career goals. 

I chose this site because I knew I wanted to work with children with various disabilities. The Montclair Community Pre-k offered me a chance to work with children with speech and language problems in the classroom and the opportunity to shadow the speech language pathologists that work at the developmental learning center. I chose this site because there are multiple different children I get to work with every day in various different settings, and because I get to observe many different professionals in action. Since I want to be a pediatric speech language pathologist, this was one of the best internships for me to choose since it will give me the opportunity to see a speech language pathologist in action and learn from observing them first hand. This will play a role in my future career goals because it will show m what a typical day is like with a speech pathologist and will show me some of the challenges they face and some of the things they deal with behind the scenes. Coming up with my own speech and language activities to do with the children will benefit me because it will help me to prepare and develop ideas that I could use when working with clients in the future. This will also be beneficial because it will help me to learn how to understand and prepare to work with children with various language disorders.

3) Describe the physical aspects of the agency site and the neighborhood surrounding site.

Outside of the pre-k there is a garden that is laid alongside that leads to the front entrance of the school. The pre-k has about 16 classrooms that have children from age’s three to five. It is very clean and neat inside and when you walk in there is a front desk to check into a few downstairs classrooms and the nurse’s office and directors’ office. There are three floors with classrooms, and the second floor also houses the developmental learning center. There is a separate building on the pre-k’s property called the annex, where they have some other activities such as music. Surrounding the annex is a big fenced in playground that has benches and tables as well as a small garden area with rocks and stepping stones. The Pre-k is right across from Hillside elementary school, and is right off of Bloomfield Avenue. It used to be a major landmark that you could see when driving up Bloomfield Avenue but now it is difficult to see with the newly built hotel and apartment building complex. The area is very nice, clean and safe.

4) Although you are just starting your internship describe your initial impression of the strengths and weaknesses of the agency i.e. what areas is the agency strong and in what areas are they lacking?

I cannot currently find any weaknesses of the agency but I definitely think that there are lots of strengths. The strengths are the diversity in the community, and in the staff which are welcoming to all and are very easy for the students and family members to relate to. Another strength is the location. Bloomfield Avenue is roughly in the middle of Montclair which makes the school easy to access for parents and students from all over town. It is in walking distance from several major locations such as the YMCA and the Walnut Street Station and bus stops. Another strength of the agency is that they offer classes for students with special needs so that they can get the attention that they need and deserve so they can succeed. Another strength is how the Pre-k offers speech language pathology services for the students, since there are many students who have difficulties with speech and language.

5) Identify the funding source(s) for this agency (i.e. state, federal etc.)

This school I believe is state funded.

6) Tell us if you think there is an opportunity for full-time work once you graduate. Why or why not?

There may be an opportunity for me to work their once I graduate. It is possible that they would consider hiring me as a teacher’s assistant. However, I plan on going directly to graduate school for speech and language pathology, so I am currently uninterested in that job. There would not be a job available for me as a speech language pathologist now because you have to have your masters in order to practice as a speech language pathologist. 

Blog Assignment 1

1.) Please tell us about yourself. For example what is the funniest thing that ever happened to you or what about your makes you interesting? 

Hi! It’s Safari. I am so excited to have finally arrived at this point in my undergraduate career, and to be so close to graduation and moving towards a very exciting and fulfilling future. One thing that makes me interesting is that I love to do volunteer work and do my best to get a jump on volunteer activities when I can, especially if they involve working with children. I completed volunteer work in Nicaragua where I worked alongside doctors and other volunteers to administer health services to a very poor population. At the health center in Nicaragua I gave pap smears and vaginal exams to women at all different stages of life, and I also taught children how to take care of themselves and wash their hands. We gave out hygiene supplies in the community and also built bathrooms and floors in houses. I also have very recently volunteered at the early childhood education center Head Start, which services underprivileged children and families, and I currently am a volunteer at the NYU hospital for Joint Diseases where I work in pediatrics with a recreational therapist, child life specialist and horticulture therapist. I am also planning a service trip abroad, most likely to Nepal to work with children in orphanages there this summer.

2) Please tell us your concentration. Why did you choose this concentration?

My concentration is family services. I chose the family services concentration because at the time I was not entirely sure if I wanted to go to graduate school for occupational therapy or speech-language pathology. I had heard a lot of great things about both professions, and was leaning much more towards speech pathology, but I had not seen either of these professionals in action so I was not entirely sure.

3) What is the name of your internship site and what is your position?

My internship is at Montclair Community Pre-K. At this internship I will be shadowing a speech language pathologist occasionally, and will mostly be working with children with speech and language difficulties and coming up with simple, fun, activities and programs to engage them and promote the use of verbal communication and assist with the learning of English.

4) What are your current career or graduate school plans? Or tell us if you plan to marry rich or travel the world or whatever your can dream of!

I have applied to 6 graduate schools, and my plan is to currently get accepted into at least one of them. My first choice school is Temple University because it has an incredible program and has absolutely everything that I am looking for including the location of the school. Currently my dream job is to become a pediatric speech language pathologist at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. If not the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia I would be interested at working at Children’s hospitals in Florida, or anywhere where the weather is warm.

5) Also, tell us about your family - for example - are your parents married or not, do you live with them, do you have siblings, pets etc? What is an activity you like to share with your family? etc.

I currently live on campus, but when I am on break for school I live at home with my family. My parents are married, and I have three siblings. I have an older sister who is currently 24, a younger brother who is 15 and a younger sister who is 8 years old. I am very close with my family and I have an excellent relationship with my parents and siblings. I do not have any pets. The activity I like to do my family is actually just sit down and have dinner and talk. My younger brother is at boarding school and my older sister is in school in Illinois so we are not always together all the time, so I love when we have time to catch up and just really all be together and enjoy each other’s company.

6) Please also write about 1 or 2 topics on the syllabus that interest you and WHY.

I am really interested in getting to part two of the course where we focus on preparing for careers, resumes, developing professionalism and ethics. I think that this will be helpful, and that even though I am somewhat knowledgeable on all of these subjects, the information that I gain from this part of the course could really help me to succeed in grad school or even help me to gain my dream job. I am also interested in learning more about working with multicultural families and same-sex families, so I can be as prepared and knowledgeable as possible when catering to all families as a speech language pathologist.