Internship at Library Offers Students On-the-Job Experience

by Susan Weikel --  Early last fall Nathan Waite, an educator at the Churchill County School District approached Carol Lloyd, the director of the library, about working with the school district to create an intern program. The two of them sat down together and planned the steps to get a pilot program up and running before the Christmas holidays. This partnership allows students to gain on-the-job experiences while they learn about jobs available in their area. At the same time, the library gains the support of eager, young workers in some of their programs. Being right across Maine Street from each other allowed for all the students in the Blended Learning Community program at the junior high to walk over to the library, take a tour, and get library cards.  Joe Salsman, the library’s Information Technology specialist then went over to the middle school and showed the students the library’s web page and what was available to them online. Students interested in applying for the six week internship met with Mrs. Word, the middle school principal, and Mr. Waite. Students also worked on practice interviews and filling out applications, and then were able to experience actual job interviews with Salsman and Jeslyn MacDiarmid. The library placed six students in internship, two with Salsman in Information Technology, two with Elisa Martinez in Technical Services, and two with MacDiarmid in Story Time. The students work at the library two hours a week. MacDiarmid has been doing story time at the library for seven years and was eager to have McKinsey Hugdens join her to assist with the program. McKinsey helped with setting up the story time and the materials needed during the activities with the young kids. She was also given a project assignment that required her to be responsible for one story time in which she had to choose the subject, research the catalog and pick out books, plan the activities that fit with the theme of the book (including songs and action play). She practiced reading the books at home. McKinsey spends two hours a week at the library. One day she prepares and then she comes the next day to help with story time. When Jeslyn asked McKinsey what she has gained from this experience, Kinsey responded, “I’ve learned that there is more that goes on at the library than I realized. I’ve learned more about how the library works, activities for little kids, and how to pick out books.” Jeslyn shared, “I think it’s been great and the kids. There’s been some hiccups to work out, you know there always is. But my opinion is that it’s a really good opportunity for the kids to get out into the community. From what I can see, the two that I have worked with seem to enjoy it.”  The interns have shown up on time, been dependable, have shown respect and responsibility by carefully following directions, and have completed tasks asked of them in a manner that shows problem solving and creativity. Parents have also been were very supportive of their children during the internship. Internships will be offered again to interested middle school students. The school district hopes to see this concept expand to other business in the area. Anyone who has an interest in supporting this work experience program can contact Nate Waite at the Churchill County School District at [email protected] or call 775-423-0462 ex. 1150. Students benefit when the whole community supports their education.       Sign up to receive updates and the Friday File email notices. Support local, independent news – contribute to The Fallon Post, your non-profit (501c3) online news source for all things Fallon.