Andrea graduated with her BA in Sociology in Spring of 2017. During her last semester at UCF she interned at Covenant House.
"I chose to do an internship because I wanted real-life experience that related to the field I had been studying for two years. I interned at Covenant House Florida, a non-profit organization which serves runaway, homeless, and at-risk youth ages 18-20, including teen parents and their babies.
My experience was enlightening and broadening to say the least. I was able to better my understanding of the struggles and barriers young, homeless and at-risk youth face on a day to day basis. I was also able to further develop my understanding of how a non-profit organization works. I loved every moment I was able to help assist a young teen in taking one step closer in the right direction toward achieving their goal, which could be anything from helping them apply for Medicaid to providing them with practice worksheets for their GED. I learned that providing what I thought to be minimal help, could leave an everlasting impact to a young person who has endured many struggles most of their life. The first-hand experiences I obtained during my internship enriched and gave more life to everything I had learned in my restricted electives, like poverty, inequality, juvenile delinquency and even patters of drugs and alcohol use. Though at first I was nervous and felt like I was going out of my comfort zone, into an environment I had never been before, it was then where I learned valuable information that would forever change the way I viewed the world. This was similar to how I felt while learning the material I did through Sociology at UCF.
My name is Katherine and I'm the first in my family to graduate with B.A degree. I found my passion within the Sociology Department and so, my focus went on family and children. I began interning my last semester prior to graduation to engage with my interest and possibly get my foot in the door of an awesome opportunity.
Children Home Society, is a non-profit Organization they take pride in counseling, and family services such as, Visitation Centers. That is where I chose to intern in Osceola county which is one of their many locations. My experience was extremely interactive. Most of my work was hand and hand with parents and child; I had to supervise the visits and bring a detailed report of everything I witnessed in the room. From the time, they all greeted each other and said goodbyes, to the foods the child was being fed. My job was to protect the child always, and remember not to underestimate the parent's ability.
The opportunity helped me to find out in which direction I wanted to move in. I didn't want to work with the families in that way, but I wanted to do more of the background information too. In the Visitation Center they received all the information and responded to the orders of the case workers or case managements. They were fully in control, and I knew I would have greater success doing so.
Although it is not a requirement, if you care enough of your future take heart in the opportunities that come your way, if they do not come your way, do what I did and use your resources and discover what makes a working day not such a working day!