page 8
Features
Summer Jobs Provide Perspective
by Steffan Hambright
Summer for many Salem students
was a time for relaxation and rest,
but for three young women, summer
brought opportunities for
self-awareness, growth, and new
experiences.
Michelle Swank, a junior, spent
her summer working at Paradise
Village, a mental health hospital
located in Medina, Ohio. Despite
the hospital's pleasant name, it
certainly was not a place for the
faint-hearted student. Michelle
worked as a developmental aide.
She was excited to have this
opportunity because, as a
psychology major, she is interested
in human behavior; ■ She had done
an internship at Paradise Village
during her sophomore January Term
and knew she would be challenged
as well as educated.
Michelle's job included working
with different patients (or clients)
in various programs. These
programs taught clients sign
language, how to use utensils, how
to use their hands, as well as other
skills. The clients were all adults,
ranging from the severly retarded
to mildly retarded.
Michelle's job also included
participating in hospital field
trips. She says she enjoyed being
with the patients; however, there
was always danger present. She
says: "The whole time you had to
be on the lookout for those people
because they had different
behaviors. Sometimes, for no
reason, they would hit, kick or bite
vou, maybe try to pul! your hair
out." She points to a brownish blue
mark on her arm and says; "This
will be with me for the rest of my
life. It is a bite mark from a
thirty-five year old woman. She
bit me for no reason, and the
amazing thing about it was if you
said something to her about it three
minutes after it happened, she
would have no idea of what you
were talking about." After this
incident Michelle thought
seriously about quitting. Even
though she had previous training,
she was not sure she could handle
the clients' violent mood swings.
She continued working, however,
and gained personal satisfaction
from the experience. She explains;
"It's worth it when you see the
people improving. Each person was
on an Individual Habilitation
Plan. There were different goals
that each person was supposed to
meet within a certain time period.
An example of a goal might be for
someone to lift his hand up; the
next goal might be for someone to
lift the hand and hold a spoon.
Eventually, this client would be
able to feed himself. That kind of
progress is amazing to see."
Michelle is not sure whether she
will return to Paradise Village next
summer. She is considering finding
a job in the Winston-Salem area.
Catherine Davis, a junior, spent
her summer in a place quite
different from her small hometown
of Belmont, North Carolina. She
lived in Manhattan for three
months working at Fidelity
Investments on Park Avenue.
Catherine met her employer
through a temporary employment
agency. After working for the
investment firm three days, her
manager asked her to stay the
entire summer. Her job title was
"administrative assistant."
Catherine posted daily cash
receipts, funded money market
accounts, helped maintain new
accounts, kept statistics on monthly
revenue contests and sent in weekly
results in the form of wires through
the company computer system. By
working with the company's
computers, she learned the
company's computer functions and
was almost fluent in Fidelity's
computer system. She also
generated leads for the top sales
representative for Fidelity
nationally. Working in a
high-pressure firm and living in
the excitement of New York City
has produced changes in Catherine.
"I've become a lot more confident,"
she says. "I've always thought
business was a big puzzle, but it's
really no big deal. Everyone has a
niche in it. I didn't think I could
get into it, but I realized I could
easily. This experience has given
me the opportunity to see how
administrators work and how to
make managers as well as clients
happy." Catherine says she would
love to go back to New York and
work in the future.
Melissia Kirk, a senior, spent her
summer working in Uganda, East
Africa. She recieved an Aldridge
Fellowship from Salem College.
The Fellowship is designed for
students to study abroad for the
causes of world peace and world
hunger. It is classified as an
internship and is associated with
Global Outreach, a
non-denominational Christian
organization that promotes
self-sufficiency in developing
countries.
Melissia stayed with Lillian
Kalemira, director of the child
sponsorship program of Global
Outreach in Uganda. Melissia
assisted Ms. Kalemira with
different women's clubs throughout
tiny villages deep in the African
bush. In the clubs, the women
learned agricultural techniques,
nutritional practices, and domestic
skills to improve their child's
health and well-being. "The
women learned to raise their entire
standard of living," Melissia says.
Melissia found the clubs
interesting but said: "It was
unusual because in the bush, very
few people speak English. I
learned some of their language, but
not a great deal. Basically, I
observed what was happening in
the clubs." She found great
pleasure in working with the
children of the mothers who came
to the clubs. She was
well-prepared, having brought
seventy pounds of candy, crayons,
and coloring books with her from
America. "I taught a lot of
children how to chew gum," she
laughs. "They had no idea of what
it was. I really enjoyed that."
Melissia said the experience
really made her appreciate how
lucky she was and made her realize
how luxuriously Americans live.
"We have no idea of how fortunate
we are. The experience really gave
me a concept of what's necessary in
life and what we don't need."
Melissia says she will definitely
return to Africa in the future.
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