Anna Gwozdz

EXPL 390 Reflection Essay

The growth and development that I have grown through this semester

is something I never expected to happen. I thought I would learn mostly

professional knowledge at my site that solely related to the aspect of human

resources or the company in general. However, what actually ended up

happening was quite the opposite. I was able to grow and develop in ways

that has helped me become the person I am now. I not only made

connections to the readings and in-class material, but I also now relate so

much more to the Loyola mission involving learning, justice, and faith. There

is now a stronger connection to Loyola and why I ended up picking a school

like this in the first place. It has allowed me to explore my interest in a field I

never really thought I would get in to. However, exploring this field has

opened my eyes to the career path I want to pursue in the future and how

my beliefs and values will impact that decision. Through the Loyola mission

emphasizing learning, justice, and faith, I was able to develop professionally,

personally, civically, and intellectually during my internship at the American

Library Association.

When looking at my personal development, I have noticed a lot of

changes in the way I recognize and react to conflict. I most notably

connected this to Chapter 4 in The Successful Internship. This chapter

highlighted different ways that a person may react to different situations.

They related to getting angry internally when someone may be criticizing

you as well as having a difficult time saying what is on your mind when a

situation arises (Sweitzer & King, 2014). Unfortunately, this was a common

occurrence during the entirety of my internship. I constantly found myself

getting angry in my head when faced with harsh criticism from my

supervisor. However, I would catch myself doing it and tried to combat those

thoughts with reasons why I should not be getting mad. Something I did

improve on during the course of the semester was another point brought up

in Chapter 4. This had to do with communicating during conflict and by

confronting/collaborating with the person would ultimately benefit both

parties (Sweitzer & King, 2014). When conflicts arose during the semester, I

was sure to approach my supervisor and calmly tell her what I was feeling

about a situation. It worked out well in the end for both of us because we

both were able to tell our sides of the story and come to a mutual

agreement.

In my intellectual development, I was able to recognize the different

skills that I wanted to both learn and improve on at my internship site. Again,

this was in connection to Chapter 6 of The Successful Internship when

discussing which goals I wanted to achieve. The two goals that I focused on

in my internship (and were included in my Learning Plan) were knowledge

and skill goals. For knowledge goals I wanted to learn factual information,

concepts, etc. about the company and for skill goals I wanted to learn how to

actually do something like a computer system (Sweitzer & King, 2014). For

my internship, I focused on learning about the databases that Human

Resources used in this company. I got a lot of hands-on experience using

Microsoft Access as well as Excel. I was also able to learn benefit and

compensation options that this company has to offer to its employees. All in

all, my goals were primarily based on developing professionally in the

company. I was able to learn factual information about insurance and other

benefits most companies offer as well as skill information like creating my

own database from Microsoft Access.

The one area of development that I had the most difficulty grasping

was civic. I did not think that what I was doing at my internship site was

anything that would change the lives of people around me. However, after

looking more closely at in-class material, I was able to realize it was not just

about making a large impact on humanity. It could be as small as making an

impact on one individual person. Looking at Chapter 1, the basic definition of

civic development was to have participation in a healthy democracy

(Sweitzer & King, 2014). This could be acts of advocating for a specific cause,

voting, or working for a special organization. However, the way that I view

civic development is in terms of leadership. In order to become a leader,

there does not have to be an enormous impact that effects everyone. It can

be as small as making a difference in someones life and having that person

acknowledge it; like giving someone a lollipop as a piece of gratitude

(Dudley, 2011). Looking back at my time at ALA, I hope I was able to make

an impact on someone in some way no matter how little. By making that

impact, I could view myself as a leader in a certain lens and actually

developed civically more than I thought possible. Interning for ALA in general

is advocating and working for the expansion of library services for all

Americans. So by just being present in an organization like that I have further

developed my knowledge and care for causes such as libraries and literacy

rates.

Finally, in terms of professional development, the knowledge I have

gained in this area was the most substantial. My goal going into this

internship was to gain the necessary knowledge and skills to be successful in

Human Resources. So looking back onto my Learning Portfolio, I do feel

satisfied with the progress I have made in the skills I have acquired.

However, it is important to look at the concept of professional and what it

really means. According to Palmer (2007), professional used to mean

profession of faith. However, throughout the years the meaning has been

skewed for many people. Parker argues that there should be a professional

and personal identity as well as integrity. We should be able to have our own

ethical autonomy to make our own decisions and then to act on them

(Palmer, 2007). I have come to realize that not only is it important to have

the necessary skills to be successful at a job, but you also need to have the

ethical and personal basis to really be a professional. It means nothing to be

really good at something if you do not know the type of person you want to

be in accordance with your morals and ethics. However, I do not know if I

have fully developed into the person I want to be. I think I have a lot of time
to grow and discover new things about that will one day allow me to be the

professional in whatever field I decide on pursuing.

Although Loyolas mission has been a part of my life since being at

school here, I have only felt a stronger connection since finishing my

internship. I definitely learned a lot in my internship across all the different

domains. Whether it was professionally learning skills in HR or even

personally on how I handle conflicts I learned a lot about myself. I am glad I

was able to intern at an organization like ALA because it taught a lot about

social justice and the causes we have to support. Literacy issues effect the

United States at an alarming rate (as further discussed in my Pecha Kucha)

and ALA is there to help combat the issues with libraries and librarians.

Finally, in terms of my faith, I have only gotten stronger to my religion and

knowing things will turn out ok in the end. Although I am not one hundred

percent sure the type of person I will become or the career direction I will go,

I have the faith I will develop into that person in time. I know Loyola has

given me the experiences to explore career paths and help me discover my

morals and ethics that I want to base my life on. For these reasons I am

grateful for the experiences I have had thus far and I only hope to further

discover myself in the time I have left at this institution.

References

Dudley, D. (2011). Everyday Leadership. Ted Talk, Toronto, Canada

Palmer, P. (2007). A new professional: The aims of education revisited.

Change Magazine.

Sweitzer, H.F., & King, M.A. (2014). The Successful Internship. Belmont, CA:

Brooks/Cole

Cengage Learning.