Week One May 21st- 27th
Today was the first day. We just met by the pool at the resort I am staying at to talk about our duties, hours, places of work, and what is expected of us. The meeting was in the afternoon and a very laid back setting, I just wore a tank top and jean shorts. She told us that because it's not in tourist’s season the resorts do not need our help for a week, so we can enjoy a few days off before our training. My boss is 23 years old, and was an intern here last year. She is from Ohio and graduated from Kent State in Early Childhood Education. I met the other interns in my department. There are 3 of us so far with another one coming in 2 weeks. Kelly explained to us that we should be working 9 to 5 about 5 days a week and depending on what resort we are at we have to work Sundays, but otherwise we will have Sundays off. We will also be rotating who works the 3 hour shift in the office on Saturdays. This is awesome to most interns because we need to find a second job to pay for things on the island. After the hour of talking Kelly took us to lunch before we went on a scavenger hunt to get to know the other interns and the Island. The scavenger hunt took us about 4 hours because we had to drive to every landmark. For being an Island that is only 12miles long it took forever. For the hunt we had clues of landmarks on the island and we would have to take a group photo in front of the signs.
My coworkers are Melissa and Ryan so far and Alex will come next week. Melissa is from Tennessee and goes to the University of Tennessee. She works with RMC with me. I really get along with her and we will hopefully stay friends throughout this internship. We will be spending a lot of time together on and off work. We are actually trying to get a serving job at Hilton Head Diner to make some extra cash. I really like her personality; she is an outgoing fun and very sweet southern girl. We also have some of the same preferences and thoughts about some things Ryan is also one of the interns that work in my department. He is cool but is always talking about how he spends too much of his parents money and how he needs to be frugal. He is from VA so he always wants to surf but I guess the waves suck here. I like his personality, although he brags a lot about his friends and how he knows people everywhere. He should be fun to work with though, he is quite the talker.
This week is used for touring where we will be working, preparing the supplies and site for next week, and also going to the offsite activities and gaining experience or knowledge so we can promote them to our guests. We had to pick up the supplies from the RMC office. They were just in two medium size gray tubs. It’s everything that they had left over from last year. After we got the stuff we took a tour of the resorts we will be working at. The activities are very well variety from water aerobics to painting flower pots. Most of the activity is designed for children. However we are not there to babysit so under a certain age they must be accompanied by an adult. Basically my days will be from 9-5 having a new activity each hour with a half hour break in between. The activities are pretty simple; they are just there to keep the guest and their children something fun to do.
My coworkers are Melissa and Ryan so far and Alex will come next week. Melissa is from Tennessee and goes to the University of Tennessee. She works with RMC with me. I really get along with her and we will hopefully stay friends throughout this internship. We will be spending a lot of time together on and off work. We are actually trying to get a serving job at Hilton Head Diner to make some extra cash. I really like her personality; she is an outgoing fun and very sweet southern girl. We also have some of the same preferences and thoughts about some things Ryan is also one of the interns that work in my department. He is cool but is always talking about how he spends too much of his parents money and how he needs to be frugal. He is from VA so he always wants to surf but I guess the waves suck here. I like his personality, although he brags a lot about his friends and how he knows people everywhere. He should be fun to work with though, he is quite the talker.
This week is used for touring where we will be working, preparing the supplies and site for next week, and also going to the offsite activities and gaining experience or knowledge so we can promote them to our guests. We had to pick up the supplies from the RMC office. They were just in two medium size gray tubs. It’s everything that they had left over from last year. After we got the stuff we took a tour of the resorts we will be working at. The activities are very well variety from water aerobics to painting flower pots. Most of the activity is designed for children. However we are not there to babysit so under a certain age they must be accompanied by an adult. Basically my days will be from 9-5 having a new activity each hour with a half hour break in between. The activities are pretty simple; they are just there to keep the guest and their children something fun to do.
Week Two May 28 - June 3rd
The first six weeks of my internship is at the Spinnaker resort located within the Shipyard plantation. Spinnaker is about 75 units large. They have a pool area, which is where I will be working. The pool and hot tub is a decent size for the resort. The pools capacity is about 175 people. The deck has many beach chairs and tables. We are located up front near the gate where the guest will first walk in. At our station we have an outside bar area where we sit all of the brochures and flyers, then we have a long rectangle table to do all of the arts and crafts on. Being outside we are surrounded by wildlife. Behind the Spa area (over a fence) is the lagoon. Occasionally we see turtles, birds and alligators. Around the pool area there are many palmetto trees. I love the location of my internship. Being outside everyday on Hilton Head Island where it’s always warm and beautiful scenery. Sometimes it gets really hot or raining. This week it rained a lot but we cannot control the weather, we just have to work around it. For the first three week here I will be working with Melissa, who is also an intern.
My supervisor is Kelly Manteuffel. She is new to the recreation manager position. Just graduating from Kent State University and was offered the job a few weeks before we were. She was an intern last year so she knows what to do and is familiar with the resorts and people. Her job is to supervise the interns. She also has to communicate with all three of the resorts that we are working at, and let us know what and when we need to do and what is expected of us. In her position she is basically the go to girl between the resort president/ managers and us as interns. If they have an issue with us they go to her about it. Being our age it is easy to communicate and get along with Kelly. She is very laid back too. The supervisor above Kelly is Dick or Patty (depending what resort). We would see them regularly. Dick worked for the RMC Properties, and Patty worked for the Island Club of Hilton Head. They had opposite personalities, Dick was more demanding and serious, whereas Patty was more laid back and open to new possibilities.
My position is to provide activities all day for the guest to enjoy. We mainly do arts and crafts all day. We also have activities including water aerobics or outdoor games. My main duty is to interact with the guest and provide things for the children to do. I mainly supervise over the guest and help when they need it. I also interact and make conversation with them while they are at the activity. Usually they are children and parents. They come to the activity for something for the child to do and allow them to make a souvenir to take home with them.
It feels intimidating to be in a new place, especially in a completely different state than I am used to. The first day I started I was very scared because I had no idea what I was going to do. However, being with Melissa and Kelly has made working less frightening, because they are there to do everything with me.
This week I learned how to do many new activities, how to plan an agenda sheet, and how to keep inventory and an activity log. My initial learning expectations are to learn about the resort, the people, and the culture of each organization. I also expect to gain more communication skills while interacting with guest, both adults and children.
My supervisor is Kelly Manteuffel. She is new to the recreation manager position. Just graduating from Kent State University and was offered the job a few weeks before we were. She was an intern last year so she knows what to do and is familiar with the resorts and people. Her job is to supervise the interns. She also has to communicate with all three of the resorts that we are working at, and let us know what and when we need to do and what is expected of us. In her position she is basically the go to girl between the resort president/ managers and us as interns. If they have an issue with us they go to her about it. Being our age it is easy to communicate and get along with Kelly. She is very laid back too. The supervisor above Kelly is Dick or Patty (depending what resort). We would see them regularly. Dick worked for the RMC Properties, and Patty worked for the Island Club of Hilton Head. They had opposite personalities, Dick was more demanding and serious, whereas Patty was more laid back and open to new possibilities.
My position is to provide activities all day for the guest to enjoy. We mainly do arts and crafts all day. We also have activities including water aerobics or outdoor games. My main duty is to interact with the guest and provide things for the children to do. I mainly supervise over the guest and help when they need it. I also interact and make conversation with them while they are at the activity. Usually they are children and parents. They come to the activity for something for the child to do and allow them to make a souvenir to take home with them.
It feels intimidating to be in a new place, especially in a completely different state than I am used to. The first day I started I was very scared because I had no idea what I was going to do. However, being with Melissa and Kelly has made working less frightening, because they are there to do everything with me.
This week I learned how to do many new activities, how to plan an agenda sheet, and how to keep inventory and an activity log. My initial learning expectations are to learn about the resort, the people, and the culture of each organization. I also expect to gain more communication skills while interacting with guest, both adults and children.
Week Three June 4th - 10th
This week I am at the Spinnaker Resort with Melissa. We didn’t have the budget approved in order to purchase the supplies so we had to make do with what was left over from last year. The weather was also bad so not many people came to the pool so we just sit around waiting for children to come. With no children, it makes for a boring day, so it’s just good to have my coworker Melissa to interact with. Our dress policy is very simple, just khakis and a white t-shirt. I like how we have the white t-shirts to wear because being outside all day in South Carolina it can get pretty hot, humid and muggy.
From this internship I have learned that sometimes you need to improvise to get the job done. With no supplies for most of the activities on the schedule we had to find something else to do to keep the guest happy. Because it isn’t the busy season yet we do not have as many children to provide activities for. Therefore we have a lot of down time where we just sit and learn more about each other and come up with new activities to do. We revised the schedule with activities that we thought the children would be interested in and also cheap for the budget, including puppets, and party games, and cookie decorating. Working at the pool we see a lot of wildlife. The area is surrounded with different trees and has lagoon running in the back. There are always turtles sunbathing on the side of the lagoon. Occasionally I see lizards and birds. For a few hours there was a tree frog in our storage cabinet. If you’re lucky you will see an alligator swimming in the lagoon. Melissa andI have gotten to know a lot about each other the last few days during the slow times. Even now I can tell we will be close friends after the internship is over.
My morning started with water aerobics with a few older ladies. For most of the day we only had two children. A little girl who wanted to make friendship bracelets and a boy that was in kindergarten named Zach. He wanted to play every game we had. We ended up playing washers with him for a few hours and making bracelets with him before he left with his parents. The parents usually just sit by the pool while their kids are playing with us or in the water. With no supplies we didn’t have the schedule so we basically did whatever he wanted to. The tropical storms make the weather really confusing and it rained off and on most of the afternoon. With the gloomy weather, most vacationers do not come to the pool.
Most of the day was spent doing the same activities as the day before. We even had the same boy from the day. So we played cards, UNO, washers, swimming, and catch with the Velcro mitts and the tennis ball. The boy threw it too far and it rolled down the slope into the lagoon behind the pool area, putting an end to that game so we did other activities with him until he left for lunch with his parents. About an hour later we were walking over by the water to see an alligator going towards the ball. He ended up eating it. The guests are not supposed to feed or disturb the alligators because if they get used to being fed they will come up to people causing a harmful situation. To prevent this management will have the alligators killed. The management staff wanted us to promote to the younger kids to inform them to leave the alligators alone and they won’t bother you. We tell them what happens to the alligators in hopes that they will have respect for the animals that live in the lagoons. Most of the time the guests understand and follow our guidance.
On Fridays we only have to work half a day. We start by going to the farmers market. It’s a little fresh market near the Coastal Discovery Museum. Once we got back to the resort we set up for decorating flower pots. It was simple to set up we just brought out the flower pots and the paint. We left the dirt in the storage shed just in case we didn’t have a child come to the activity. We had one girl decorate a pot but because she was flying home on a plane she didn’t need the dirt just the seeds. After that the next activity was to paint sand dollars and tie-dye t-shirts. A few guest participated in each. Once that was over we were able to put everything away and go home for the day.
From this internship I have learned that sometimes you need to improvise to get the job done. With no supplies for most of the activities on the schedule we had to find something else to do to keep the guest happy. Because it isn’t the busy season yet we do not have as many children to provide activities for. Therefore we have a lot of down time where we just sit and learn more about each other and come up with new activities to do. We revised the schedule with activities that we thought the children would be interested in and also cheap for the budget, including puppets, and party games, and cookie decorating. Working at the pool we see a lot of wildlife. The area is surrounded with different trees and has lagoon running in the back. There are always turtles sunbathing on the side of the lagoon. Occasionally I see lizards and birds. For a few hours there was a tree frog in our storage cabinet. If you’re lucky you will see an alligator swimming in the lagoon. Melissa andI have gotten to know a lot about each other the last few days during the slow times. Even now I can tell we will be close friends after the internship is over.
My morning started with water aerobics with a few older ladies. For most of the day we only had two children. A little girl who wanted to make friendship bracelets and a boy that was in kindergarten named Zach. He wanted to play every game we had. We ended up playing washers with him for a few hours and making bracelets with him before he left with his parents. The parents usually just sit by the pool while their kids are playing with us or in the water. With no supplies we didn’t have the schedule so we basically did whatever he wanted to. The tropical storms make the weather really confusing and it rained off and on most of the afternoon. With the gloomy weather, most vacationers do not come to the pool.
Most of the day was spent doing the same activities as the day before. We even had the same boy from the day. So we played cards, UNO, washers, swimming, and catch with the Velcro mitts and the tennis ball. The boy threw it too far and it rolled down the slope into the lagoon behind the pool area, putting an end to that game so we did other activities with him until he left for lunch with his parents. About an hour later we were walking over by the water to see an alligator going towards the ball. He ended up eating it. The guests are not supposed to feed or disturb the alligators because if they get used to being fed they will come up to people causing a harmful situation. To prevent this management will have the alligators killed. The management staff wanted us to promote to the younger kids to inform them to leave the alligators alone and they won’t bother you. We tell them what happens to the alligators in hopes that they will have respect for the animals that live in the lagoons. Most of the time the guests understand and follow our guidance.
On Fridays we only have to work half a day. We start by going to the farmers market. It’s a little fresh market near the Coastal Discovery Museum. Once we got back to the resort we set up for decorating flower pots. It was simple to set up we just brought out the flower pots and the paint. We left the dirt in the storage shed just in case we didn’t have a child come to the activity. We had one girl decorate a pot but because she was flying home on a plane she didn’t need the dirt just the seeds. After that the next activity was to paint sand dollars and tie-dye t-shirts. A few guest participated in each. Once that was over we were able to put everything away and go home for the day.
Week Four June 11th - 17th
This week I interacted with a man from Chicago. He is one of my favorite guests so far. He is very social with everyone, and we ended up talking for over an hour about random things and questions about my job and time on the island. He is on vacation with his wife, sisters and their husbands. He has been coming here for years. They basically golf, swim, go to the beach, and go out to eat while on the island. I spend a lot of my time people watching when there are no children at the pool to do activities.
Today the morning started off with a few ladies doing water aerobics for 45 minutes. They know that I am not a certified aerobic trainer, but most of them do not do water aerobics on a regular basis so they don’t know the difference.Today, this lady was a certified instructor for 6 years so she gave me advice and helped me with what I was doing wrong. Once water aerobics was over I stayed in the pool to play pool games with the children. We gave the ideas for the first few games but after that we let them pick and interact with themselves. It was two families of four children, ages 6 to 11. We ended up playing for about 2 hours before most of the children had to leave for lunch. Everything was fun until the siblings started to fight with each other. It’s not my job to handle the arguments, so the grandparents took discipline of the children. The President of RMC’s daughter started working with me at Spinnaker. She is looking for a part time job and just wants the experience. She is very nice. I am excited she is there because she brings company when we have down time, also because she is a connection with the higher authorities of the RMC.
The pizza party was unorganized at first, but everything worked out in the end. First off the party was supposed to start at four and Dick (RMC boss) showed up at four without having anything set up yet. The lady who usually sets up wasn’t there so he didn’t know where anything was. After that they started to give their speeches and tried to drag that out as long as possible because the pizza was late getting to the pool deck. Julia and I were waiting by the road to bring the pizza. My job is to serve the pizza and to clean up after the event is over.
Thursdays are my favorite days to work. The day seems to go faster because by now all of the kids know me and are not shy anymore. We started out painting sand dollars. It’s one of my favorite crafts to do with the kids because they get creative and show their individuality. Today this 9 year old girl, Sarah painted the beach on hers. She painted the sand, sunset and two palm trees. He younger brother painted a dog. There were also two other girls who painted theirs with pink and green, one a heart and the other a peace sign. The same two girls (Brianna and Corbin) pretty much did all of the games and crafts the rest of the day. They would get in the pool until it was time for the next craft. When we finished painting sand dollars I set up for BINGO. Brianna, the older one won all three games, so she got a prize. After BINGO was cookie decorating.
Today the morning started off with a few ladies doing water aerobics for 45 minutes. They know that I am not a certified aerobic trainer, but most of them do not do water aerobics on a regular basis so they don’t know the difference.Today, this lady was a certified instructor for 6 years so she gave me advice and helped me with what I was doing wrong. Once water aerobics was over I stayed in the pool to play pool games with the children. We gave the ideas for the first few games but after that we let them pick and interact with themselves. It was two families of four children, ages 6 to 11. We ended up playing for about 2 hours before most of the children had to leave for lunch. Everything was fun until the siblings started to fight with each other. It’s not my job to handle the arguments, so the grandparents took discipline of the children. The President of RMC’s daughter started working with me at Spinnaker. She is looking for a part time job and just wants the experience. She is very nice. I am excited she is there because she brings company when we have down time, also because she is a connection with the higher authorities of the RMC.
The pizza party was unorganized at first, but everything worked out in the end. First off the party was supposed to start at four and Dick (RMC boss) showed up at four without having anything set up yet. The lady who usually sets up wasn’t there so he didn’t know where anything was. After that they started to give their speeches and tried to drag that out as long as possible because the pizza was late getting to the pool deck. Julia and I were waiting by the road to bring the pizza. My job is to serve the pizza and to clean up after the event is over.
Thursdays are my favorite days to work. The day seems to go faster because by now all of the kids know me and are not shy anymore. We started out painting sand dollars. It’s one of my favorite crafts to do with the kids because they get creative and show their individuality. Today this 9 year old girl, Sarah painted the beach on hers. She painted the sand, sunset and two palm trees. He younger brother painted a dog. There were also two other girls who painted theirs with pink and green, one a heart and the other a peace sign. The same two girls (Brianna and Corbin) pretty much did all of the games and crafts the rest of the day. They would get in the pool until it was time for the next craft. When we finished painting sand dollars I set up for BINGO. Brianna, the older one won all three games, so she got a prize. After BINGO was cookie decorating.
Week Five June 18th - 24th
I interacted with a man that was from Kentucky, who is here on vacation. He was telling me about his children, and asking about my life. I find it very enjoyable to talk with different people every week. It is also cool to learn about where people are from and how they come to the resort on the same week every year for vacation. After cookie decorating the same two girls wanted to play cards, which was the next activity. When it is just a few children I adjust the schedule to their wants. We played spoons and UNO for a while before they left on a bike ride with Corbin’s Dad. While they were gone I filled up the water balloons for the next activity. I had an hour to do it so I took my time and filled up about 40 balloons. I had six kids want to play the balloon toss. The girls being bad at catching them so we went through all of the balloons in 15mins. So to use up the time I had left I asked the children what they wanted to do, Brianna said play categories in the pool. After that we had the biggest splash contest. I really like interacting with all of the children of all ages. The boys are so different from the girls. And even every family acts different. There were two boys 8 and 9 that were brothers who weren’t shy about playing in the pool, and interacting with me.
I like talking to the man in the office where I go to clock in every morning. He is a nice guy who is easy to bring up a conversation with. We usually talk about the activities and just about the weather. We don’t have much time before I go to work it’s just a quick talk while passing through the office. I also interact with the maintenance people on a regular basis. They are always cleaning the pool in the morning when I first get there. Most of them are Latino and know some English but are fluent in Spanish. When I talk with them I have a hard time understanding them and the conversations are usually short. The lady who works for RMC showed me where the stuff for the pizza party on Tuesdays is located.
Some of the activities there are no children that show up, while there are others with a group of children. My day can be boring at times, but days like today I enjoy working. By the end of the week everyone knows who I am and want to talk or play. During the times where I don’t have kids to do the activities with I sit at my station, or I go around talking to the older guests. I also prepare for the next activity.
I like talking to the man in the office where I go to clock in every morning. He is a nice guy who is easy to bring up a conversation with. We usually talk about the activities and just about the weather. We don’t have much time before I go to work it’s just a quick talk while passing through the office. I also interact with the maintenance people on a regular basis. They are always cleaning the pool in the morning when I first get there. Most of them are Latino and know some English but are fluent in Spanish. When I talk with them I have a hard time understanding them and the conversations are usually short. The lady who works for RMC showed me where the stuff for the pizza party on Tuesdays is located.
Some of the activities there are no children that show up, while there are others with a group of children. My day can be boring at times, but days like today I enjoy working. By the end of the week everyone knows who I am and want to talk or play. During the times where I don’t have kids to do the activities with I sit at my station, or I go around talking to the older guests. I also prepare for the next activity.
Week Six June 25th - July 1st
Today was one of the more eventful days this week. We had around 5 kids want to paint sand dollars, two families. The one was an older girl while the rest were younger than 10. Watching the children use their imagination to paint on the sand dollar is one of my favorite parts of this internship position. Some are really creative and do a theme related to the island while the younger girls paint on the start that in the middle of the sand dollars. After we painted sand dollars I didn’t have any children want to partake in activities for the next few hours. I had four older people in their 20’s want to decorate cookies. During the down time I just talked to Julia and Kelly. I also worked on organizing and making things better for next week. I changed up the schedule of activities. I also rearranged how the binder looks with all of the papers and log sheets.
The course work has helped me some throughout this internship. I used the event planning to organize the activities. We have to plan the time needed for the crafts to be completed and also give plenty of time in-between just in case it goes over and also to tear down and set up for the next class. Being organized from my time at Tiffin has carried over to this position and has helped me tremendously. Staying on the timed schedule and always having to switch out the supplies for the next activity really needs to have organization. My supply cabinet was organized by the things you would need for that activity. I have also used the writing and communication skills I have acquired at Tiffin University. Giving speeches and writing brief descriptions about then event does not take much effort. But from my Communications class I know how to give better presentations, and use more eye contact at the right time. The budget and log sheet here is very simple compared to the coursework of accounting.
My least favorite part of the internship is feeling like my position is pointless. With a lot of down time I feel as if my day is wasted sitting around waiting on others. My favorite part of the internship is interacting with the children. I love when they get so excited to tell you a story that they fumble with their words just to get it out. It always brings a smile to my face at the end of the week when they come up and thank me for the crafts and give me a hug for playing with them throughout the week.
The course work has helped me some throughout this internship. I used the event planning to organize the activities. We have to plan the time needed for the crafts to be completed and also give plenty of time in-between just in case it goes over and also to tear down and set up for the next class. Being organized from my time at Tiffin has carried over to this position and has helped me tremendously. Staying on the timed schedule and always having to switch out the supplies for the next activity really needs to have organization. My supply cabinet was organized by the things you would need for that activity. I have also used the writing and communication skills I have acquired at Tiffin University. Giving speeches and writing brief descriptions about then event does not take much effort. But from my Communications class I know how to give better presentations, and use more eye contact at the right time. The budget and log sheet here is very simple compared to the coursework of accounting.
My least favorite part of the internship is feeling like my position is pointless. With a lot of down time I feel as if my day is wasted sitting around waiting on others. My favorite part of the internship is interacting with the children. I love when they get so excited to tell you a story that they fumble with their words just to get it out. It always brings a smile to my face at the end of the week when they come up and thank me for the crafts and give me a hug for playing with them throughout the week.
Week Seven July 2nd - 8th
This week was a slower week. The beginning of the week we only
had two children want to partake in the activities. The children were a handful
for Julia and me. The boy was 7years old with ADHD so he was always moving at a
fast pace. His older cousin was very laid back and shy. Their family gave them
money to do all of the activities so they basically stayed with us for the
majority of the afternoon. Helping Tristan (the 7 year old) was quite the tasks
for me. He definitely tested my patients. When we would start one activity he
wouldn’t want to finish it before wanting to do something different. However I
wouldn’t let me do anything new until he was finished with the activity at
hand. The first activity was tie-dye shirts. I helped him put the rubber bands
on and let him do the dying part on his own. It’s pretty easy with the spray
bottles. The next activity was postcard making. He drew a crab and colored it
in with red marker. Tristan colored way too fast and out of the lines. He
talked to me about how he is a bad at coloring. I told him that if he slows
down with the marker and control where he is coloring he would be able to stay
within the lines better. He listened to me and he was able to color within the
lines. Next we made fireworks with the pipe cleaners and paint. Being the week
of the fourth of July we added a new craft to the activities schedule. To do
this we made a start out of the pipe cleaners and then the children dip it in
to the paint and then onto the white piece of paper.
Being Independence Day we changed the schedule with activities themed toward it. We added red and blue cookie decorating, firework making, firework wavers, make a flag, and, red white and blue bracelets. The flag and firework making was a big hit we had almost ten kids come to participate in this events. The activity was challenging for the younger children to follow directions with all of the cutting, painting, gluing, and adding glitter that was involved. We also had a few children want to make bracelets and paint sun catchers.
Over the last week few weeks I have noticed that most of the children that want to participate in the activities are girls with an only a few boys. When it comes to pool games and water balloon toss it’s usually pretty even on who wants to participate. The typical age group for the children is from 2 to 8years old, with some teen agers for activities such as sand dollars and cookie decorating. For Friday this week we spent most of the time organizing the supply cabinet and binder for the next intern at the resort. We will be switching locations starting Monday. We also filled out the inventory sheet and budget sheet and turned the profits into the office.
Being Independence Day we changed the schedule with activities themed toward it. We added red and blue cookie decorating, firework making, firework wavers, make a flag, and, red white and blue bracelets. The flag and firework making was a big hit we had almost ten kids come to participate in this events. The activity was challenging for the younger children to follow directions with all of the cutting, painting, gluing, and adding glitter that was involved. We also had a few children want to make bracelets and paint sun catchers.
Over the last week few weeks I have noticed that most of the children that want to participate in the activities are girls with an only a few boys. When it comes to pool games and water balloon toss it’s usually pretty even on who wants to participate. The typical age group for the children is from 2 to 8years old, with some teen agers for activities such as sand dollars and cookie decorating. For Friday this week we spent most of the time organizing the supply cabinet and binder for the next intern at the resort. We will be switching locations starting Monday. We also filled out the inventory sheet and budget sheet and turned the profits into the office.
Week Eight July 9th - 15th
I am in a new location for the next three weeks. I have moved over to the Village in Palmetto Dunes. Today for me was a busy day. We started with a welcoming breakfast. It’s about a 45min long meeting where Jan speaks to the guests about things they need to know this week. We also tell them about things to do on the island. I had to give about a 2 minute speech about the activities I have available all day at the pool. I am starting to get better at public speaking because of the speeches I have had to give once a week. After the breakfast I just made myself available for the guest to come ask me questions if they need to. I had an older man ask about the free activities, and then a few others ask for activities handout they could take with them. Once the breakfast was winding down I start to get out the supplies for the postcard making. There were about 5 children that came to postcards. The activity went smoothly; it’s really easy to let the kids do what they want on the postcard. Some of them talk to me but most of them were too shy so I leave them to themselves. After postcard no one came to the next activities for a few hours.
Another main event is the hot dog social. For this Kelly and I have to do everything. It was my idea to add another gathering in the middle of the week to get the entire guest back together. The management decided to make this social into a time to promote the condos and weeks they have available to sell. To market this event we place signs on all of the gate entrances into the pool and Jan’s office. We also make a verbal announcement at the Monday Breakfast. For the Hot dog social Kelly and I have to go to the main RMC office to get all of the supplies. When we get back we are in charge of grilling the hotdogs and making sure there is enough for everyone. This is so hard to judge on how many guests will show up and how many hot dogs they will eat. We usually go through about 75 hotdogs and two big bags of potato chips. This event usually last about an hour. Some times less depending if we run out of hot dogs.
This week there were two seven year old twins who did every activity and were very talkative with Kelly and me. I really like when the kids are not shy and want to interact with me and not just quietly do the crafts the twins names were Sasha and Seth; they just turned 7 on that Thursday. For their birthday I decided to get them each a beach ball, and make them a birthday card. Seeing their excitement of the gift was definitely working the little money I spent on it. They loved it, and their mother was very thankful of the gesture also.
Being in a new place it took me awhile to figure out where everything was and also to reorganize the supply closet after the other intern boys have been there for the last 6 weeks. I get to work with new different people in the office and different maintenance men. Jan works in the office. She is very nice, but can come across as rude sometimes. Usually I am outside and she never comes out of her office after the breakfast so I don’t interact with her too much. The maintenance men are also nice. They are Spanish so sometimes hard to understand. They have been working there for about ten years so the entire guest that comes back each year knows them really well.
Another main event is the hot dog social. For this Kelly and I have to do everything. It was my idea to add another gathering in the middle of the week to get the entire guest back together. The management decided to make this social into a time to promote the condos and weeks they have available to sell. To market this event we place signs on all of the gate entrances into the pool and Jan’s office. We also make a verbal announcement at the Monday Breakfast. For the Hot dog social Kelly and I have to go to the main RMC office to get all of the supplies. When we get back we are in charge of grilling the hotdogs and making sure there is enough for everyone. This is so hard to judge on how many guests will show up and how many hot dogs they will eat. We usually go through about 75 hotdogs and two big bags of potato chips. This event usually last about an hour. Some times less depending if we run out of hot dogs.
This week there were two seven year old twins who did every activity and were very talkative with Kelly and me. I really like when the kids are not shy and want to interact with me and not just quietly do the crafts the twins names were Sasha and Seth; they just turned 7 on that Thursday. For their birthday I decided to get them each a beach ball, and make them a birthday card. Seeing their excitement of the gift was definitely working the little money I spent on it. They loved it, and their mother was very thankful of the gesture also.
Being in a new place it took me awhile to figure out where everything was and also to reorganize the supply closet after the other intern boys have been there for the last 6 weeks. I get to work with new different people in the office and different maintenance men. Jan works in the office. She is very nice, but can come across as rude sometimes. Usually I am outside and she never comes out of her office after the breakfast so I don’t interact with her too much. The maintenance men are also nice. They are Spanish so sometimes hard to understand. They have been working there for about ten years so the entire guest that comes back each year knows them really well.
Week Nine July 16th - July 22nd
This week was very similar to last week. I am still working
at the Village in Palmetto Dunes. My Monday started with listening to Jan's
speech during the welcome breakfast. I then gave my short speech about what
activities I have to offer on and off site. I am getting a lot better at
talking to people, so my speech is about five minutes long now. It's pretty
simple. I answer a few questions from the parents at the end, but other than
that nothing major. The week started out being slow with not many children but
after the hot dog social on Wednesday we had a large amount of children want to
partake in the activities. At the Hot dog social, we actually ran out of hot
dogs (and we cooked over 80). There were about 40 people at the event. About 20
were all from the same family. I thought it was neat that they all go on
vacation together. Basically they all live around the United States and the
parents (well grandparents now) and their children bring their families and
they all spend the week on Hilton Head Island. They participated in some of the
activities. Mainly the ones that were free or the ones designed around a ocean
souvenir, like sand dollar painting,
It was a great week for the weather, it actually didn't rain and it was in the 100 degrees majority of the week so the pool very busy. We had 12 children want to play pool games. Usually no one wants to play games, they would much rather do their own thing in the pool. My favorite part of the game was that the children met new friends that way. Kids that did not know each other before all played together very nicely under my authority. I was also surprised with how well all of the different age groups played together. I think the oldest child was around 13 years old, and the youngest was about 4 (she did her own thing, but still played categories). When it came to the biggest splash contest was when children started to act out. Only because it was a competition so everyone wanted to be the best. Once the argument started to happen we switched games for the last 10mins. They all didn't mind. We went to throwing the children into the pool. After pool games we were done for the day. It always warms my heart when children are sad to see you leave.
To me it is crazy how connected I get to the children that I only see for a week. And most do not come to the activities until around Wednesday. I love hearing where they are all from. Surprisingly a lot of people are from Ohio. There has been one person who I met down there that went to my rival High School. Sometimes I spend a an hour with the same children, while others I spend all day with, it just depends on the day, and if there is any other family that wants to do the activities. This is probably my favorite part of the job is learning and interacting with children. Mainly the ones that are not shy, and the ones that want to interact and not being forced to do the activities by their parents (most boys).
It was a great week for the weather, it actually didn't rain and it was in the 100 degrees majority of the week so the pool very busy. We had 12 children want to play pool games. Usually no one wants to play games, they would much rather do their own thing in the pool. My favorite part of the game was that the children met new friends that way. Kids that did not know each other before all played together very nicely under my authority. I was also surprised with how well all of the different age groups played together. I think the oldest child was around 13 years old, and the youngest was about 4 (she did her own thing, but still played categories). When it came to the biggest splash contest was when children started to act out. Only because it was a competition so everyone wanted to be the best. Once the argument started to happen we switched games for the last 10mins. They all didn't mind. We went to throwing the children into the pool. After pool games we were done for the day. It always warms my heart when children are sad to see you leave.
To me it is crazy how connected I get to the children that I only see for a week. And most do not come to the activities until around Wednesday. I love hearing where they are all from. Surprisingly a lot of people are from Ohio. There has been one person who I met down there that went to my rival High School. Sometimes I spend a an hour with the same children, while others I spend all day with, it just depends on the day, and if there is any other family that wants to do the activities. This is probably my favorite part of the job is learning and interacting with children. Mainly the ones that are not shy, and the ones that want to interact and not being forced to do the activities by their parents (most boys).
Week Ten July 23rd - July 29th
I almost got a ticket on Sunday starting the beginning of my
last week at The Village. As usual I always park next to the supply
cabinet in an open spot. I was never informed that those were for the guest who
stayed in one of the sweets, well they called security to complain and an
officer showed up and starting to write me a ticket. I then explained how I was
unaware and I would abide by the guest's request and move my car. We went
inside and handled the rest with Jan, but overall it was just a big
misunderstanding. It just made for a good laugh for my last week there. Going
through my last week was a bitter sweet moment. There was something’s I did not
like about these locations, and some things that made it enjoyable. Things I
thought that could be changed are the check in procedures for the guests. They
all report to Jan's office between a certain times. Most of the time there
Villas would not be ready and they would have to wait or find some way to waste
time. This one family was very dissatisfied with this and o boy did we hear her
complain. She showed up a half hour before check in, hoping their villa was
ready, but found out that it was not. She then sat in the office for three more
hours before they allowed her to finish the check-in procedures. I think
that they need to either add more time for the cleaning staff between the turnovers,
or hire more people to clean the villas on Saturdays. Doing this will satisfy
more guest, which is the resorts main goal to being with.
This week was a dull one. I noticed that the numbers were low at the usual Monday morning welcome breakfast. I think there were only 4 children, and maybe 7 families to join. Just from this I knew it was probably going to be a slow week. I spent most of my time with week with one middle aged girl, and two girls around the age of 8. The middle aged girl was an only child who came on vacation with her parents. She was very shy at the beginning but by the end she would come just to tell me about what her family did the night before. She was painting a sand dollar craft, and told me all about going horseback riding in Sea Pines, and how the Kayaking trip went. She was so excited that she got to see Dolphins!! The smiles on their faces are my favorite part of the internship!!! Thursday the two girls around 8 asked if they could paint sand dollars since they missed it on Tuesday. Of course we let them. They painted the hermit crabs that they found on the beach that morning. They gave each one a name and wrote that on the back on the sand dollar. They told me the whole story about how they found them and wanted to keep them, but they weren't allowed because they were from Pittsburgh so it was way too long to try to take them back home ( as well as it is against the law to take living creatures from the ocean). The mom is just watching them, being happy that they didn't have three new pets. Besides these three girls doing a few activities I had a lot of down time, which I spent organizing the supply closet. Updating all of the paper work, making sure our money was accurate, and making souvenirs for myself and the other interns who asked me for something.
Fridays are of course the short four hour days. Usually on the schedule at 9am is a trip to the Farmers market, but because no one signed up I offered to the ladies that came to aerobics to have class this morning also. They all agreed and showed up at 9am. The class went smoothly as usual, by the end of the week they already know each other so they talk about what they did the day before. At the end of the class they thanked me for the week and wished me the best of luck with the rest of my internship and studies. Once that was over I didn’t have any other kids participate in the crafts for the rest of the day. There were only two families with younger kids to go to the pool the whole four hours I worked today. One was a family whose child was hyper and the parents had disciplinary problems with him. The parents had short tempers and did not manage the actions well. They were yelling at the boy for everything, and would try to put him in a time out. The way they talked to their son was rude, and I was embarrassed for them, for the way they acted in public.
This week was a dull one. I noticed that the numbers were low at the usual Monday morning welcome breakfast. I think there were only 4 children, and maybe 7 families to join. Just from this I knew it was probably going to be a slow week. I spent most of my time with week with one middle aged girl, and two girls around the age of 8. The middle aged girl was an only child who came on vacation with her parents. She was very shy at the beginning but by the end she would come just to tell me about what her family did the night before. She was painting a sand dollar craft, and told me all about going horseback riding in Sea Pines, and how the Kayaking trip went. She was so excited that she got to see Dolphins!! The smiles on their faces are my favorite part of the internship!!! Thursday the two girls around 8 asked if they could paint sand dollars since they missed it on Tuesday. Of course we let them. They painted the hermit crabs that they found on the beach that morning. They gave each one a name and wrote that on the back on the sand dollar. They told me the whole story about how they found them and wanted to keep them, but they weren't allowed because they were from Pittsburgh so it was way too long to try to take them back home ( as well as it is against the law to take living creatures from the ocean). The mom is just watching them, being happy that they didn't have three new pets. Besides these three girls doing a few activities I had a lot of down time, which I spent organizing the supply closet. Updating all of the paper work, making sure our money was accurate, and making souvenirs for myself and the other interns who asked me for something.
Fridays are of course the short four hour days. Usually on the schedule at 9am is a trip to the Farmers market, but because no one signed up I offered to the ladies that came to aerobics to have class this morning also. They all agreed and showed up at 9am. The class went smoothly as usual, by the end of the week they already know each other so they talk about what they did the day before. At the end of the class they thanked me for the week and wished me the best of luck with the rest of my internship and studies. Once that was over I didn’t have any other kids participate in the crafts for the rest of the day. There were only two families with younger kids to go to the pool the whole four hours I worked today. One was a family whose child was hyper and the parents had disciplinary problems with him. The parents had short tempers and did not manage the actions well. They were yelling at the boy for everything, and would try to put him in a time out. The way they talked to their son was rude, and I was embarrassed for them, for the way they acted in public.
Week Eleven July 30th - August 5th
The internship site of Island club is completely different than those of the previous resorts. Here I have an indoor activities center so all of the crafts are done within an air conditioned room. It’s a big room and has two tables we used for crafts; it also has plenty of couches and a flat screen T.V. for the parents to sit on while they are waiting on their children. We also have beach access and a picnic area for outdoor activities. The walk to these areas is less than 5minutes so it is really convenient to host activities here in-between crafts. The pool at Island Club is a decent size rectangle with plenty of space for water aerobics. At Island Club there are two interns, so Ryan and I will be working together for the next few weeks. The location compared to where I am staying is a shorter drive. It’s only about 3miles away.
The role of my supervisor is the same here as it was at the other resorts. Although Kelly does not stay here at the resort with us as much as she did with me when I was in The Village. This is because Melissa is at the Village now and needs more help and company than we do at Island Club. Her duties are still to get us supplies, and help us when we need it. Our Main Supervisor is Patty. She is one of the managers of Island Club. Usually I see Patty every morning to get the money box and keys to the storage closet. After that she usually comes to the activities center once to check on us. She is a very nice person, really optimistic, outgoing, and easy to get along and talk to. Once we are done with the day we take the money box back to her and briefly talk about how the day was. Other than the brief visits from Kelly and Patty I am not really supervised all day. I really like that about this internship. They know that we can handle the job and they can do other important things and not have to worry about us.
My role within Island Club is the same as the resorts from the previous weeks. My position is to provide activities all day for the guest to enjoy. We mainly do arts and crafts all day. We also have activities including water aerobics or outdoor games. My main duty is to interact with the guest and provide things for the children to do. I mainly supervise over the guest and help when they need it. I also interact and make conversation with them while they are at the activity. Usually they are children and parents. They come to the activity for something for the child to do and allow them to make a souvenir to take home with them.
The role of my supervisor is the same here as it was at the other resorts. Although Kelly does not stay here at the resort with us as much as she did with me when I was in The Village. This is because Melissa is at the Village now and needs more help and company than we do at Island Club. Her duties are still to get us supplies, and help us when we need it. Our Main Supervisor is Patty. She is one of the managers of Island Club. Usually I see Patty every morning to get the money box and keys to the storage closet. After that she usually comes to the activities center once to check on us. She is a very nice person, really optimistic, outgoing, and easy to get along and talk to. Once we are done with the day we take the money box back to her and briefly talk about how the day was. Other than the brief visits from Kelly and Patty I am not really supervised all day. I really like that about this internship. They know that we can handle the job and they can do other important things and not have to worry about us.
My role within Island Club is the same as the resorts from the previous weeks. My position is to provide activities all day for the guest to enjoy. We mainly do arts and crafts all day. We also have activities including water aerobics or outdoor games. My main duty is to interact with the guest and provide things for the children to do. I mainly supervise over the guest and help when they need it. I also interact and make conversation with them while they are at the activity. Usually they are children and parents. They come to the activity for something for the child to do and allow them to make a souvenir to take home with them.
Week Twelve August 6th - 11th
The culture of The Island Club is very laid relaxed and laid back setting. There workers are very nice and always have a smile to their faces. With a laid back culture I can do almost whatever I desire, within reason of course. Being inside the main building everyone has their own desks or offices, we have our activities room that has a different culture than the front desks workers. We are more interactive and upbeat. We also have children running around all day, whereas they interact more with adults. We are expected to dress in Khakis and a white T-shirt. On the days we do tie dye we are allowed to wear a tie-dyed shirt. They provided us we name tags with our first and last name and the university we go to.
It feels good to be at a new place. The Island Club is so much better than it was to be at The Village. I actually enjoy going to work, and I love the people. Event the guest is nicer and realizes that I am an activities director, not a babysitter. I really like the atmosphere and how everything is organized here. We have signup sheets for the crafts, and the supply closet is very organized and easy to get to. Being at Island Club feels almost the same as the other resorts. My duties are the same and some of the crafts are the same. However I still like it better and I’m glad I’m ending my last three weeks here.
This week we has some new crafts that I have not done at the other resorts, like shark tooth necklaces, hair wraps, and beach walks. The guests are also new. This week there were two kids that came to every activity. Olivia was eleven and her younger brother was eight. She was so nice. Their family drove 14 hours from New York for the vacation. Olivia was quite the talker after Tuesday when she started to warm up to me and Ryan. She would tell us all about her day or what they did the night before. They would come to do the activities and the leave until the next one. She wasn’t the only person to come to the activities. Throughout the week we had many guest, more than I ever did at Island Club. Olivia just sticks out because she was so adorable and loved talking and playing with us. There were also these four kids from Alabama who made my week interesting and fun. They were two 11 year old girls, and one 7 year old boy. They were very outgoing and loved us. At first they thought we were in our teens. But they didn’t do many of the crafts they would just come in-between when we weren’t busy just to play with us. I love playing and interacting with the kids. They love to talk and tell me things about their lives. Just from knowing them a few hours I feel as if I can tell you almost anything about them. Every day I fill out record sheets to record how much money we made and how many participants we had at that activity. I also have to clean the room and vacuum and take out the trash.
My initial learning expectations for this week are to learn about the resort and the people and culture who work here. I am also expected to gain more communication skills while interacting with guest, both adults and children.
It feels good to be at a new place. The Island Club is so much better than it was to be at The Village. I actually enjoy going to work, and I love the people. Event the guest is nicer and realizes that I am an activities director, not a babysitter. I really like the atmosphere and how everything is organized here. We have signup sheets for the crafts, and the supply closet is very organized and easy to get to. Being at Island Club feels almost the same as the other resorts. My duties are the same and some of the crafts are the same. However I still like it better and I’m glad I’m ending my last three weeks here.
This week we has some new crafts that I have not done at the other resorts, like shark tooth necklaces, hair wraps, and beach walks. The guests are also new. This week there were two kids that came to every activity. Olivia was eleven and her younger brother was eight. She was so nice. Their family drove 14 hours from New York for the vacation. Olivia was quite the talker after Tuesday when she started to warm up to me and Ryan. She would tell us all about her day or what they did the night before. They would come to do the activities and the leave until the next one. She wasn’t the only person to come to the activities. Throughout the week we had many guest, more than I ever did at Island Club. Olivia just sticks out because she was so adorable and loved talking and playing with us. There were also these four kids from Alabama who made my week interesting and fun. They were two 11 year old girls, and one 7 year old boy. They were very outgoing and loved us. At first they thought we were in our teens. But they didn’t do many of the crafts they would just come in-between when we weren’t busy just to play with us. I love playing and interacting with the kids. They love to talk and tell me things about their lives. Just from knowing them a few hours I feel as if I can tell you almost anything about them. Every day I fill out record sheets to record how much money we made and how many participants we had at that activity. I also have to clean the room and vacuum and take out the trash.
My initial learning expectations for this week are to learn about the resort and the people and culture who work here. I am also expected to gain more communication skills while interacting with guest, both adults and children.
Week Thirteen August 12th - 18th
My last week there was a slow week, especially for the
island club. Most of the children were starting to go back to school; therefore
most of the vacationers this week were the older couples, with some children.
Like every week there is always a particular family that sticks out and comes
to the crafts and enjoys spending time with us. This week there was two
families like that. One was a brother and a sister with their older babysitter.
The other was a younger 2 children with their mother. The mother was very sweet
and informational. She told her all about her college experience and said to
travel as much as you can before settling down. Her children were 5 and 7 years
old. They were so smart and nice, very well behaved. We actually went did some
of the activities that we usually have no one come to. Children showed up to
the water balloon toss, and we also went on the beach walk in the morning.
Ryan showed me how to find shark teeth. I actually found three the last week I
was there. We Tie-dyed shirts, Which was our most popular activity all summer
along with sand dollar painting and friendship bracelets and hair wraps.
From this internship I learned things I never expected I would. I am better at public speaking from the weekly speeches I had to give at the pizza parties, or the welcome breakfasts. I know how to be organized because of the supply closet and always getting new supplies out in a short time for the next activity. I am better at time management from being on a set schedule every day, and sometimes having to adjust if the activity would go over time. I acquired accounting/ budgeting/ inventory and forecasting knowledge through keeping records and estimating how much inventory to keep on stock. I learned how to interact with children. The younger aged groups need more attention than the 12year old. I also learned how to be more independent. Living on Hilton Head Island for 3 months was a huge eye opener for me. I lived 14 hours away from my family, so it was quite difficult to go to my mother for everything. Being on the island and only getting paid a small stipend I had to find a second job to earn money. I ended up getting a serving position at the Hilton Head Diner, allowing me to gain experience in the restaurant industry. This also taught me how to better manage my time. I only had a an hour break in between jobs, within that time I had to drive 15minutes home, shower, change, eat, and drive 10minutes to my second job. Living on the Island I met so many new people, besides the other interns I worked for two different resort companies, so I got the perspectives of how differently their managerial styles are. I also met so many guest, some very interesting, who shared their stories with me a provided me with contact information also. I may not have fully used my education through this internship experience; however I did learn how to be an adult and take responsibility. Overall this internship was a great experience.
From this internship I learned things I never expected I would. I am better at public speaking from the weekly speeches I had to give at the pizza parties, or the welcome breakfasts. I know how to be organized because of the supply closet and always getting new supplies out in a short time for the next activity. I am better at time management from being on a set schedule every day, and sometimes having to adjust if the activity would go over time. I acquired accounting/ budgeting/ inventory and forecasting knowledge through keeping records and estimating how much inventory to keep on stock. I learned how to interact with children. The younger aged groups need more attention than the 12year old. I also learned how to be more independent. Living on Hilton Head Island for 3 months was a huge eye opener for me. I lived 14 hours away from my family, so it was quite difficult to go to my mother for everything. Being on the island and only getting paid a small stipend I had to find a second job to earn money. I ended up getting a serving position at the Hilton Head Diner, allowing me to gain experience in the restaurant industry. This also taught me how to better manage my time. I only had a an hour break in between jobs, within that time I had to drive 15minutes home, shower, change, eat, and drive 10minutes to my second job. Living on the Island I met so many new people, besides the other interns I worked for two different resort companies, so I got the perspectives of how differently their managerial styles are. I also met so many guest, some very interesting, who shared their stories with me a provided me with contact information also. I may not have fully used my education through this internship experience; however I did learn how to be an adult and take responsibility. Overall this internship was a great experience.