Internship
Summer, 2014
The Crucible is a creative space for adults and children alike to work with industrial grade materials such as: clay, glass, metal, and wood. This facility is located in Oakland on 1260 7th Street. During my two week internship in the Crucible some of my daily duties included: helping the youth with their own projects, helping set a good example for others to follow in class, turning on and adjusting the propane tanks in the morning before classes, and often, consulting with the two teachers on developing a lesson plan for the following days. After lunch the Fuego internship leader, Drew, met with me and the nine other interns to do bonding activities and talk about how the classes were going for each of us. The following summer I decided to take the internship again to further progress my artistic skills and that time Drew was unavailable so Rachel was his substitute.
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Week Log:
July 23 - July 29 My first day working at the Crucible as a Fuego intern didn't really feel like, well, work. It was during the weekend, on Saturday, and it started late, at 10am. I guess my idea of a job was something which started a lot earlier, around 7 or 8am. Walking into the building it was unusually quiet, I was used to there being lots of different noises like banging, talking, and the air conditioner running. There was no one around to ask where I should go so I just sat in the lobby waiting for people to show up. A few teenagers like myself began showing up 15 minutes before 10. Some sat in the lobby and others in the dining area. Each of us was an intern in a different class, I was in Glass Flameworking. I didn't really make an attempt to start a conversation because the people waiting seemed nervous. Right at 10am a tall, dark haired guy, who introduced himself as Drew brought us up to one of the rooms on the second floor. Once everyone showed up he had us do many bonding activities. Near the end of the day he ordered some food for all of us to share. And that was that, my first day of "work". In the following days I developed a goal - to increase my level and amount of communication with my fellow interns and teachers. Every morning I arrived before the teachers of my class at 8am. I helped set up by opening the oxygen and propane gas tanks in the back and by organizing or cutting glass. At 12pm lunch began and I had a break until 1pm, after which all the interns gathered in the same room we all met each other for the first time. From 1pm to 2pm we did various fun and not so fun activities, like eating, developing an idea of what we wanted to make as our project, and writing our speeches. |
Weekly Hours:
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Closing Report
In an effort to help me become more active during the summer of 2014 my mom discovered the Crucible - a place where everyone’s imaginations are welcome to run wild when creating all sorts of things from various materials including: clay, glass, metal, and wood. I didn’t know it then but it almost became like a second home to me. At first I was shy and somewhat picky choosing the classes I wanted to take. It wasn’t until I started going out of my comfort zone and trying out uncomfortable classes that I realized that the possibilities were endless. Working in such a diverse and creative community sparked a sort of curiosity and a need to push myself to my limits with all available materials. I tried to take as many classes as I could get my hands on, to experience how all the materials functioned. Exploring many classes I was surprised that I enjoyed Jewelry and Glass Flameworking. Both were extremely detail oriented and enjoyable to express myself through, both used torches, and both were difficult to master, that is why I chose to take them again.
2016 came around in a blink of an eye and one of the goals I set for myself was to try to help others more. I love helping people get better and unlock their full potential which is why I joined the Fuego Internship program where I would essentially be a teacher’s assistant. For my Fuego Internship project I chose to make a tree symbolizing the strength and the will to persevere. Coincidentally, those were qualities I needed to overcome my anxiety of something cracking as I was molding it out of glass.
During my internship at the Crucible I developed and improved many of my social skills, public speaking being chief among them. The very first day I came to the Crucible to begin my internship each of the ten interns had to talk about themselves as a sort of introduction to themselves, for example, they described their favorite pastimes, favorite foods, and some skill they would like to enhance by going to the Crucible. This was an uncomfortable experience in the beginning but I picked up on the fact that everyone else was probably just as nervous as myself. Every day I went to the Crucible since then I had accepted that being nervous was part of the learning experience and overcoming it was the first step to become a better public speaker and teacher.
Near the end of my two week internship I and the other nine interns were given the task to create a three minute long speech to present in front of the Crucibles’ faculty, and the friends and families of the interns. Writing it was the easy part but presenting it to a room full of at least fifty people was nerve wracking. I had never presented to such a large audience. Those were the longest three minutes of my life, as all I could focus on was how much I was shaking. But I made it through, coming closer to accomplishing my goal of improving my social skills.
In an effort to help me become more active during the summer of 2014 my mom discovered the Crucible - a place where everyone’s imaginations are welcome to run wild when creating all sorts of things from various materials including: clay, glass, metal, and wood. I didn’t know it then but it almost became like a second home to me. At first I was shy and somewhat picky choosing the classes I wanted to take. It wasn’t until I started going out of my comfort zone and trying out uncomfortable classes that I realized that the possibilities were endless. Working in such a diverse and creative community sparked a sort of curiosity and a need to push myself to my limits with all available materials. I tried to take as many classes as I could get my hands on, to experience how all the materials functioned. Exploring many classes I was surprised that I enjoyed Jewelry and Glass Flameworking. Both were extremely detail oriented and enjoyable to express myself through, both used torches, and both were difficult to master, that is why I chose to take them again.
2016 came around in a blink of an eye and one of the goals I set for myself was to try to help others more. I love helping people get better and unlock their full potential which is why I joined the Fuego Internship program where I would essentially be a teacher’s assistant. For my Fuego Internship project I chose to make a tree symbolizing the strength and the will to persevere. Coincidentally, those were qualities I needed to overcome my anxiety of something cracking as I was molding it out of glass.
During my internship at the Crucible I developed and improved many of my social skills, public speaking being chief among them. The very first day I came to the Crucible to begin my internship each of the ten interns had to talk about themselves as a sort of introduction to themselves, for example, they described their favorite pastimes, favorite foods, and some skill they would like to enhance by going to the Crucible. This was an uncomfortable experience in the beginning but I picked up on the fact that everyone else was probably just as nervous as myself. Every day I went to the Crucible since then I had accepted that being nervous was part of the learning experience and overcoming it was the first step to become a better public speaker and teacher.
Near the end of my two week internship I and the other nine interns were given the task to create a three minute long speech to present in front of the Crucibles’ faculty, and the friends and families of the interns. Writing it was the easy part but presenting it to a room full of at least fifty people was nerve wracking. I had never presented to such a large audience. Those were the longest three minutes of my life, as all I could focus on was how much I was shaking. But I made it through, coming closer to accomplishing my goal of improving my social skills.