Monday: 12-6:00
Tuesday: 10-4:15
Wednesday: 10-1:15 (dentists appointment)
Thursday: 10-4:15
Friday: 10-4:15
Total: 28 hours
Monday:
I made contact with the company we are planning on ordering our medals and ribbons from via email. I did this earlier in the summer, but never received an email back. Donna, from Midwest Trophy sent me an email back asking me to call her the next day. I also emailed my supervisor with a copy of the registration for one of the clinics that will be held at the tournament: The Play Golf America Clinic. Play Golf America will be offering a clinic to both participants and their families at the tournament. I also updated a spreadsheet with the athlete bio information by adding a section for their hometowns to the spreadsheet. This will be used for a media publication involving the athletes and partners playing at the tournament. I made a phone call to an intern for the tournament a couple of years ago, to see if she could answer a question I had about the gifts for the sponsors. I received a couple more confirmation emails from programs confirming their online registration. I did a little more work on the event handbook by sending out information and requests for welcome letters from our sponsors. Also, I worked on the changes to the volunteer handbook that were suggested in our conference call last week. I also did a lot of work putting together the tournament handbook for the tournament.
Tuesday:
I did more work with the Tournament handbook and adding the registration packets to the notebook. I contacted Florida, who has been especially slow in responding to us. We have yet to receive a hardcopy of their information with their housing information, medical forms, and athlete bio information. I was requested to contact them to find out the hometowns of their athletes for the bio pages, but was unsuccessful in my attempts. I received an updated copy of the bio spreadsheet with the information I had added to it. I made another phone call about the picture frames to the intern I had called the day before, and was successful in my attempts to contact her this time. She answered my questions, and cleared up a lot of things so I should be able to confirm my order by next week. I was told to contact her by the gentleman at the company printing our graphics. I began updating a spreadsheet containing caddie information for each of the athletes who are bringing caddies.
Wednesday:
I sent out a mass email with the Play Golf America Registration form attached, with instructions to fax/email it back to me. I finished updating the information on the caddie spreadsheet for my supervisor, though there were a few names I could not find. I spoke over the phone with the lady from they company we are ordering medals and ribbons from, and then she spoke with my supervisor to hammer out some of the details. My supervisor sent me an updated copy of the online info to download to GMS. Now I have all the information I need, so my supervisor and I are on the same page as far as our information goes. I left early today, due to a Dentist's appointment, so I left around 1:15.
Thursday:
I sent our contact at Microw Graphics an email to see if he could send us a mock-up of what our signature scrolls will look like. I also finished up the changes to the volunteer handbook that were suggested in our conference call, and sent them to my supervisor. I also answered a few questions concerning the Play Golf America clinic that I received via email. I also made a few changes to the housing information for North Carolina, they added a coach to their registration, and they are also housing an athlete from Washington, who is traveling by herself. We received more travel information for some of the delegations who had not yet made them.
Friday:
I began My day by going through the housing and travel information for all the delegations who had sent in their information, to double check that it was all correct, and that I had made a note of it all. I spoke with the gentleman from Microw Graphics about the signature scrolls, and he sent us an example of one, and told me to give him a call back on Monday with an idea of what we wanted them to look like. I spent the afternoon working on the athlete bio spreadsheet. I added fields for how long they had been playing golf, their favorite professional, their favorite course, and their interests other than golf. I finished about half of these, and my plan is to finish them Monday. Also, I spent part of the day making copies of a CD to be used next week at the Sport Business Meeting in New Jersey. I made about 40-50 of th 150 copies to be made. I recieved quite a few registration forms for the Play Golf America Clinic, in addition to a few more family registration forms. I sent out some emails concerning the family registration forms, and when the check would be coming in for their meal plans.
Most of my work this week involved working with excel or Microsoft word, in addition to just sending out ALOT of emails and making phone calls, and there was a lot of work on putting together the tournament notebook.
I felt as though I got a lot of work done this week, and cleared up a lot of questions I had about some of the gifts and things we are going to be ordering in the next couple of weeks.
I was still a little frustrated this week because after we finished the updates on the volunteer handbook that were suggested by the gentlemen in Florida, they sent it back to us with more suggestions, it's like they just can't make up their minds.
My goals this week are to finalize some of the details such as the ice for the tournament and updating the event handbook. My entire office will be out of town all week at a business meeting in New Jersey, so part of this work may be done from the office, and part of it may be done from home.
Internship: Wild Dunes Resort: Charleston, SC
My final week at Wild Dunes involved tying up a lot of loose ends, like final evaluations, and exit interviews, in addition to one last shadowing experience at the Tennis Center. The shadowing experience at the Tennis center was not very different from working in the Island Adventures store. That is one thing I learned while I was at the resort; all of the retail outlets operated in very much the same way,using the same POS system, etc. Also, they use a notebook to schedule tennis lessons and keep track of who is giving a lesson to who, and at what time on which day. This was probably my least informational shadowing experience, simply because it was very similar to what I did in the Island Adventures store, and did not get to do much while I was there.
If we had the time to do so, we were supposed to to go the Human resources department and go through an exit interview. This pertained to our experiences here, and if we had any suggestions for the department, etc. I did not get the chance to do an exit interview, but it was a standard procedure for employees who were leaving Wild Dunes.
My last couple of days were not very strenuous, because as my internship came to a close, the end of high season was coming closer too. We had very few children at Camp, and there were decidedly less people working on the Grand Pavilion, and swimming in the pools. My last day of work, I actually did not have to work because we only had three kids in camp, so we did not need four counselors with the kids, and my supervisor decided that I could have the day off.
Overall, this was an experience that I would gladly repeat, there were some things that I would have changed, and some things that definitely could have been done better, but overall, Destination Hotels and Resorts is a very well-run organization, and you would be hard-pressed to find an unenjoyable experience at the resort.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Monday, August 6, 2007
week of 7/30-8/3
Monday: 10-4
Tuesday: 10-4:15
Wednesday: Doctor’s appointment; out of the office
Thursday: 10-4
Friday: 10-4:15
Total: 24.5 hours
Monday:
As I expected, everyone chose to wait until the last minute to send in their registration packets, and we were swamped for all of Monday, and most of the other days of the week as well. Most of my work on Monday involved going through all of the registration packets and taking out the player bio information and faxing it to the lady in charge of putting them together for the tournament. Also, faxing information on housing to the management company in charge of the villas. I began to make separate files for medical forms and family registration forms as well. I have begun separating them to be put into the tournament notebook that I am in charge of making. Also, I began making confirmation emails to the delegations who sent in their online information. I also made another email to the gentleman we are using to print up our gifts to our sponsors about whether or not he knew of any companies who could frame these gifts for us. Also, I began inputting more information in the registration spreadsheet for the delegations who sent in their information.
Tuesday:
My Tuesday was spent in much the same way I spent my Monday: faxing, copying, and sending confirmation emails to delegations who sent in their online information. I am to keep a record of everyone who has confirmed their information, so as to know who we need to contact in the days to come. I spoke with the gentleman from the management company we are working with to rent condos for the tournament to make sure that he had received the same information we had, and to make sure that we had everything that he did. He told me what he didn’t have, and faxed me copies of what I needed.
Thursday:
My Thursday was especially busy because I was not in the office on Wednesday due to a doctor’s appointment. However, most of it was still very much the same as Monday and Tuesday. A lot of faxing, copying, phone calls, etc. The gentleman from Microwgraphics who is printing our gifts for us called me back on Wednesday when I was out of the office, so I called him again on Thursday. However, he was out of the office, and I could not reach him at all during the day. I spoke again with Russ from the management company we are working with to rent condos for the tournament, and he got some contact information he needed for some of the delegations. Also, I began making copies of all the player bio sheets sent in so as to mail them to a lady in charge of media relations at the tournament. This took quite a while, as there are upwards of 200 participants, and we have only one small copier. While searching through the stacks I began to pull out other information such as volunteer forms and partner and coach registration pages, also the doctor’s form request for permission to use a cart during the tournament. I placed all of these in separate piles, organized by state, as they will all go in separate dividers in the registration notebook.
Friday:
Friday, just like every other day, I spent a lot of time faxing, copying, and making phone calls. I especially spent a lot of time finishing copying all of the player bio forms, and separating the registration forms into stacks. I finally got in touch with the gentleman from Microwgraphics about whether or not he had any suggestions as to companies who could make some custom-made frames for the tournament. He made a few phone calls and found two numbers for me. One was called Easel Art, and the other M&M studios. When I called Easel Art, I was slightly put off by a very rude gentleman who I can only assume was the owner/manager of the store. He refused to do business over the phone, he assumed that I had no idea what size frame I would need, and basically no idea what I was doing, and when I assured him that someone would in fact be coming to the store to look at his product before we just told him to put it together, it made no difference. Needless to say, we will not be using Easel Art for the tournament. However, a very nice lady named June was very helpful to me at M&M studios. She sent me pictures of our choices of wood, in addition to invoices with what each type of wood would cost for the number of frames we needed. A major bonus to this studio is that they can provide one-day turnover for us, which will be a major thing because we will be having the gifts signed by the athletes, and taking them to the store the next day to be framed. There was a little confusion as to whether or not I will need to order a matte for the picture frame, or if that will be printed elsewhere, which I hope to clear up on Monday. And lastly, I spent two and a half hours in a conference call to discuss the volunteer handbook that I have spent so much time putting together. This was a very frustrating experience for me, because the two gentlemen in Florida working with volunteers basically tore it apart. They thought it was too long, they didn’t like the way things were worded, they didn’t think the volunteers needed to know all of the information I put in it. While they told me a very good job, they felt that it would be more appropriate as an event handbook, and that in general there was too much information and the volunteers didn’t need to know all of it. This mostly frustrated me because they took out a lot of things in the handbook that my supervisor told me to put into the handbook, but for arguments sake we chose to just let them do it their way.
Feelings:
Frustration; complete and total frustration. I am frustrated with the flood of work that came in because no one sent in their information on time, and I am frustrated at the fact that some people still haven’t sent in their information. I am frustrated that I spent so much time and effort on the volunteer handbook that basically got cut in half throughout the course of the conference call. Again, I’m pretty much just frustrated with this week.
I feel as though I was very effective with my work this week. I made a lot of progress and got a lot of things done. However, I do feel as though I could do a better job of sorting out the registration packets, the way I have done seems to require me to go back through the handbooks two and three times, after I have already put them back together. I could save a lot of time if I just pulled everything out at once.
This week, my computer use was minimal, other than to send out a lot of emails and input information into Excel, I did not spend a lot of time working at my computer, most of it was spent sorting out registration packets.
Next week I will start off by sorting through all of the checks that have been sent in, and making sure they match all of the check numbers that the delegations cited. I will have to keep track of who has paid and who has not, most likely in an excel worksheet. I will also begin contacting the delegations who have not yet confirmed their online information to me. I assume a lot of next week will also involve making the corrections to the volunteer handbook that were mentioned during the conference call, and working more on straightening out the event handbook.
Internship: Wild Dunes Resort, Charleston, SC
Pool cleaning: Everyday of the week, two interns were responsible for cleaning the pools at both the Boardwalk Inn and the Grand Pavilion; three pools total. We began by vaccuming the pools, then skimming the pools, then we emptied the pool filters. When we were done, we were responsible for cleaning out the vaccum to ensure that it worked the way it should every day.
Hooking up the vaccum could be tricky, as it did not always want to work, there were times when we couldn't get the hoses to stay on the vaccum, or it wouldn't pick up the sand in the bottom of the pool.
Often, people did not think about the type of things they brought into the pool, and we would often have to pull cups, or deteriorating napkins out of the pool. One time, I even pulled out a really dirty t-shirt from the bottom of the pool. Also, we sometimes we had to check the chlorine levels in the pool, and if they were too high or too low, we either had to add more chlorine, or close the pool while we waited for some of the chlorine to evaporate.
This was hands-down everyone's least favorite job during the summer, partially because you never knew if it would work properly, so sometimes it took a really long time, other times you might be done really early. We mostly dislike it because it was the dirtiest job we had to do as well, and we also had to get up the earliest to do it, because guests were waiting to get in the pools.
Tuesday: 10-4:15
Wednesday: Doctor’s appointment; out of the office
Thursday: 10-4
Friday: 10-4:15
Total: 24.5 hours
Monday:
As I expected, everyone chose to wait until the last minute to send in their registration packets, and we were swamped for all of Monday, and most of the other days of the week as well. Most of my work on Monday involved going through all of the registration packets and taking out the player bio information and faxing it to the lady in charge of putting them together for the tournament. Also, faxing information on housing to the management company in charge of the villas. I began to make separate files for medical forms and family registration forms as well. I have begun separating them to be put into the tournament notebook that I am in charge of making. Also, I began making confirmation emails to the delegations who sent in their online information. I also made another email to the gentleman we are using to print up our gifts to our sponsors about whether or not he knew of any companies who could frame these gifts for us. Also, I began inputting more information in the registration spreadsheet for the delegations who sent in their information.
Tuesday:
My Tuesday was spent in much the same way I spent my Monday: faxing, copying, and sending confirmation emails to delegations who sent in their online information. I am to keep a record of everyone who has confirmed their information, so as to know who we need to contact in the days to come. I spoke with the gentleman from the management company we are working with to rent condos for the tournament to make sure that he had received the same information we had, and to make sure that we had everything that he did. He told me what he didn’t have, and faxed me copies of what I needed.
Thursday:
My Thursday was especially busy because I was not in the office on Wednesday due to a doctor’s appointment. However, most of it was still very much the same as Monday and Tuesday. A lot of faxing, copying, phone calls, etc. The gentleman from Microwgraphics who is printing our gifts for us called me back on Wednesday when I was out of the office, so I called him again on Thursday. However, he was out of the office, and I could not reach him at all during the day. I spoke again with Russ from the management company we are working with to rent condos for the tournament, and he got some contact information he needed for some of the delegations. Also, I began making copies of all the player bio sheets sent in so as to mail them to a lady in charge of media relations at the tournament. This took quite a while, as there are upwards of 200 participants, and we have only one small copier. While searching through the stacks I began to pull out other information such as volunteer forms and partner and coach registration pages, also the doctor’s form request for permission to use a cart during the tournament. I placed all of these in separate piles, organized by state, as they will all go in separate dividers in the registration notebook.
Friday:
Friday, just like every other day, I spent a lot of time faxing, copying, and making phone calls. I especially spent a lot of time finishing copying all of the player bio forms, and separating the registration forms into stacks. I finally got in touch with the gentleman from Microwgraphics about whether or not he had any suggestions as to companies who could make some custom-made frames for the tournament. He made a few phone calls and found two numbers for me. One was called Easel Art, and the other M&M studios. When I called Easel Art, I was slightly put off by a very rude gentleman who I can only assume was the owner/manager of the store. He refused to do business over the phone, he assumed that I had no idea what size frame I would need, and basically no idea what I was doing, and when I assured him that someone would in fact be coming to the store to look at his product before we just told him to put it together, it made no difference. Needless to say, we will not be using Easel Art for the tournament. However, a very nice lady named June was very helpful to me at M&M studios. She sent me pictures of our choices of wood, in addition to invoices with what each type of wood would cost for the number of frames we needed. A major bonus to this studio is that they can provide one-day turnover for us, which will be a major thing because we will be having the gifts signed by the athletes, and taking them to the store the next day to be framed. There was a little confusion as to whether or not I will need to order a matte for the picture frame, or if that will be printed elsewhere, which I hope to clear up on Monday. And lastly, I spent two and a half hours in a conference call to discuss the volunteer handbook that I have spent so much time putting together. This was a very frustrating experience for me, because the two gentlemen in Florida working with volunteers basically tore it apart. They thought it was too long, they didn’t like the way things were worded, they didn’t think the volunteers needed to know all of the information I put in it. While they told me a very good job, they felt that it would be more appropriate as an event handbook, and that in general there was too much information and the volunteers didn’t need to know all of it. This mostly frustrated me because they took out a lot of things in the handbook that my supervisor told me to put into the handbook, but for arguments sake we chose to just let them do it their way.
Feelings:
Frustration; complete and total frustration. I am frustrated with the flood of work that came in because no one sent in their information on time, and I am frustrated at the fact that some people still haven’t sent in their information. I am frustrated that I spent so much time and effort on the volunteer handbook that basically got cut in half throughout the course of the conference call. Again, I’m pretty much just frustrated with this week.
I feel as though I was very effective with my work this week. I made a lot of progress and got a lot of things done. However, I do feel as though I could do a better job of sorting out the registration packets, the way I have done seems to require me to go back through the handbooks two and three times, after I have already put them back together. I could save a lot of time if I just pulled everything out at once.
This week, my computer use was minimal, other than to send out a lot of emails and input information into Excel, I did not spend a lot of time working at my computer, most of it was spent sorting out registration packets.
Next week I will start off by sorting through all of the checks that have been sent in, and making sure they match all of the check numbers that the delegations cited. I will have to keep track of who has paid and who has not, most likely in an excel worksheet. I will also begin contacting the delegations who have not yet confirmed their online information to me. I assume a lot of next week will also involve making the corrections to the volunteer handbook that were mentioned during the conference call, and working more on straightening out the event handbook.
Internship: Wild Dunes Resort, Charleston, SC
Pool cleaning: Everyday of the week, two interns were responsible for cleaning the pools at both the Boardwalk Inn and the Grand Pavilion; three pools total. We began by vaccuming the pools, then skimming the pools, then we emptied the pool filters. When we were done, we were responsible for cleaning out the vaccum to ensure that it worked the way it should every day.
Hooking up the vaccum could be tricky, as it did not always want to work, there were times when we couldn't get the hoses to stay on the vaccum, or it wouldn't pick up the sand in the bottom of the pool.
Often, people did not think about the type of things they brought into the pool, and we would often have to pull cups, or deteriorating napkins out of the pool. One time, I even pulled out a really dirty t-shirt from the bottom of the pool. Also, we sometimes we had to check the chlorine levels in the pool, and if they were too high or too low, we either had to add more chlorine, or close the pool while we waited for some of the chlorine to evaporate.
This was hands-down everyone's least favorite job during the summer, partially because you never knew if it would work properly, so sometimes it took a really long time, other times you might be done really early. We mostly dislike it because it was the dirtiest job we had to do as well, and we also had to get up the earliest to do it, because guests were waiting to get in the pools.
Monday, July 30, 2007
week of 7/23-7/27
Monday: 10-4
Tuesday: 10-4
Wednesday: 10-4
Thursday: Out of the Office
Friday: 10-4
Total: 24 hours
Monday:
Today I began contacting individuals about things will need for the tournament such as radios and gifts for the tournament committee. I emailed a gentleman from the PGA of America about his input on the volunteer handbook. He is the gentleman in charge of volunteers for the tournament. I also spoke with a man from Microw Graphics incorporated so as to arrange ordering the signature scrolls to go inside the picture frames for our sponsor gifts. I also arranged for the company to send us a catalog of the items they carry so as to make some decisions about the type of gifts we will order for the tournament committee. When I talked to Microw Graphics, they told me that they would not be able to help us out as far as engraving gifts, so I spent a lot of the afternoon looking online at a website for a company that we have used before to find some gifts that are comparable in price to what we have done before.
Tuesday:
I worked with my supervisor on getting logos for sponsor pages. I also contacted a lot of the teams who sent in their registration info to clarify a lot of information if we had any questions. I finally got a response about where we might be able to find radios and began the process of setting up a conference call to discuss the volunteer handbook. I also began work on making a spreadsheet for the team registrations that should come in this week and next. I sent a fax to the PGA tour concerning a letter and an information page on the PGA to put into our event handbook and volunteer handbook. I contacted another gentleman about radios, because the first man told me to see if he could give us any more leads on companies we could get radios from.
Wednesday:
I began faxing a lot of information on Wednesday. I have started faxing athlete Bio pages to a lady involved with the tournament who will be putting them together for us. I also began to send housing rosters to the Housing company we are using for the tournament. I received the catalog from Microw Graphics today, and we began looking through it for gift ideas. I began working on a coaching and officials certification spreadsheet to keep track of how many certified coaches and officials there were in each state for each sport. This had nothing to do with NIT, but we were a little strapped for things for me to do. I input the information we received from the PGA in the form of a letter, and information pages and put it into the event handbook.
Friday:
I did a lot more faxing of athlete bio pages today. I also contacted the USGA about some information we would like to put into the event handbook. I also sent some confirmation emails to registered teams for the Tournament to let them know we had received their GMS information from the online registration and to confirm that it was all correct.
Most of my work this week either involved excel or working with equipment around the office such as the fax. I also was given the opportunity to work with the Games Management software that Special Olympics uses, and that helped me to understand a little more how the events are run.
As a whole, I had a lot more to do this week, and there was not nearly as much downtime during the day as there has been the past few weeks. It helped when I was having trouble finding something to do with my time, Craig found some other things that I could do, that even though they didn’t necessarily involve the NIT, they were still beneficial to see how the organization as a whole functions.
Next week all of the registration forms will be coming in at the beginning of the week, so my goal is to get all of that information put into the spreadsheets I have made as quickly as possible. Also, contacting all of the programs to confirm that our information correct is important too.
Internship: Wild Dunes Resort, Charleston, SC
Job Shadowing: Zach Stone, Resort Manager.
I did another job shadowing experience with Zach Stone, one of the "Resort Managers." His job is to respond if there are any problems on the resort. For example, some one says they have found something missing in their room, such as a pair of earrings. His job is to make a record of it, and check with housekeeping to see if there was possible anyone with sticky fingers in housekeeping who cleaned their house. He is also responsible for calling the guest to see exactly what they say has happened. More often than not, they have misplaced them, they dropped them and they were vacumed up, or they will find them when they are leaving. Either way, he has to file a report, and see if there is anything he can do to alleviate the problem.
He is also responsible in case there is some sort of emergency on the grounds. For example, we had a little girl get stung by a sting ray, a guy walk into sign and break his nose, etc. He is responsible for determining whether or not the resort is liable for any of these things. For example, was the resort quick enough in responding when they little girl was stung, could anything have been done to prevent people walking into the signs (like moving them higher). He also has to decide if the guest is truly at fault. We had a gentleman injure his foot on a sliding door at his vacation home, and he was trying to say there was something wrong with the door that caused him to cut his foot, when in reality, he wasn't paying attention, and he tripped over the door.
Also, he has to deal with guests who might have an issue with their room or condo. For example, their air conditioner doesn't work, or they had to be moved unexpectedly, or they didn't get put into the room they were originally told. Unfortunately, this also means that we may have to put up with guests who just want to complain about everything. This can usually be resolved by something like a complimentary bottle of wine, or giving them a slight discount on their room for the evening.
While shadowing, we basically made the rounds around the resort. Zach likes to begin by ensuring that everyone has everything they need. So we would make rounds to the restaurants, and the grand pavilion, just to make sure everyone had what they needed for the evening. Also, if people need things such as different types of alcohol or other things throughout the evening, Zach will usually go get them for them and take it to them whereever they need to go.
Tuesday: 10-4
Wednesday: 10-4
Thursday: Out of the Office
Friday: 10-4
Total: 24 hours
Monday:
Today I began contacting individuals about things will need for the tournament such as radios and gifts for the tournament committee. I emailed a gentleman from the PGA of America about his input on the volunteer handbook. He is the gentleman in charge of volunteers for the tournament. I also spoke with a man from Microw Graphics incorporated so as to arrange ordering the signature scrolls to go inside the picture frames for our sponsor gifts. I also arranged for the company to send us a catalog of the items they carry so as to make some decisions about the type of gifts we will order for the tournament committee. When I talked to Microw Graphics, they told me that they would not be able to help us out as far as engraving gifts, so I spent a lot of the afternoon looking online at a website for a company that we have used before to find some gifts that are comparable in price to what we have done before.
Tuesday:
I worked with my supervisor on getting logos for sponsor pages. I also contacted a lot of the teams who sent in their registration info to clarify a lot of information if we had any questions. I finally got a response about where we might be able to find radios and began the process of setting up a conference call to discuss the volunteer handbook. I also began work on making a spreadsheet for the team registrations that should come in this week and next. I sent a fax to the PGA tour concerning a letter and an information page on the PGA to put into our event handbook and volunteer handbook. I contacted another gentleman about radios, because the first man told me to see if he could give us any more leads on companies we could get radios from.
Wednesday:
I began faxing a lot of information on Wednesday. I have started faxing athlete Bio pages to a lady involved with the tournament who will be putting them together for us. I also began to send housing rosters to the Housing company we are using for the tournament. I received the catalog from Microw Graphics today, and we began looking through it for gift ideas. I began working on a coaching and officials certification spreadsheet to keep track of how many certified coaches and officials there were in each state for each sport. This had nothing to do with NIT, but we were a little strapped for things for me to do. I input the information we received from the PGA in the form of a letter, and information pages and put it into the event handbook.
Friday:
I did a lot more faxing of athlete bio pages today. I also contacted the USGA about some information we would like to put into the event handbook. I also sent some confirmation emails to registered teams for the Tournament to let them know we had received their GMS information from the online registration and to confirm that it was all correct.
Most of my work this week either involved excel or working with equipment around the office such as the fax. I also was given the opportunity to work with the Games Management software that Special Olympics uses, and that helped me to understand a little more how the events are run.
As a whole, I had a lot more to do this week, and there was not nearly as much downtime during the day as there has been the past few weeks. It helped when I was having trouble finding something to do with my time, Craig found some other things that I could do, that even though they didn’t necessarily involve the NIT, they were still beneficial to see how the organization as a whole functions.
Next week all of the registration forms will be coming in at the beginning of the week, so my goal is to get all of that information put into the spreadsheets I have made as quickly as possible. Also, contacting all of the programs to confirm that our information correct is important too.
Internship: Wild Dunes Resort, Charleston, SC
Job Shadowing: Zach Stone, Resort Manager.
I did another job shadowing experience with Zach Stone, one of the "Resort Managers." His job is to respond if there are any problems on the resort. For example, some one says they have found something missing in their room, such as a pair of earrings. His job is to make a record of it, and check with housekeeping to see if there was possible anyone with sticky fingers in housekeeping who cleaned their house. He is also responsible for calling the guest to see exactly what they say has happened. More often than not, they have misplaced them, they dropped them and they were vacumed up, or they will find them when they are leaving. Either way, he has to file a report, and see if there is anything he can do to alleviate the problem.
He is also responsible in case there is some sort of emergency on the grounds. For example, we had a little girl get stung by a sting ray, a guy walk into sign and break his nose, etc. He is responsible for determining whether or not the resort is liable for any of these things. For example, was the resort quick enough in responding when they little girl was stung, could anything have been done to prevent people walking into the signs (like moving them higher). He also has to decide if the guest is truly at fault. We had a gentleman injure his foot on a sliding door at his vacation home, and he was trying to say there was something wrong with the door that caused him to cut his foot, when in reality, he wasn't paying attention, and he tripped over the door.
Also, he has to deal with guests who might have an issue with their room or condo. For example, their air conditioner doesn't work, or they had to be moved unexpectedly, or they didn't get put into the room they were originally told. Unfortunately, this also means that we may have to put up with guests who just want to complain about everything. This can usually be resolved by something like a complimentary bottle of wine, or giving them a slight discount on their room for the evening.
While shadowing, we basically made the rounds around the resort. Zach likes to begin by ensuring that everyone has everything they need. So we would make rounds to the restaurants, and the grand pavilion, just to make sure everyone had what they needed for the evening. Also, if people need things such as different types of alcohol or other things throughout the evening, Zach will usually go get them for them and take it to them whereever they need to go.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Week of 7/16-7/20
Monday: 10-4
Tuesday: 10-4
Wednesday: 10-4
Thursday: 10-4
Friday: 10-4
Total: 30 hours
Monday
I spent much of my day contacting people in various ways about information for the tournament. I started to receive information about who should be invited to the honored guests ceremony at the tournament. I began to compile a list of these individuals and the addresses where they could be reached. I also made phone calls to different ice companies to find out the price of ice for the tournament. I worked on the event handbook as much as I could with the information I had. I also contactd an individual from the PGA tour about an opportunity to gain publicity for the tournament at the PGA tournament.
Tuesday:
My supervisor emailed me a list of people to find to invite to the Honored guest ceremony. This list included the Mayors of the City of St. Lucie, St. Lucie County, Fort Pierce, Stuart, and Palm City; the commissioners of both St. Lucie County and Martin County, and the State senators from the area. I spent most of the day finding the names of these individuals and the addresses where the invitations they can be sent. I also spoke with one of the athletes about her flight plans. I spoke with an individual from the USGA about objects they will be donating to the tournament. In addition, I began to draft a letter as an invitation to the individuals to be invited to the honored guests ceremony and sent it to my supervisor to look over.
Wednesday:
My supervisor sent me the letter for the invitations with his suggestions on how to make it better. I also began to make calls about gifts to different companies in the Port. St. Lucie Area. I was not very successful in the endeavor, one of the companies we have used in the past proved very difficult to find. I spoke with an individual from another company which we have used before, and they were supposed to get back to me with some information, but did not, so I will have to try again next week. We need to order placques and special order Frames for gifts to Our sponsors. When I had difficulty contacting the frame store, I searched for a website or an email, and was successful. There was no website for me to visit, however there was an email. I emailed the individual from the store, and have not yet heard back, so I began searching for other companies to order from.
Thursday:
I did some more work on the event handbook, and did more research looking for companies in the St. Lucie Area for Picture Frames and Plaques as gifts to the tournament sponsors and committee members.
Friday:
I went to the storage facility to retrieve all of the caddie bibs, hats, and pin flags. I did an inventory on all of those items to find out how many we will need to order for the tournament. I also began to research gifts for the tournament committee. I was using the invoices from years past to find out what kind of presents we ordered then, and searched for presents in the same price range.
I had more to do this week, however, there were times that there did not seem to be enough to do to fill an entire workday. The problem is that a lot of my work depends on whether or not other people send in what they are supposed to send in, and if they don't, I might not have much to do, and as with many organizations, most people wait until the last minute to send things in. As we get closer to next week, we should become ever so much busier, as the deadline for turning in registration packets is July 30th.
I did meet my goals for last week in that I did get to make some phone calls and do some pricing for items for the tournament. I also got to do some work on the event handbook, putting letters from different organizations into the book.
My goals for this week is to start preparing for registration and following up on event logistics, including volunteers and equipment.
Internship: Wild Dunes, Charleston, SC
Shadowing experience: Property Management.
My second shadowing experience was with Property Managment at the resort. Property management is responsible for maintaining all of the Homes on the property that are used as room inventory at the resort. The way this works is that homeowners within Wild Dunes allow the resort to use their vacation home as part of the room inventory at the resort while they are not staying in the house. As a result, Wild Dunes maintains all of these homes and makes basic repairs as needed. The homeowner makes a profit from this arrangment at the end of the year.
Homes are given certain ratings depending on their interior and how well the owners have maintained and updated appliances as the years have gone by. All of this determines the price that is charged for renting the home/condo per week/day.
I was given the opportunity to ride along with the head of property management at the resort Sue Aldrich, and view some of the houses that are used by Wild Dunes property managment. I was also given the opportunity to help turn-down one of the houses. This included collecting dirty linens/towels, cleaning bathrooms and the kitchen, washing all dishes, mopping floors, making up beds, etc.
This was a beneficial experience for me, I got to see what goes into making these homes look the way they do, and how the resort rates homes to determine what will be charged for renting the home.
Tuesday: 10-4
Wednesday: 10-4
Thursday: 10-4
Friday: 10-4
Total: 30 hours
Monday
I spent much of my day contacting people in various ways about information for the tournament. I started to receive information about who should be invited to the honored guests ceremony at the tournament. I began to compile a list of these individuals and the addresses where they could be reached. I also made phone calls to different ice companies to find out the price of ice for the tournament. I worked on the event handbook as much as I could with the information I had. I also contactd an individual from the PGA tour about an opportunity to gain publicity for the tournament at the PGA tournament.
Tuesday:
My supervisor emailed me a list of people to find to invite to the Honored guest ceremony. This list included the Mayors of the City of St. Lucie, St. Lucie County, Fort Pierce, Stuart, and Palm City; the commissioners of both St. Lucie County and Martin County, and the State senators from the area. I spent most of the day finding the names of these individuals and the addresses where the invitations they can be sent. I also spoke with one of the athletes about her flight plans. I spoke with an individual from the USGA about objects they will be donating to the tournament. In addition, I began to draft a letter as an invitation to the individuals to be invited to the honored guests ceremony and sent it to my supervisor to look over.
Wednesday:
My supervisor sent me the letter for the invitations with his suggestions on how to make it better. I also began to make calls about gifts to different companies in the Port. St. Lucie Area. I was not very successful in the endeavor, one of the companies we have used in the past proved very difficult to find. I spoke with an individual from another company which we have used before, and they were supposed to get back to me with some information, but did not, so I will have to try again next week. We need to order placques and special order Frames for gifts to Our sponsors. When I had difficulty contacting the frame store, I searched for a website or an email, and was successful. There was no website for me to visit, however there was an email. I emailed the individual from the store, and have not yet heard back, so I began searching for other companies to order from.
Thursday:
I did some more work on the event handbook, and did more research looking for companies in the St. Lucie Area for Picture Frames and Plaques as gifts to the tournament sponsors and committee members.
Friday:
I went to the storage facility to retrieve all of the caddie bibs, hats, and pin flags. I did an inventory on all of those items to find out how many we will need to order for the tournament. I also began to research gifts for the tournament committee. I was using the invoices from years past to find out what kind of presents we ordered then, and searched for presents in the same price range.
I had more to do this week, however, there were times that there did not seem to be enough to do to fill an entire workday. The problem is that a lot of my work depends on whether or not other people send in what they are supposed to send in, and if they don't, I might not have much to do, and as with many organizations, most people wait until the last minute to send things in. As we get closer to next week, we should become ever so much busier, as the deadline for turning in registration packets is July 30th.
I did meet my goals for last week in that I did get to make some phone calls and do some pricing for items for the tournament. I also got to do some work on the event handbook, putting letters from different organizations into the book.
My goals for this week is to start preparing for registration and following up on event logistics, including volunteers and equipment.
Internship: Wild Dunes, Charleston, SC
Shadowing experience: Property Management.
My second shadowing experience was with Property Managment at the resort. Property management is responsible for maintaining all of the Homes on the property that are used as room inventory at the resort. The way this works is that homeowners within Wild Dunes allow the resort to use their vacation home as part of the room inventory at the resort while they are not staying in the house. As a result, Wild Dunes maintains all of these homes and makes basic repairs as needed. The homeowner makes a profit from this arrangment at the end of the year.
Homes are given certain ratings depending on their interior and how well the owners have maintained and updated appliances as the years have gone by. All of this determines the price that is charged for renting the home/condo per week/day.
I was given the opportunity to ride along with the head of property management at the resort Sue Aldrich, and view some of the houses that are used by Wild Dunes property managment. I was also given the opportunity to help turn-down one of the houses. This included collecting dirty linens/towels, cleaning bathrooms and the kitchen, washing all dishes, mopping floors, making up beds, etc.
This was a beneficial experience for me, I got to see what goes into making these homes look the way they do, and how the resort rates homes to determine what will be charged for renting the home.
Monday, July 16, 2007
week of 7/9-7/13
Monday: Supervisor was out of town visiting the sight of the tournament, told me not come into office, worked 1 1/2 hours from home.
Tuesday: 10:00- 1:00
Wednesday: Not in Office worked 1 1/2 hours from home
Thursday: Not in Office: 2 hours from home
Friday: Back in Office 10:00-4:00
Total 14 hours
Monday:
I communicated with my supervisor about one of the registration packets I recieved and who I should contact on the form. I emailed the individual who sent in the registration packet: an athlete from Washington, about some information we needed from her.
Tuesday:
I came into the office today. I called into a conference call today where we talked about various positions on the tournament committee that needed to be filled. I also contacted individuals from clipped wings, a group for retired US Flight attendants. They have always been very involved with volunteering for Special Olympics, and we have been contacting them to find out what kind of jobs they would like to do. I also contacted individuals from the USGA who will be working with us at the tournament about the registration packet. They made some suggestions, and I sent them forward to my supervisor.
Wednesday:
I communicated with my supervisor about information I got from clipped wings on their volunteers. I also contacted another individual from clipped wings who has ladies that are interested in volunteering. I contacted individuals from the USGA again about the products they will be donating to the tournament for the goodie bags. I also contacted my supervisor about the registration packet.
Thursday:
Contacted my supervisors about volunteers from clipped wings and the registration packet.
Friday:
Communicated with Dorothy Mastromonaco from the USGA about booklets she will be donating to the tournament for the goodie bags and when and where we would like them to be sent. I also communicated with an individual from Clipped wings about her volunteers. I spent much of my day making a footprint for the layout of the awards ceremony in powerpoint. I worked on the event handbook because I was sent some new information to add to it. I developed an excel workbook for all of the information on the registration packets.
Most of my work this week was done through the email. However, I did do some work in powerpoint, excel, and word.
I was a little frustrated this week. Often, I find it difficult to find enough to fill my time while I am at the office. I am sure this will change as I get closer to the tournament.
My objective this week is to make a few phone calls about ice and other products to find out what kind of prices we can get. Also, to make as much progress in the event handbook as possible. As registration packets come in, I will need to record all of that information in the workbook I created last week.
I still need to work on managing my time better while I am at the office, and finding things to do while I am there.
Internship Wild Dunes, Charleston, SC
Special Project: Kids Fest '07
My special project while working at Wild Dunes was to work with three of my fellow interns and develop a Kid's carnival. It was the first time this particular carnival had ever been done, so we were pretty much going from the ground up. This involved contacting distributors about prizes, tickets, armbands, and/or food for the carnival. We also had to contact individuals about waterslides, cotton candy, and sno-cone machines for the carnival. Also, we had to contact homeowners on the resort to ask to use their water and electricity for the carnival.
After we had contacted everyone we needed about products for the carnival, we had to plead for volunteers from individuals who worked at the resort. This was somewhat successful. However, we did not get as many volunteers as we would have liked. We also had to paint all of the signs and/or decorations for the carnival and set up the day of the carnival. On the day, the four of us working on the carnival showed up very early and started to set up.
Next, we had to assign jobs to all of the volunteers and give them jobs for cleanup after the carnival. We also had to contact people from the resort to provide food: hotdogs, hamburgers, etc.
After the carnival, we had to ensure that all of the homeowner's whose water and electricity we used were reimbursed for letting us use their homes. We also had to make sure everything we didn't use was stored in the proper location, and ensure that the lawn was left in the same condition we found it.
Tuesday: 10:00- 1:00
Wednesday: Not in Office worked 1 1/2 hours from home
Thursday: Not in Office: 2 hours from home
Friday: Back in Office 10:00-4:00
Total 14 hours
Monday:
I communicated with my supervisor about one of the registration packets I recieved and who I should contact on the form. I emailed the individual who sent in the registration packet: an athlete from Washington, about some information we needed from her.
Tuesday:
I came into the office today. I called into a conference call today where we talked about various positions on the tournament committee that needed to be filled. I also contacted individuals from clipped wings, a group for retired US Flight attendants. They have always been very involved with volunteering for Special Olympics, and we have been contacting them to find out what kind of jobs they would like to do. I also contacted individuals from the USGA who will be working with us at the tournament about the registration packet. They made some suggestions, and I sent them forward to my supervisor.
Wednesday:
I communicated with my supervisor about information I got from clipped wings on their volunteers. I also contacted another individual from clipped wings who has ladies that are interested in volunteering. I contacted individuals from the USGA again about the products they will be donating to the tournament for the goodie bags. I also contacted my supervisor about the registration packet.
Thursday:
Contacted my supervisors about volunteers from clipped wings and the registration packet.
Friday:
Communicated with Dorothy Mastromonaco from the USGA about booklets she will be donating to the tournament for the goodie bags and when and where we would like them to be sent. I also communicated with an individual from Clipped wings about her volunteers. I spent much of my day making a footprint for the layout of the awards ceremony in powerpoint. I worked on the event handbook because I was sent some new information to add to it. I developed an excel workbook for all of the information on the registration packets.
Most of my work this week was done through the email. However, I did do some work in powerpoint, excel, and word.
I was a little frustrated this week. Often, I find it difficult to find enough to fill my time while I am at the office. I am sure this will change as I get closer to the tournament.
My objective this week is to make a few phone calls about ice and other products to find out what kind of prices we can get. Also, to make as much progress in the event handbook as possible. As registration packets come in, I will need to record all of that information in the workbook I created last week.
I still need to work on managing my time better while I am at the office, and finding things to do while I am there.
Internship Wild Dunes, Charleston, SC
Special Project: Kids Fest '07
My special project while working at Wild Dunes was to work with three of my fellow interns and develop a Kid's carnival. It was the first time this particular carnival had ever been done, so we were pretty much going from the ground up. This involved contacting distributors about prizes, tickets, armbands, and/or food for the carnival. We also had to contact individuals about waterslides, cotton candy, and sno-cone machines for the carnival. Also, we had to contact homeowners on the resort to ask to use their water and electricity for the carnival.
After we had contacted everyone we needed about products for the carnival, we had to plead for volunteers from individuals who worked at the resort. This was somewhat successful. However, we did not get as many volunteers as we would have liked. We also had to paint all of the signs and/or decorations for the carnival and set up the day of the carnival. On the day, the four of us working on the carnival showed up very early and started to set up.
Next, we had to assign jobs to all of the volunteers and give them jobs for cleanup after the carnival. We also had to contact people from the resort to provide food: hotdogs, hamburgers, etc.
After the carnival, we had to ensure that all of the homeowner's whose water and electricity we used were reimbursed for letting us use their homes. We also had to make sure everything we didn't use was stored in the proper location, and ensure that the lawn was left in the same condition we found it.
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Monday 10-4 6 hours
Tuesday : 10:15-3:15 5 hours
Wednesday: Holiday
Thursday 10-4 6 hours
Friday: Supervisor told me not to come in because he was out of the office
17 hours
Monday: I got to work today and my supervisor did not have much work related to the NIT for me to do. After responding to a few emails about the tournament, Craig asked me to make an excel workbook containing information on various training programs within Special Olympics. I made records of when each of the coaches were trained, and when they taught training sessions. This information had been previously recorded, but in separate books, and my supervisor wanted the information to all be saved in the same place, so it was easier to find. I had a lot of information to go through, and I had to pair up information from the same training programs that were taught in different years, to track the differences over the years. I had to go through information from the past several years, and it took me pretty much all day.
Tuesday:
I finished up making the training information workbook today. I spent much of my afternoon finding information online about Ice suppliers close to the PGA Golf Club to come up with a list of companies to contact. We are looking for the company that will give us the best price. I also began looking around for shops to buy sponsor presents, or rather to get sponsor presents framed. My goal is to find the stores closest to the tournament that can give us the best price. I have some information on companies we have used in the past, and we are going to contact those companies in addition to a few others.
Wednesday:
Out of the office due to the holiday
Thursday:
I did a little more research looking for ice companies and framing companies in the St. Lucie area. We also got a little more information to add to the volunteer handbook. We received a leter from teh Golf Course Superintendent's association of America, which is helpful considering we needed it to put in both the volunteer handbook and the event handbook. I also got a little information to update the dining schedule and family registration sections of the event handbook. I began to update the travel information for individuals flying in to the tournament from the various airports around Port St. Lucie.
All of muy work this week either involved working with Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel. I made several workbooks involving the training sesisons, etc. I used Word a lot to work on the handbooks.
Friday:
I drove to the office only to get an email from my supervisor that he sent Friday morning telling me that he wasn't going to be there that day or all of the next week. He wants me to work on updating the handbooks even more, and make a few phone calls to the companies I researched.
This week I was a little frustrated. there didn't seem to be much for me to do involving the NIT, so I felt as though I spent a lot of time doing things that were a waste of time. It is a little difficult for me to do things like make phone calls because I don't have a phone, and I have to squeeze them in between his phone calls. I feel as though I often have to work around other people, and it is a little frustrating at times.
My supervisor has told me that next week I can work from home if I would like since he is not going to be in the office. He is going to send me emails throughout the week on things I need to keep up with, and some information I can update throughout the week. We have sent out registration packets and we should start receiving them shortly. I will go into the office this week in order to make some long-distance phone calls, but most of my work will be done from home.
One of my goals over the next few weeks is to find a better way to use my time over the next few weeks when there is not a lot for me to do.
Internship: Wild Dunes, Charleston, SC
Excursion Driver:
The job of the excursion driver is to drive all of the guests to and from the various excursions offered by the resort. For the most part we were responsible for driving to the Marina or the yacht harbor. If we had extra time, we would often be used as drivers around the resort for guests who needed a ride to their vacation home.
We often helped with kids camps by driving the kids to and from the pool at the resort, or to and from the Grand Pavilion.
We were also responsible for getting towels for the new swim center. We drove to the swim center and got the used towels and dropped them off in the laundry area, and picked up new, clean towels for the swim center.
At the end of the day, we helped out the person at the recreation desk with their job. We helped with running the receipts and turning them into the accounting department at the end of the evening.
In addition, we were often responsible for managing large groups of guests, often upwards of one hundred people. We had to arrange transportation for all of them by getting help from the resort drivers.
Tuesday : 10:15-3:15 5 hours
Wednesday: Holiday
Thursday 10-4 6 hours
Friday: Supervisor told me not to come in because he was out of the office
17 hours
Monday: I got to work today and my supervisor did not have much work related to the NIT for me to do. After responding to a few emails about the tournament, Craig asked me to make an excel workbook containing information on various training programs within Special Olympics. I made records of when each of the coaches were trained, and when they taught training sessions. This information had been previously recorded, but in separate books, and my supervisor wanted the information to all be saved in the same place, so it was easier to find. I had a lot of information to go through, and I had to pair up information from the same training programs that were taught in different years, to track the differences over the years. I had to go through information from the past several years, and it took me pretty much all day.
Tuesday:
I finished up making the training information workbook today. I spent much of my afternoon finding information online about Ice suppliers close to the PGA Golf Club to come up with a list of companies to contact. We are looking for the company that will give us the best price. I also began looking around for shops to buy sponsor presents, or rather to get sponsor presents framed. My goal is to find the stores closest to the tournament that can give us the best price. I have some information on companies we have used in the past, and we are going to contact those companies in addition to a few others.
Wednesday:
Out of the office due to the holiday
Thursday:
I did a little more research looking for ice companies and framing companies in the St. Lucie area. We also got a little more information to add to the volunteer handbook. We received a leter from teh Golf Course Superintendent's association of America, which is helpful considering we needed it to put in both the volunteer handbook and the event handbook. I also got a little information to update the dining schedule and family registration sections of the event handbook. I began to update the travel information for individuals flying in to the tournament from the various airports around Port St. Lucie.
All of muy work this week either involved working with Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel. I made several workbooks involving the training sesisons, etc. I used Word a lot to work on the handbooks.
Friday:
I drove to the office only to get an email from my supervisor that he sent Friday morning telling me that he wasn't going to be there that day or all of the next week. He wants me to work on updating the handbooks even more, and make a few phone calls to the companies I researched.
This week I was a little frustrated. there didn't seem to be much for me to do involving the NIT, so I felt as though I spent a lot of time doing things that were a waste of time. It is a little difficult for me to do things like make phone calls because I don't have a phone, and I have to squeeze them in between his phone calls. I feel as though I often have to work around other people, and it is a little frustrating at times.
My supervisor has told me that next week I can work from home if I would like since he is not going to be in the office. He is going to send me emails throughout the week on things I need to keep up with, and some information I can update throughout the week. We have sent out registration packets and we should start receiving them shortly. I will go into the office this week in order to make some long-distance phone calls, but most of my work will be done from home.
One of my goals over the next few weeks is to find a better way to use my time over the next few weeks when there is not a lot for me to do.
Internship: Wild Dunes, Charleston, SC
Excursion Driver:
The job of the excursion driver is to drive all of the guests to and from the various excursions offered by the resort. For the most part we were responsible for driving to the Marina or the yacht harbor. If we had extra time, we would often be used as drivers around the resort for guests who needed a ride to their vacation home.
We often helped with kids camps by driving the kids to and from the pool at the resort, or to and from the Grand Pavilion.
We were also responsible for getting towels for the new swim center. We drove to the swim center and got the used towels and dropped them off in the laundry area, and picked up new, clean towels for the swim center.
At the end of the day, we helped out the person at the recreation desk with their job. We helped with running the receipts and turning them into the accounting department at the end of the evening.
In addition, we were often responsible for managing large groups of guests, often upwards of one hundred people. We had to arrange transportation for all of them by getting help from the resort drivers.
Monday, July 2, 2007
week of 6/25-6/29
Blog: 6/25-6/29
New Schedule:
Monday 10-4
Tuesday 10-4
Wednesday 10-4
Thursday 10-4
Friday 10-4
Monday: 10:30 am-4 pm 5.5 hrs
Tuesday: 10:00 am-4 pm 6 hrs
Wednesday: Doctor’s appointment, didn’t come in. 3:00-4:00 pm (at home) 1 hr
Thursday: 10:00 am-4 pm 6 hrs
Friday: 10:15am- 4:25 pm 6 hrs, 10 minutes
Total: 24 hrs, 40 minutes
Monday
Today was my first day back from Mississippi. I spent my days creating another spreadsheet for the quota allotment summaries that are now being sent in. My job was to read through them all, and make a note if any of the states wanted to change the number of people they are bringing to the tournament. From this spreadsheet, we will be able to determine exactly how many athletes have been requested, and exactly how many we will have tee times for, basically; how many we are going to have to cut. We also got my Special Olympics email account up and running today. I also began work on a volunteer recruitment packet. We were sent drafts by a gentleman who works at the resort where the tournament is held, and my job was to look over them and see where they could be improved, and compare them to other years. Volunteers are a crucial part of the Special Olympics organization. There would scarcely be a Special Olympics Event if it were not for all the volunteers that give up their time to come to these events.
Tuesday
I continued work on the volunteer recruitment packet. I finished the Volunteer assignment descriptions, and have sent them to my supervisor to look over so we can decide what other changes need to be made. I am now working on the Volunteer Application. I also emailed individuals working with the Golf Course Superintendent’s association of America and the LPGA about getting welcome letters from them to put in the front of our handbooks. By the end of the day, my supervisor emailed back to me with his suggestions.
Wednesday
Due to a doctor’s appointment, I was out of the office today. I spent part of my afternoon working on the Volunteer application and making some corrections and suggestions as to how it could be improved. I later sent my suggestions to the gentleman in charge of volunteers in Florida.
Thursday
I received an email from the gentleman in charge of volunteers at the golf club today. He sent me his drafts of the documents, and told me which of my suggestions he used, and which he did not. He didn't use most of mine and my supervisor's suggestions, which is slightly aggravating. After making a few more suggestions and sending it back to him, we made a phone call to his office to ask him a few specific questions about the document, and then just talk a little bit about the tournament. He said he would look over the other suggestions we made, and send it back to us the next day. He also stated that he had a few suggestions about the volunteer handbook I sent him, and that we could talk about it at at later date.
Friday
We received an email back from the man in charge of volunteers with his final draft of the mailing to be sent out to potential volunteers: he basically ignored every suggestion we made, which is slightly frustrating. We called him again today, and talked a little more about the tournament and recruiting volunteers. I spent most of today working on developing a tentative order of medals and ribbons for the tournament. I had to base my order on orders and winners from previous years. The number of medals we order depends on how many divisions we have, and how many athletes are in each division. In order to come up with the numbers, I had to divide the athletes into tentative divisions, and base my order on those. After I had done this, I developed a spreadsheet with my numbers for each level, and the number of medals and ribbons I would need for each level. In addition, I created a document with all of my notes as to how I divided the divisions and came up with the numbers. I then sent this to Midwest trophy, the company we order from, and am still waiting for a response.
This week, I felt as though my time was a little wasted on some of the things I was doing. It was frustrating to put a lot of time and effort into making something better, for someone to just decided they weren't even going to consider our suggestions and do it his own way, regardless of whether or not our way was actually better.
I was not too far behind when I came back from Mississippi, Craig had started some things while I was away that I finished when I got here. For example, the spreadsheet for the quota allotment summary.
New experiences
I got to sit in on a conference call this week. It was the organization-wide conference call that happens every month. It was interesting to see how Special Olymics North America functions in relation to each of the individual state programs. I also was given the opportunity to talk with some of the people I will be working with when I am down in Florida when we called Mallory, the man in charge of volunteers at the PGA golf club. Also, figuring out the order for the medals and ribbons was a new experience. Learning how businesses and organizations figure out how many of a certain item to order was interesting.
This week I mostly worked with Microsoft Excel and Word. I made a lot of spreadsheets this week, and worked with a lot of Word Documents.
Areas for improvement
I need to work on finishing things a little more quickly, I tend to get caught up in making things perfect, and sometimes it takes me a while to finish things.
Objectives for next week.
Work on the Event handbook. Even though there is a lot I can't do with it right now, there are some things I can do to improve it such as working on the order of documents in the handbook. It is difficult for me to state exactly what I am going to do, because I often don't know what Craig will want me to do until I get there on Monday morning.
Strategies
make better use of my time, stop being such a perfectionist. Work on avoiding distractions in the workplace, and staying focused on the work at hand.
Internship: Wild Dunes Resort, Charleston, SC
Recreation Desk:
The vast majority of this particular job goes something like this: "Good morning/afternoon/evening, thank you for calling Island Adventures, this is Jessica, how can I help you? It often felt as though it should be more like "Good morning/afternoon/evening, thank you for calling Island adventures, this is Jessica, how can I attend to your every whim?, or fix a problem that you seem to think is my fault, even though it isn't, but you are calling to yell at me about anyway?
This job description was probably everyone's least favorite job of all the one's we had to do. If someone else messed up, but they weren't at the desk later in the day, or the next day, someone else inevitably got yelled at for it. The problem was, that we often didn't know how to fix a problem, because we didn't know where the problem started, or whose fault it actually was. Nonetheless, we all became pros at dealing with angry guests as the summer progressed.
That's not to say that everyone who called the desk was in a foul mood, most of them were quite the opposite. Our main job during the day at the recreation desk was to field calls and make reservations for excursions and kids camps. Also, we would ring up and run receipts for all of the people who came to the desk to pay before they were taken on their excursions. On certain days, usually towards the beginning of the week, the desk would be flooded because people were trying to plan their vacation for the next week or two. On other days, like Saturday or Sunday when most people were either checking in or checking out, the desk was typically not as busy.
At the end of the day, whoever happened to be working the desk would work together with the excursion driver to check all the receipts and turn in the day's receipts to the accounting department.
New Schedule:
Monday 10-4
Tuesday 10-4
Wednesday 10-4
Thursday 10-4
Friday 10-4
Monday: 10:30 am-4 pm 5.5 hrs
Tuesday: 10:00 am-4 pm 6 hrs
Wednesday: Doctor’s appointment, didn’t come in. 3:00-4:00 pm (at home) 1 hr
Thursday: 10:00 am-4 pm 6 hrs
Friday: 10:15am- 4:25 pm 6 hrs, 10 minutes
Total: 24 hrs, 40 minutes
Monday
Today was my first day back from Mississippi. I spent my days creating another spreadsheet for the quota allotment summaries that are now being sent in. My job was to read through them all, and make a note if any of the states wanted to change the number of people they are bringing to the tournament. From this spreadsheet, we will be able to determine exactly how many athletes have been requested, and exactly how many we will have tee times for, basically; how many we are going to have to cut. We also got my Special Olympics email account up and running today. I also began work on a volunteer recruitment packet. We were sent drafts by a gentleman who works at the resort where the tournament is held, and my job was to look over them and see where they could be improved, and compare them to other years. Volunteers are a crucial part of the Special Olympics organization. There would scarcely be a Special Olympics Event if it were not for all the volunteers that give up their time to come to these events.
Tuesday
I continued work on the volunteer recruitment packet. I finished the Volunteer assignment descriptions, and have sent them to my supervisor to look over so we can decide what other changes need to be made. I am now working on the Volunteer Application. I also emailed individuals working with the Golf Course Superintendent’s association of America and the LPGA about getting welcome letters from them to put in the front of our handbooks. By the end of the day, my supervisor emailed back to me with his suggestions.
Wednesday
Due to a doctor’s appointment, I was out of the office today. I spent part of my afternoon working on the Volunteer application and making some corrections and suggestions as to how it could be improved. I later sent my suggestions to the gentleman in charge of volunteers in Florida.
Thursday
I received an email from the gentleman in charge of volunteers at the golf club today. He sent me his drafts of the documents, and told me which of my suggestions he used, and which he did not. He didn't use most of mine and my supervisor's suggestions, which is slightly aggravating. After making a few more suggestions and sending it back to him, we made a phone call to his office to ask him a few specific questions about the document, and then just talk a little bit about the tournament. He said he would look over the other suggestions we made, and send it back to us the next day. He also stated that he had a few suggestions about the volunteer handbook I sent him, and that we could talk about it at at later date.
Friday
We received an email back from the man in charge of volunteers with his final draft of the mailing to be sent out to potential volunteers: he basically ignored every suggestion we made, which is slightly frustrating. We called him again today, and talked a little more about the tournament and recruiting volunteers. I spent most of today working on developing a tentative order of medals and ribbons for the tournament. I had to base my order on orders and winners from previous years. The number of medals we order depends on how many divisions we have, and how many athletes are in each division. In order to come up with the numbers, I had to divide the athletes into tentative divisions, and base my order on those. After I had done this, I developed a spreadsheet with my numbers for each level, and the number of medals and ribbons I would need for each level. In addition, I created a document with all of my notes as to how I divided the divisions and came up with the numbers. I then sent this to Midwest trophy, the company we order from, and am still waiting for a response.
This week, I felt as though my time was a little wasted on some of the things I was doing. It was frustrating to put a lot of time and effort into making something better, for someone to just decided they weren't even going to consider our suggestions and do it his own way, regardless of whether or not our way was actually better.
I was not too far behind when I came back from Mississippi, Craig had started some things while I was away that I finished when I got here. For example, the spreadsheet for the quota allotment summary.
New experiences
I got to sit in on a conference call this week. It was the organization-wide conference call that happens every month. It was interesting to see how Special Olymics North America functions in relation to each of the individual state programs. I also was given the opportunity to talk with some of the people I will be working with when I am down in Florida when we called Mallory, the man in charge of volunteers at the PGA golf club. Also, figuring out the order for the medals and ribbons was a new experience. Learning how businesses and organizations figure out how many of a certain item to order was interesting.
This week I mostly worked with Microsoft Excel and Word. I made a lot of spreadsheets this week, and worked with a lot of Word Documents.
Areas for improvement
I need to work on finishing things a little more quickly, I tend to get caught up in making things perfect, and sometimes it takes me a while to finish things.
Objectives for next week.
Work on the Event handbook. Even though there is a lot I can't do with it right now, there are some things I can do to improve it such as working on the order of documents in the handbook. It is difficult for me to state exactly what I am going to do, because I often don't know what Craig will want me to do until I get there on Monday morning.
Strategies
make better use of my time, stop being such a perfectionist. Work on avoiding distractions in the workplace, and staying focused on the work at hand.
Internship: Wild Dunes Resort, Charleston, SC
Recreation Desk:
The vast majority of this particular job goes something like this: "Good morning/afternoon/evening, thank you for calling Island Adventures, this is Jessica, how can I help you? It often felt as though it should be more like "Good morning/afternoon/evening, thank you for calling Island adventures, this is Jessica, how can I attend to your every whim?, or fix a problem that you seem to think is my fault, even though it isn't, but you are calling to yell at me about anyway?
This job description was probably everyone's least favorite job of all the one's we had to do. If someone else messed up, but they weren't at the desk later in the day, or the next day, someone else inevitably got yelled at for it. The problem was, that we often didn't know how to fix a problem, because we didn't know where the problem started, or whose fault it actually was. Nonetheless, we all became pros at dealing with angry guests as the summer progressed.
That's not to say that everyone who called the desk was in a foul mood, most of them were quite the opposite. Our main job during the day at the recreation desk was to field calls and make reservations for excursions and kids camps. Also, we would ring up and run receipts for all of the people who came to the desk to pay before they were taken on their excursions. On certain days, usually towards the beginning of the week, the desk would be flooded because people were trying to plan their vacation for the next week or two. On other days, like Saturday or Sunday when most people were either checking in or checking out, the desk was typically not as busy.
At the end of the day, whoever happened to be working the desk would work together with the excursion driver to check all the receipts and turn in the day's receipts to the accounting department.
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