[sl/teen] GK Intern Program Round 2!
We have finally begun Round 2 of the GK Internship Program! After receiving applications and reviewing them, Rafi and I decided that all made wonderful candidates. So, we invited all 5 applicants to become GK Interns, and are pleased to announce that all accepted! Without further ado, the new interns are: Dion Zabelin, Mat Brocco, Nicholas Kit, Nafiza GKid, and Pdiddy Docherty.
Yesterday, we held our very first orientation meeting for the program, which went well over all. First, we began with a fun team building exercise called "Bomb & Shield." In this activity, everyone had to choose one person in the group to be their "bomb" and another to be their "shield." They were then asked to send Rafi an IM with their choices. Once everyone submitted the names of their bomb & shield to Rafi, participants were instructed to hide behind their shield so that they would not be exposed to their bomb. This required constant repositioning to keep themselves protected by the shield. After a few minutes, Rafi said FREEZE! Those who were not protected by their shield were out.
During the next portion of this activity, we repeated the activity, but subtracted the step of IMing Rafi with the choices of bomb & shield. After playing for a second time, the interns were asked what the difference was between the first and second rounds. Nafiza GKid's response was "we tell you versus we dont tell you", which lead to the discussion of trust and how Rafi & I will be trusting the interns as representatives of GK.
Next, we all gathered to sit in a circle of chairs and Rafi asked the group "What are ways that you think all GK interns should act?" We received some great responses from the interns - respectful, willing to learn, open-minded, etc. Rafi then went over the basic GK intern Guidelines, which are:
- Always act respectfully
- Be a model TSL resident
- Be humble!
- Be patient
- Act responsibly (eg - respond to email in a timely manner, keep to deadlines, etc.)
- Help other GK interns when they need help.
- Be sure to come to the monthly meeting and one of the GK Fireside workshops each month, and keep to your commitment of at least one project or event every other month.
After mentioning the last guideline about GK FireSide workshops, which Rafi and I will be holding each month, he went into further detail. Interns will be required to attend at least one of these workshops each month. Interns were also encouraged to help Rafi and I with our events in order to improve their event management skills.
The talk about the monthly Fireside events transitioned to the next portion of the meeting, in which I displayed 3 different slides from past intern events. The slides were little snippets of blog entries that interns from round 1 had posted. After going through them all, a couple interns who participated in Round 1 described their events to the group. If the interns have any ideas they want to discuss with us in terms of events, we let them know that we are available as a resource to them.
Following the slides from previous events, I went on to ask the group what the phrase "Global Issue" meant to them. We received some wonderful responses. Pdiddy Docherty responded "something that alot of people care about and want to discuss and debate about" and Lucky Figtree stated " An issue that effects the global population". I then went on to show a few examples of Global Issues in the category of Trade, Economy, and Related Issues. After they understood the basic concept of what a Global Issues is, I asked them to brainstorm Global Issues that fell into these different categories:
• Health Issues
• Human Rights Relates Issues
• Geopolitical Issues
• Environmental Issues
All of their responses to the brainstorming event were relevant and did fit into one of these categories. After they had shared a few, I put up slides for each of those categories with examples of specific issues - a lot of which they already shared during the brainstorm. So, they really hit the nail on the head and understood the concept of Global Issues. The purpose of this activity was to give them a better understanding on what a Global Issue is. It also proved to help spark ideas for event topics that they could hold in the future. I'm really glad everyone understood.
After my activity, Rafi described how events are handled. He mentioned that all event proposals by interns needed to be sent to him at least 2 weeks in advance for approval. The blogging process was also covered in great detail. Interns will have to blog about their event after hosting it - making sure to include details about the planning process, setup, coordination, turnout, and reflections. We also covered the topic of event promotion, which includes posting in the TSL forums, events page, and of course word of mouth. I also offered myself up as a resource for interns if they need any help with event promotion.
Finally, it was time for the interns to choose a date to hold their first event! We have set up a Google Calendar for the Interns, and each week was labeled Slot 1 through 8. Each intern was asked to choose one day within a slot to host their event. No more than 1 intern could choose a day in any given slot, so it was first come first serve. Worked really well actually. Everyone chose the slot they wanted and are committed to hosting their events. We are looking forward to seeing what they come up with!
