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For the academic year of 2006 though 2007, Lydia R. Dupre’
had the honor of interning with Life Lab Science Program as their
Garden Classroom Coordinator. Prior to the Chancellor Undergraduate
Internship Program, she had interned with Life Lab for two academic
quarters. The experience of working with Life Lab for a complete
year with more weekly hours was completely different than her prior
internship. Her stability within the CUIP internship gave her the
opportunity to work on a vast amount of projects and obtain many
new media, computer, teaching and gardening skills. Completing the
CUIP internship in her last year of undergraduate education had
a huge impact on her future life plans.
Qualities that made Lydia an excellent candidate for CUIP were that
she is a hard worker, responsible and organized. These qualities
are important because adding 15 hours of internship to a full academic
schedule and a part-time job can be disastrous if one is not prepared.
Life Lab was aware of her qualifications because she had previously
been an intern with them through the Environmental Studies Internship
Program. The two quarter prior internship with them gave her a head-start.
Lydia’s experience with children and teaching came from working
at a summer camp for the last four summers. With the combined experience
of Environmental Studies internship, summer camp teaching and being
a well organized individual she became a superb asset to the Life
Lab staff.
Lydia’s largest accomplishment was her ability to use time
management affectively. This skill was used in a variety of ways.
For example, fitting fifteen hours a week into an already busy schedule
and getting projects done and ready on a timeline. Another skill
Lydia finds extremely useful for her future was all the work she
did on new computer software. She used web-design software to edit
the California State Garden Network’s website, a photo-shop
program to design curriculum covers, updated the Life Lab database,
created a web-based slideshow of the garden classroom and many other
projects using computer software.
The CUIP course added positively to Lydia’s internship experience.
She found it interesting to meet with other students in the class
and hear about their own internships. Also, she found the diversity
of internships amazing, and how they are all interconnected within
the UCSC community. Hearing about successes and struggles from other
interns gave Lydia the time to relate with her peers. Lydia also
felt honored to hear the administration of UCSC speak throughout
the year. The classes gave her a chance to see the outlook of administration
on events occurring at UCSC.
With the combination of interning and the CUIP class, it made for
an incredible and memorable experience. Lydia is graduating with
a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies and is attending graduate
school in July 2007 at UCSC for a Masters in Education and Teaching
credential. Her experience with CUIP, internship with Life Lab and
recommendation from Life Lab peer supervisor played a role in making
this possible. Her future goals of pursuing a career in education
were finalized after her experiences interning with Life Lab. She
worked directly with teachers in workshops, field trips and garden
work days. Observing, teaching and visiting many schools in Santa
Cruz County influenced Lydia greatly.
Lydia feels honored to have had the experiences she did with Life
Lab and within the CUIP class. She is excited for what the future
holds for her, and she will take with her everything she has learned.
She has no doubt in her mind she will use the time management, computer,
teaching, leadership, presenting, gardening skills she learned in
CUIP.
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