The LAEP internship I am currently working on is under Professor Leticia Gallardo where I explore what it is like to research native California plants as well as hosting events. My focus is on helping with the creation of a habitat garden- an educational garden that will be constructed within West Valley College in hopes to educate people on the native plant species as well as how to garden. For the upcoming Wildflower show at West Valley College, I helped source plants, I will be creating posters, and creating a scavenger hunt. I am thrilled to be working for Leticia and learning about how to garden. I am grateful for being the given the opportunity within LAEP and I will be sure to use the skills learned from this internship to further my biology research.
My internship involves developing power point presentation about exploration spacecraft missions by NASA with their current and future status. I am hoping that this position will help me learn how I can become more creative with the digital platforms that are provided for me yet still maintain it professional for the public to see. Furthermore, I enjoy the fact that my job involves working with flexible and compassionate coworkers since it confirms that I’ll be able to rely on them when I face future problems. Additionally, this position will also allow me to grow and develop new skills.
My job for my LAEP Internship includes teaching elementary school kids how to use block codes to help design a game using a platform called make code arcade and doing online work to help structure/develop lesson plans for a company called Kodely. Through this job, I have learned how to structure a classroom lesson plan, manage large amounts of people, collect data from people, and exercise everyday leadership skills, while also practicing outreach methods. From these collective experiences, I have been able to strengthen my leadership and communication skills while also becoming a lot more confident in professional settings/interactions. I’ve had an amazing time working with the staff and faculty of West valley in helping me gain important internship experiences as well as gaining an amazing support group that are there to help me achieve my long-term goals. My personal intern supervisor has also been extremely supportive and helpful in making sure I am comfortable with my position and has been readily available to answer any questions or concerns I have regarding my tasks.
My name is Katie Vanegas. I'm currently a sophomore at West Valley. My position is data analyst which entails reporting census data of the school by using excel and sequel to sort the information. We hope we can use this data in order to improve the resources offered to minority communities at West Valley. I'm learning how to create pivot tables and how to code through sequel. I hope this position will lead to other jobs in the data science field as that is an area of interest of mines. I also hope it will allow me to make an impact at the school and bring forth positive change!
Not only that you will learn important work skills that will be beneficial for your future career, you'll also have the opportunity to connect with amazing faculty willing to share their experiences. You'll be paired with a supervisor/mentor to guide you with your work. In my internship experience, I was paired with professor Takyiu Liu. His management style is hands-off yet approachable. While he expects you to be capable of self-management, he's open to answer any of your questions. By the end of the project, my goal is to have created a website that I can include in my portfolio!
I have loved the LAEP internship so far. I am currently working on developing a robot to help physics students be able to find lab equipment. While it is not smooth sailing it is nothing I cannot overcome.
