Shannon Collins                                                     October 27, 2009

School to Career Community Breakfast Speech

          Good morning everyone. Thanks for coming and showing your support. My name is Shannon Collins. I am a sophomore at Newmarket Junior/Senior High School. I have been working with Ms. Winterbottom since I was in the sixth grade. She has helped me set up several job shadows including one at Newmarket Elementary and has given me many career tips for the future.

         I always enjoy helping her with the Career Fair. Last year at the elementary school’s Career Fair, I helped by taking photos of all the presenters. I was able to capture a lot of great moments. And I could tell the kids were really interested in what they were learning.

        This past summer I was very busy. With Ms Winterbottom’s help I was able to do an 8 hour day job shadow of an office manager at PSI Distribution Center in Hooksett, NH, and a two week internship in a Culinary Arts kitchen at the Seacoast School of Technology.

       During my job shadow I learned that an office manager has a lot of responsibilities. You need to be able to manage people, have good organizational skills, be able to use a computer and a calculator, all while answering phones and questions from left to right. Basically you need to be really good at multi tasking.  I’d like to thank Penny Rizan for letting me job shadow her; I really learned a lot.

       My two week internship was very different than my job shadow. I wasn’t just observing everything; I was actually working hands on from 7 in the morning until about 1 in the afternoon.  And believe it or not even though it was summer, I actually looked forward to going there everyday.

      SST offered two, one week sessions of summer camp for middle school students in July. I had the honor of being able to work in the Culinary Arts department with Mr. James Collins, and one of his students, Hollie.  They taught me so much during those two weeks. I learned how to plan the daily schedule, plan the menu, follow a recipe, get the right measurements, set a proper table, the art of napkin folds, how to decorate a cake, garnish different foods, clean up the kitchen, do dishes, mop floors, be a leader and work as a team with others. Needless to say, I was very busy.

        Once I learned those skills I was able to use my leadership skills by teaching the kids how to make a sauce, crêpe’s, breads, cakes, desserts, platters, set a table, napkin folds etc. I also helped them with anything else that they needed as well. Throughout the week I went around and took pictures of the students as they were working. I made it into a slideshow that was presented at the special luncheon we had for their parents at the end of each week. All of the kids got a kick out of seeing their pictures on the slide show.

      My internship was a lot of fun and I was able to learn a lot. I learned what it was really like to teach younger kids, and how to properly cook and clean. This experience has inspired a friend and I to put on a special dinner for our parents once a month, using all the new skills I learned from my internship. I can’t wait to do it again next summer. Thank you.