Learning Objective Statement

Learning Objective Statement

I am interning at the Children’s Rights Council. CRC is a non-profit organization that serves the rights of children. CRC’s current mission is to ensure that all children have equal access to both parents. “The best parent is both parents,” is the mission statement of the organization. CRC advocates mostly for children who come from divorced, never married or separated families. They provide supervised visit sites and safe transfer sites for the non-custodial parent to be in a safe environment with the children and the other parent. These neutral meeting zones are called access centers. CRC operates about forty access centers nation wide and is striving to increase that number everyday with the help of community centers.

As a CRC intern, my responsibilities include pushing legislation through Congress for presumed or preferred joint parenting. Currently, H.Con.Res.-241 and S.Con.Res- 49 are the resolutions that have been introduced. I have been calling committee and subcommittee members setting up meetings with the staffer in charge of children and family issues and then our team meets with them and tries to persuade the staffer that their particular Congress member should co-sponsor the resolution.

CRC is also working on other projects at the moment. Such as, supporting a National Children’s Day because America is one of the only developed countries that does not have a day to honor children. CRC also focuses on testifying on behalf of current bills that it feels are necessary or opposing bills that would be detrimental to children. Another one of my roles as a CRC intern is gathering research in the field of forensic psychology’s newest issues, such as false accusations and coaching, shared parenting and child sexual abuse.

I enjoy interning at CRC. I feel like the work I am doing is part of the organizations mission. I feel that in the short amount of time that I have been there I have already made a difference and I can only imagine how much more I can do in the upcoming weeks. I am taking Intro to Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure with Professor Hardy. This is a brand new subject area for me, but one that I am passionate about and that will be very beneficial to my future career. Professor Hardy is making the topic fun, easy to learn and exciting. He seems to be very knowledgeable and knows how to convey the knowledge to others. I feel like this internship, The Washington Center and CRC are helping me grow as a person everyday and helping me reach goals in all aspects of life that will last a lifetime.

Academic Goals:

I) I am graduating and applying for graduate school after this semester. My goal is to learn as much about how the learning/teaching process differs in graduate school, from Professor Hardy who teaches Law school, so that I will be prepared when entering into my first year in graduate school.

· Method: When in class, I will ask a lot of questions and participate in the discussions.
· Method: I will observe Professor Hardy’s teaching style throughout the term and compare it to my previous undergraduate professors’.
· Method: I will ask Professor Hardy towards the end of class and towards the end of the semester if he has any advice that he can share, not only with me but with the entire class.

II) I want to get a Ph.D. in Psychology and specialize in forensics. My goal is to obtain knowledge through this class that will help me towards that career. I want to have a deep understanding of the material that will stay with me, not just learn what I need to for the moment.

· Method: I will read and re-read the assigned material. I will not speed read or read just to get through the text.
· Method: I will actively participate in the class discussions. Sometimes things can be viewed different ways and understanding that helps to understand the true meaning.
· Method: If I do not understand a concept that I have read, I will bring it up for discussion.

Professional Goals:

I) My goal is to meet other intern through The Washington Center that share my same commitment and dedication to children and are interested in the same type of career I am. Not necessarily forensic psychology but others who are interested in helping children. I think creating a network now of people who are passionate about the same things I am, will help build a strong network for my future career.

· I will attend as many TWC sponsored events held in Washington and through the RA’s held at the housing sites as possible.
· I will be sociable and try to meet new people by initiating conversations.
· I will try to meet people through my civic engagement projects as well. I will be working with children and I’m sure who ever is there volunteering to work with children is passionate about helping kids.

II) Once I am a forensic Psychologist, I will be interacting in court and with lawyers frequently. My education and knowledge base is in the field of Psychology. I am trying to learn through experience the particular field of law I will be working with. My goal is to learn the culture differences so that during these future interactions I can appease those I am meeting with.

· While on Capitol Hill, I will observe the speech, body language and articulation of those who work there, because 90% of them have some type of law degree or background.
· While in the office, I will focus on using more professional speech, even when conversing with other interns.
· When conducting my research, I will try to maintain as much of the law “lingo” as possible. Remembering the common acronyms and abbreviations that are used in the practice of the law is important if you are going to be around people who use them frequently.
Civic Goals:

I) There are so many opportunities in the D.C. area to volunteer. My goal is to explore a wide array of civic engagement projects so that I can find something that is easily accessible, fulfilling and that I would continue doing at home in my own community.

· I will explore TWC’s recommendations for civic engagement projects.
· I will search the internet for sites that I am interested in working with.
· I will discuss with my colleagues opportunities that they have come across.
· I will keep my mind open to new possibilities and new opportunities until I find something that I feel really suits my needs and interests as well as the community’s.

II) My goal is to learn more about how non-profit organizations function so I can better serve my community when I return home. If I better understand the funding process, I can help different local organizations receive the help they need.

· I will attend optional board meetings at my internship to understand the funding process and how to write grants.
· I will volunteer at other non-profits so that I can compare and contrast the different organizational functions.
· I will volunteer to lead projects at my internship that involve grant writing and funding opportunities for the organization.

Personal Goals:

I) I am a graduating senior and will be entering the workforce very shortly. Most people don’t think that your personal life influences your professional life but most of the time it does. Sacrifices have to be made and priorities need to be outlined. My goal is to be able to integrate my personal and professional lives so that I can be successful, free-spirited and fun-loving at the same time.

· I will keep in mind that no matter where I am or who I am with I need to present my self like my boss or colleagues might be there.
· I will not suppress my care-free spirit at work; I will integrate it into current projects.
· I will prioritize my projects and my personal plans accordingly so there is time for both and they all get done on time.

II) I don’t have a lot of female friends back home. My goal is to take this opportunity to create friendships that will hopefully last a lifetime and to learn from all these people I have the opportunity to meet. Everyone is from a different part of the country or even the world, integrating all the cultural differences and learning from new people will definitely help me in the future.

· I will be open to everyone’s ideas and listen to why they have that idea.
· I will make sure that others understand me when I am sharing an idea with them.
· I will try to teach someone something new everyday and I will also try to learn something new form someone everyday.

Weeks 2-3: February 18th, 2008

Last Monday, February 4th, the Criminal Justice program hosted John Miller of the FBI as our weekly guest speaker. I really thought he was a great, inspiring speaker. He talked about his career as a journalist and a television broadcaster. Miller spoke about following his instincts and not necessarily sticking to one path. He said it was important to have dreams and desires about what you want to do in life, but when opportunities arise you should take every one as it comes. What I got from his speech was that you may have a dream about what you want in life and when following a path towards that dream you discover another, maybe better path to follow. I really thought Miller’s speech was inspiring because I think I know what I want to do with my life, but then I am also afraid of what might happen if I don’t end up down that path. The “take home message” I got from Miller’s speech was that life is about the journey, not the destination.
Tuesday and Wednesday I was really sick. I went home early from work on Tuesday and had a fever of 102.4. I tried to get a hold of my doctor to see if they could send me some medicine but they wouldn’t. After sleeping for two days straight, I felt a little better and returned to work on Thursday.
Thursday at work our supervisor, Dave, took us grocery shopping because Friday we were having a reception at work for the Board of Directors. There were about twenty board members from across the country showed up for the annual meeting. Another intern, Jessica and I attended the meeting and helped take notes for the meeting minutes. During the meeting, they talked about financing, strategic planning, access center training and other various topics. It was very interesting to sit in on the meeting and hear the topics being discussed. After the meeting, we held a reception in the office where everyone enjoyed the food we had prepared on Thursday. Our supervisor was very impressed and appreciative of the job we did preparing for the meeting and the reception.
Over the weekend I really didn’t do much. I was still exhausted from being sick and I just stayed in my apartment and got some rest. The weather was not very good to go out in anyway.
This past Monday, February 11th, I went to the Darfur speaker. I thought it was very informative and the speaker was very passionate because he was an actual refugee from Darfur. I felt very compassionate for the cause and want to write my congress members about getting support for the resolving the conflict and the genocide in Darfur.
After the Darfur speaker I had class at the Hotel Rouge. Because the speakers are usually done around 4:30 on Mondays and we have class at 6, some of our class goes over to the Hotel to hang out and pass the time. The hotel was renovating the front lobby so we all hung out in the “dark” room in the back. It was really fun to be sociable with people from class and get to talk about other topics. Our class is mostly discussion so it helps to know the other people’s backgrounds and personalities. That way in class it is easier to understand when people have differing opinions.
Tuesday and Wednesday we were back to work at the office. We went to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to gain more support for the joint custody resolution. We even stopped into Barack Obama’s senate office, which was really cool. Our supervisor Dave knows someone in the office, so it wasn’t a meeting but a hi/by kind of stopping in.
Thursday was Valentine’s Day and I flew home. My flight was really early out of Dulles and the super shuttle picked me up at 4:30 a.m. I had a picnic on the beach when I got to Florida, it was so perfect. The weather was beautiful and I couldn’t have asked for more. Saturday was my grandfather’s 75th birthday and I had planned a surprise party for him. He didn’t know that I came in town for the weekend and he started crying when I walked in to the restaurant. It was really nice to go home for the weekend and see everyone. I got back last night, Sunday and the weather was good, but not 85 degrees like it was when I left Florida.

Week 1: February 4th, 2008

This was my first full work week at the Children’s Rights Council. David Levy, our site supervisor picked me and the 3 other interns that are working there up on Friday after orientation. He drove us up to Maryland and showed us the building so we would know how to get there. He seems like a very nice, dedicated person. We were then able to take the metro back, so we would know how to come to work on Monday. Out of the four interns, three of us live in Arlington at Courthouse and the fourth at Grovsner in Maryland. I am able to meet the other two interns that live in my building in the lobby and we all commute together.
Over the weekend I took time to unpack and settle in. I got to spend some time with my room mates to get to know them. We all went grocery shopping about four times and still didn’t get everything we need for the apartment. I went to school with an intern from last semester that moved up here and she also showed me around Georgetown this weekend.
Monday was a half day at work and was more of an introduction than anything. We don’t start until 9:30 and when everyone gets in the office around 10:00 we have a meeting to go over the projects. Dave gave us a list of projects that CRC is currently working on and we all got to choose which projects we would work on according to what we thought was interesting to us. I thought that was excellent, I was expecting to be given something tedious to do the first few weeks.
Monday night was also my first day of class. I am in the Intro to Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure class with Professor Hardy. He seemed to be a very bright, intellectual person, but also very understanding and down to earth. The class didn’t cover much because it was the first day and no one had books yet. Professor Hardy did give us a brief introduction to the three main reasons for Criminal Law; Reformation, Retribution and Restraint.
Throughout the week at CRC we all jumped right into the projects. I am interested in forensic psychology, especially working with children in the juvenile justice system. There were a few projects I thought would be very interesting and beneficial experiences for my career goals. The first project I started working on is trying to gain support and cosponsors from the House of Representatives for a Joint Custody Resolution (H.Con.Res-241). I looked up the website for the Reps and then had to call and find out what committee the Resolution had been assigned to, the Judiciary Committee. Then I had to call and find out what subcommittee it had been assigned to, the Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security subcommittee. After I found out what subcommittee it was referred to, we called the offices of the House members that were on that subcommittee, and asked what Legislative Assistant (LA) was in charge of that subcommittee, because you don’t deal directly with the House member. We set up three appointments for Friday and six for Monday. Friday was our first day lobbying on Capitol Hill and it was pouring rain outside. We parked about eight blocks away and were all soaked when we got there. Other than the wet start, the day went pretty well. Capitol Hill was a little more casual than I had imagined and the offices were not as large or frightening as I had imagined.