Internship at Life Time Fitness

Date: 8/25 Activities: Last week Technical Info: Boss system on iPad Reflection: Working at Lifetime Fitness and being a part of such an amazing company has been such a great and beneficial experience in which will most likely continue next year. It helped all thawing the job last year by preparing me for the responsibility it'd take this summer. Luckily i was able to use that to my advantage and be a big help to the other counselors that needed assistance.  There was definitely a number handful of difficulty days where all I wanted to do was go home but it was the super fun days and seeing all these people I've became so close with make it worthwhile.  Some of these kids are at camp everyday of the summer and I've really grown bonds with them and the other counselors.  But more than anything this internship has taught me more about responsibility, patience, flexibility, commitment, and communication skills than anything else I've experienced and I can't wait...

Date: 7/3-7/7 Activities: Water Inflatables Technical Info: Boss system on iPad Reflection: Being a part of AOIT and having the mock interview and the field trip to NC State helped prepare me in getting the internship.  It's difficult to relate the computer classes I've taken to my internship since it's not technology based but I've learned more about things such as responsibility, and communication.  Prior to this internship I wish I had learned more about reality in the work force.  This week was a lot of fun, our field trip was on-site and we had big water inflatables blown up in the back parking lot.  As the kids were going down the slip n slide and through the obstacle course doe of the other counselors were having a water ballon fight.  Another counselor and I thought it'd be funny to fill up the bin holding the balloons with water and sneak up on someone and dump it on them.  He got us back good when we had the actual water balloon fight....

Date: 7/10-7/14 Activities: Jellybeans Technical Info: Boss system on iPad Reflection: The internship is both meeting and not meeting my expectations.  I knew what to expect going into it since I had the job last year and things were basically the same although our original supervisor found a teaching job and a new supervisor came in.  It was stressful because I as a counselor know more about the camp than he does and he is supposed to be the one in charge but he's new to the job so I can't blame him.  I don't have any control over this obviously because he's one of the people in charge of me. It does meet my expectations though since I'm more experienced than the others and I'm given more responsibility which is good because I like to stay busy. Every afternoon when parent pickup is happening it becomes very hectic.  It is the end of the day, the kids are getting their last bits of energy out and the counselors are exhausted.  We usually have a counsel o...

Date: 7/17-7/21 Activities: NC Battleship Technical Info: Boss system on iPad Reflection:  I feel like my main contribution to this internship is helping the other counselors. We only had so many returners from last year so a majority of the new counselors need guidance and I've been more than happy to help with that. This has also been what's making me proud. So many people have been shocked to find out I'm only 17 because I am so responsible and so familiar with the rules and how camp goes. I've become one of the people that others come to for help and I've taken pride in that. My main boss Nick even complimented me on it and has thanked me for really stepping up this year. Every Friday morning after morning meet up 2 counselors are award counselors of the week and I was one of them today.  It felt good to be recognized for my hard work especially because I went into overtime this week. It's common for me to go into overtime but this week was significan...

Date: 7/24-7/28 Activities: Museum of Life and Science  Technical Info: Boss system on iPad Reflection: When I first started the internship I didn't have as much responsibility as I do now.   Since we have senior camp counselors that watch over everything no one else was really needed but now some are starting to leave to go to school, etc.  Now with half of them gone I'm required to partly fill in in those spots while still doing my duties as a counselor. Theres still some people who don't full understand the checking in and out process or even simple things throughout the day and I'm now one of this people other will go to help.  The museum of Life and Science field trip was definitely one of my favorites. I got some of my favorites campers in my group and it's both indoor and outdoor so you're not required to stay out in the heat the whole time.  Also the kids find almost everything entertaining there. Although I did have this one girl in my group she...

Date: 7/31-8/4 Activities: Cary vs. Raleigh Technical Info: Boss system on iPad Reflection: This experience has made me realize I want to pursue a career in which I'm working with other. I've always consider myself a people person and now communication with others of all ages just comes naturally. I've and to deal with issues between 4 year olds working here, to the parents of the 4 year olds and listening to any complaints or concerns they might have.  Although AOIT is a technology based program and I've enjoyed all I've done through it, this internship helped me realized the IT path just isn't for me. This week we had a huge field day, the Cary club vs. the Raleigh club.  We had a number of games set up where the kids completed against each other and at the end of the day tallied up the points to see which club won.  Cary did of course because it is the better of the two, and we had over double the amount of kids they had. 

Date: 8/7-8/11 Activities: Counselor dinner Technical Info: Boss system on iPad Reflection: I've learned so much more about myself during this internship than I would've doing anything else. When I first started the job in 2016 I knew nothing about kids and honestly didn't really like them.  Turns out I am great with kids and the reason I didn't like them was because I simply didn't know how to work with them.  I've now worked with every personality you can imagine and I've learned how to handle those difficult personalities.  Although I did learn I have very little patience but this job has helped me with that for you can't get impatient with the kids.  This internship helped me decide to sign up for PEPI.  It has also made me consider a career in education although I'm not 1005 on what id like to do.  This weekend we had our counselor dinner.  It's a way for us to kind of all come together doing something non work related and nick pays f...

Date: 8/21 Activities: Solar Eclipse Technical Info: Boss system on iPad Reflection: Work has causes a number of frustration in my have interning.  For example not every counselor understands or does what he/ she should be doing whenever one activity was gym games it would most times only be me and maybe one other person leading the games when there should be 4 people because there's over 30 kids or if a counselor isn't keeping up with their head counts it can get frustrating. Mainly during other peoples work because they don't has been the biggest issue.  the there also the conflicts between the children which can be difficult there always those kids that are always "hurt" or crying because of what someone else said or did.  In these cases I just have to separate the kids and talk about what they did and apologize.  Today was the solar eclipse and as cool as it was it was hectic. there were tons of parents concerned about us going outside since we still sa...

Date: 6/19-6/23 Activities: Durham Bulls game Technical Info: Boss system on iPad Reflection:The work atmosphere is very cooperative. As a whole, us counselors need to communicate and work together to figure out whats the best for the kids and what we can do to make it better. Summer camp has 2 main rules.  To have fun and be safe. But no matter what we listen to decisions made by our supervisor and the senior camp counselors who make sure every things going how it should be.  The dress code consists of black shorts,  a red camp counselor t-shirt and tennis shoes.  For swim time were required to wear a lifetime fitness one piece that is provided for us.  Being a camp counselor sounds like a fun and easy time and although it is fun its not easy. You're in charge of every kids safety there and it's your responsibility to get eh aged done while following the rules such as staying in our 1:10 ratio on state, head counts while transitioning and dealing with an...

Date: 6/12-6/16 Activities: First week of camp, field trip to JumpStreet Technical Info: Boss system on iPad Reflection: Lifetime Fitness is a large company, also known as the Healthy Way of Life Company, with clubs across the U.S. Their purpose is to provide an inviting and innovating experience that meets the health and fitness needs of the entire family. Lifetime offers programs for any age including a kids department, in which I'll be interning in. I will be working as a camp counselor for the summer camp held at the gym which I am familiar with as I was one last year.  Since I'll be working the opening shift I am in charge of setting up the gym each morning and checking in the campers on our iPads on a system called Boss.  With in the system we have a list of all the campers names, their health needs, who can pick them up and any other information  necessary. Theres almost 50 counselors working the summer but I won't be working with them as much as I am the kids. ...