Summer Internship

During the summer I accomplished my internship with the help of my mentor, Faye
Melcher. I worked with her one on one almost every day in June for 5 hours to complete my
internship to the full 60 required hours. Faye Melcher is a tax preparer that has owned her own
business for 40 years. I originally set out to learn the in’s and out’s of preparing taxes and what
goes into it.
Throughout my internship there were an abundance of activities and tasks to be
accomplished. Such activities and tasks accomplished were filing paperwork, organizing files,
copying documents, driving to the post office to mail returns, stapling notices, shredding old
documents and lastly putting returns together. These tasks were all crucial to my internship as
they taught me that sticking to a schedule is difficult and reminded me that deadlines sneak up on
you.
I met with my mentor almost daily, depending on my schedule with paddling. I would be
with my mentor for 5 hours, between the hours of 9am-2pm, and sometimes starting an hour later
or an hour later in the morning. Although, I always stuck with 5 hours to ensure I gained a full 60
hours in the end. We talked about a plan for the day, what was needed to be accomplished, and
gathered any supplies needed for the day. For example, highlighters, a stapler, the shredding
machine, and notices.
The number one takeaway from my internship I believe would be that communication is
a key factor to getting most jobs done; communication is a big part in life. I’ve known this for a
while now, but being reminded and seeing it more and more during this internship really brought
it to life, especially when it comes to becoming an adult. Communication between my mentor
and her clients is a major part in keeping her tax preparing business alive, which I saw and was
able to be a part of when it came to accomplishing all the tasks and activities.
The 21st century skills I believe best fits in with my internship process would be,
communication skills, interpersonal skills, and financial, economic, and business literacy skills.
These three skills all had a part in my internship. As I mentioned previously, communication is
crucial and a key factor into getting things done. In my internship, communicating with my
mentor about the certain activities and tasks that needed to be accomplished, and how to do some
of the tasks needed communication to be successfully completed. I did witness communication
between my mentor and her clients everyday that I was working with my mentor. She would be
on the phone explaining to clients exactly what they needed to send her and what she was going
to send back for example.
Interpersonal skills were demonstrated throughout my internship I believe as I listened to
exactly what my mentor needed from my tasks, along with asking for clarification if needed. I
was able to be flexible at times if needed, which my mentor was pleased with. In the case
scenario a day or certain time didn’t quite work out my mentor’s mind was eased in knowing I
was able to be flexible. I positively moved through my internship with no conflicts or problems,
which resulted in using my interpersonal skills.
The financial, economic, and business literacy skill relates to my internship as this
experience opened my eyes to understanding what is needed in a business, especially a business
that involves finances and handling finances. These 21st century skills were displayed
throughout my internship and were a very impactful part of it. I believe that I did accomplish my
goals throughout my internship. Some of which include learning about the tax program used in
the process of putting together returns. I also met my goals of completing the necessary tasks
such as shredding the old files, organizing many files, stapling notices, copying returns, and
mailing returns. These were the goals I outlined in my set-up form that I did meet and
accomplished as I hoped.
The most valuable aspects from this experience were learning throughout completing the
tasks about what goes into preparing taxes, which are later something that I will be having to do
as an adult each year. Gaining more knowledge about what the preparer of the taxes has to do
was an aspect I witnessed and found valuable throughout this process. Some of the greatest
challenges I experienced were figuring out the tax program. There were many options and
categories with numbers that didn’t make much sense to me at first, however, made more sense
as my mentor explained and showed me how the copies had to look. Navigating through the
program was difficult as well. The text, icons, and navigation tools were pretty small and
required a good search for them.
The experience I got from my internship helped to prepare me for life after high school as
I now know more than I started out with before the internship that will later help me. Gaining
knowledge and experience about taxes, and preparing taxes will definitely be useful as I will one
day need to file taxes of my own. My mentor owns this tax preparing business, which I admire
because one day I would like to own a business as well. This internship has given me a taste of
what a business owner needs to do day in and day out, especially when it comes to
communication and the skill set required to be successful. This internship has definitely left an
impression on me that I will carry with me and apply in my life after high school.