Times I've been successful this year would be anytime I've submitted attendance on-time and without mistakes, conducted case-outreach for multiple programs, and overall communicated effectively and asked questions whenever I was confused. 

Around January 2024, during the internship, my day-to-day supervisor asked me to finish attendance for a program that recently concluded their session. I was given a week time frame to complete this task and I successfully recorded attendance, without any mistakes, within a couple days instead. 

My supervisor praised me on the speed of completing the work and the fact that is was accurate as well. I have exceeded the expectation in this occurence and this is a clear sign of growth and development especially comparing to the first time I've ever done attendance, around September 2023. This sort of data-entry is an important aspect for ECHO, my ECHO team uses attendance and may draw conclusions from this data alone. So, it is imperative that this piece of information is correct.  

Communication and following directions, in general, are important interpersonal skills to have. Some may argue that these are the most important. I pride myself on these specific skills because I would like the same respect as I am giving to others. In the workplace, this helps the flow of the company, and I would like to be labeled by my successors as a good-team player and then some. When I complete attendance, or any of my tasks independently, this shows my proficiency and growth as an intern.

The most challenging part of my experience has been personal difficulties. My concern or challenge is my confidence, anxiety, and shyness. As an ECHO team, we are encouraged to leave our cameras on during the Zoom session and engage with the speaker. I struggled with this expectation as an ECHO team member/ intern. 

About two months into the internship, I was tasked to start attending ECHO sessions. Though, I was having trouble following the one direction that may seem the easiest to some: Turn on your cameras during the session and engage. This resulted in bringing up this concern during a check-in meeting with the LHSI director and my supervisors. My supervisors gave me tips and advice on how to possibly curve some of this anxiety while following directions and engaging with the session altogether. 

As I progressed through the internship, I found myself voluntarily using my camera, at some points, and confidently engaging in conversation during and after the session with the other participants in ECHO.