What is LINK?
LINK is a 3 week internship program that all Animas High School juniors are required to participate in. It teaches us the application process, the interview process, and the actual working experience. It is a very unique experience to Animas and it does a good job of what it aims to teach.
The place that I interned at was La Plata County Humane Society where they are committed to enhancing and protecting the lives of companion animals in the La Plata County region. They do this by providing food and other items such as formula and litter to the community as well as providing shelter and safety. They also educate people on the humane treatment of animals and inform about pet overpopulation which they also provide services for such as neutering and spaying.
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What was my LINK?
Through emails, paperwork, and discussion I developed a relationship with the La Plata County Humane Society. It started with me sending an email to multiple businesses that were open to the prospect of accepting volunteers and interns, this included Hermosa Coffee, the Turtle Lake restaurant, and LPCHS. It was a few weeks of waiting as well as non-stop reminders from Marie to get my internship secured before I heard back from anyone that I emailed. until I got an email from LPCHS which said that they would be happy to set up an interview with me to ask questions about the job. We scheduled a time and later proceeded with the interview. I asked some basic questions that made it seem that I was questioning the amount that I wanted to work the job and made me seem on the verge of decision but in reality I did legitimately want to work there. Afterwards, we had some back and forth conversations over email talking about tasks, projects, and general expectations and that is when I popped the question asking if I would be able to intern there and was quickly accepted. In the end I never heard back from some of the businesses that I emailed until very later on and this is something that I find important and that is not expecting the fastest responses or even any responses.
My previous experience at jobs that involve animals made me want to work at an animal shelter. Since I was a kid I have always worked with animals. My family loves to take in dogs, especially the boxer breed. This allowed me to have comfort around larger dogs from a young age. In my teenage years I worked at an animal rescue called Pasado's Animal Sanctuary. ThereI worked with animals of all shapes and sizes; the little goats were my favorite. At Pasado’s I learned a good amount about manual labor jobs, things like having to get used to being dirty, cleaning up animal feces, preparing food in certain quantities, and like previously mentioned working with and being respectful to the animals. Treating animals with respectis a very major thing about working with animals for me. So, with this experience I thought it would be best to utilize my knowledge in this category and work at a place with animals. I also thought it would be a good mix between manual labor and office environment type stuff which is what I was looking for because I did not want to be constantly using my hands and working hard but I also did not want to be sitting down all day. I always believed that a balance is a good and reliable thing to fall back on, you don’t want to put all your eggs in one basket like they say.
The first day, I was shown around the facility and ran through the basic protocols that I would quickly have to get used to to be able to work productively. I was also shown various areas like the cat section and dog kennel as well as the veterinary areas complete with the location of the various items that could be utilized later on. After that it was just getting used to the new space and completing some easier tasks. Early on though I knew that I would have to establish a routine to keep me on track as I worked through the weeks. It looked something like: Starting time 9:50, check on cats and see if there was anything that needed to be done such as cleaning kennels, exchanging new name cards for old ones, giving water/food, and entertaining them which isn’t hard given that they are cats. Then comes 12:15 and that is when I would take lunch and would go to one of the three places around me. Personally I think eating alone at a restaurant is an extremely important thing to become confident in because it can feel weird during the first few times. The afternoon consisted of me helping around with anyone who needed anything. Finally quitting time at 5:00 there is not much to say about that.
Keeping a fairly routine but broad schedule is in my opinion a good thing to do immediately upon starting something new because it begins to create a sense of familiarity with the job or activity. I also began to try to designate myself tasks to do so it could feel like I was pulling my weight around there and actually doing something instead of just playing with the animals which is something that I will touch on later. So, I would pick tasks that other people did not really want to do such as cleaning an entire wall of kennels which is a multi-step process that involves using Nova, then wiping that, bleaching it once waiting then bleaching it again, then spraying down the kennel with water. This was repeated about 10 times once for each kennel. I also would help with anything anyone asked me to do, mentor or not unless I was currently in the process of doing something time sensitive. I also developed a system to keep things from piling up which was me just doing it as soon as I got it, like immediately cleaning dishes instead of placing it to the side.
One of the biggest things is just not getting connected to the animals that you are working with because they are fun and they are cute but you do not want to take them home and add to the work that you have outside of school. To keep me from falling in love with the animals there I just treated them like regular people and talked to them in that manner like giving a normal voice “hey, how's it going” instead of talking in that cutesy voice. I also would pray that the animals in there would get adopted by someone because they are nice and deserve to go home. It’s selfish to not want them to get adopted and stay just so you can keep petting them, leading the animal on over time and making them think that you are going to adopt them. Not getting connected though is a thing that you can take and run with in life because of all the opportunities to get attached to things, it’s good to be able to move, leave, keep a nomadic lifestyle. This keeps you from getting bogged down and stuck in a place where you don’t really want to be, death severes that attachment and hatred does the same but both are quite negative and in a modern age inappropriate. This delimmia can only be solved through the entry steps such as not becoming attached to an object or person, this saves time and burnt bridges. An example of attachment is that of the heroin addict and their attachment to their drug (though this is much more chemical than a love of animals), it can end in death (overdose) or hatred and will to change their situation all of which is an easy avoidance if there was never an entry.
Throughout my time at LPCHS I was thanked and at the end sent an appreciation message thanking me for my ability to do what was asked of me. An example of that is when I was asked to get an order together I immediately went to help with that. I also impressed my mentor with my ability to advocate for myself and what I wanted to get done this included asking for help, asking for tasks to do, and talking and negotiating tasks that I wanted to get done. They were also happy with my ability to find stuff that needed to get done. I think all of this demonstrates how I was able to do my job adequately and without any conflict and I like to imagine if I went back I could be able to apply successfully to a position. In the end though I have figured out that I am not that interested in working with animals, of course this is not due to the animals itself it’s just that something about the job felt restricting. I found that what I really need is something that would allow me to go to a lot of places in a day, be it walking around a city or hiking through the woods. I just would like to do something where I can walk. It was also a much more stressful environment than I imagined it would be because you have to deal with medical protocol and abuse cases.
Through emails, paperwork, and discussion I developed a relationship with the La Plata County Humane Society. It started with me sending an email to multiple businesses that were open to the prospect of accepting volunteers and interns, this included Hermosa Coffee, the Turtle Lake restaurant, and LPCHS. It was a few weeks of waiting as well as non-stop reminders from Marie to get my internship secured before I heard back from anyone that I emailed. until I got an email from LPCHS which said that they would be happy to set up an interview with me to ask questions about the job. We scheduled a time and later proceeded with the interview. I asked some basic questions that made it seem that I was questioning the amount that I wanted to work the job and made me seem on the verge of decision but in reality I did legitimately want to work there. Afterwards, we had some back and forth conversations over email talking about tasks, projects, and general expectations and that is when I popped the question asking if I would be able to intern there and was quickly accepted. In the end I never heard back from some of the businesses that I emailed until very later on and this is something that I find important and that is not expecting the fastest responses or even any responses.
My previous experience at jobs that involve animals made me want to work at an animal shelter. Since I was a kid I have always worked with animals. My family loves to take in dogs, especially the boxer breed. This allowed me to have comfort around larger dogs from a young age. In my teenage years I worked at an animal rescue called Pasado's Animal Sanctuary. ThereI worked with animals of all shapes and sizes; the little goats were my favorite. At Pasado’s I learned a good amount about manual labor jobs, things like having to get used to being dirty, cleaning up animal feces, preparing food in certain quantities, and like previously mentioned working with and being respectful to the animals. Treating animals with respectis a very major thing about working with animals for me. So, with this experience I thought it would be best to utilize my knowledge in this category and work at a place with animals. I also thought it would be a good mix between manual labor and office environment type stuff which is what I was looking for because I did not want to be constantly using my hands and working hard but I also did not want to be sitting down all day. I always believed that a balance is a good and reliable thing to fall back on, you don’t want to put all your eggs in one basket like they say.
The first day, I was shown around the facility and ran through the basic protocols that I would quickly have to get used to to be able to work productively. I was also shown various areas like the cat section and dog kennel as well as the veterinary areas complete with the location of the various items that could be utilized later on. After that it was just getting used to the new space and completing some easier tasks. Early on though I knew that I would have to establish a routine to keep me on track as I worked through the weeks. It looked something like: Starting time 9:50, check on cats and see if there was anything that needed to be done such as cleaning kennels, exchanging new name cards for old ones, giving water/food, and entertaining them which isn’t hard given that they are cats. Then comes 12:15 and that is when I would take lunch and would go to one of the three places around me. Personally I think eating alone at a restaurant is an extremely important thing to become confident in because it can feel weird during the first few times. The afternoon consisted of me helping around with anyone who needed anything. Finally quitting time at 5:00 there is not much to say about that.
Keeping a fairly routine but broad schedule is in my opinion a good thing to do immediately upon starting something new because it begins to create a sense of familiarity with the job or activity. I also began to try to designate myself tasks to do so it could feel like I was pulling my weight around there and actually doing something instead of just playing with the animals which is something that I will touch on later. So, I would pick tasks that other people did not really want to do such as cleaning an entire wall of kennels which is a multi-step process that involves using Nova, then wiping that, bleaching it once waiting then bleaching it again, then spraying down the kennel with water. This was repeated about 10 times once for each kennel. I also would help with anything anyone asked me to do, mentor or not unless I was currently in the process of doing something time sensitive. I also developed a system to keep things from piling up which was me just doing it as soon as I got it, like immediately cleaning dishes instead of placing it to the side.
One of the biggest things is just not getting connected to the animals that you are working with because they are fun and they are cute but you do not want to take them home and add to the work that you have outside of school. To keep me from falling in love with the animals there I just treated them like regular people and talked to them in that manner like giving a normal voice “hey, how's it going” instead of talking in that cutesy voice. I also would pray that the animals in there would get adopted by someone because they are nice and deserve to go home. It’s selfish to not want them to get adopted and stay just so you can keep petting them, leading the animal on over time and making them think that you are going to adopt them. Not getting connected though is a thing that you can take and run with in life because of all the opportunities to get attached to things, it’s good to be able to move, leave, keep a nomadic lifestyle. This keeps you from getting bogged down and stuck in a place where you don’t really want to be, death severes that attachment and hatred does the same but both are quite negative and in a modern age inappropriate. This delimmia can only be solved through the entry steps such as not becoming attached to an object or person, this saves time and burnt bridges. An example of attachment is that of the heroin addict and their attachment to their drug (though this is much more chemical than a love of animals), it can end in death (overdose) or hatred and will to change their situation all of which is an easy avoidance if there was never an entry.
Throughout my time at LPCHS I was thanked and at the end sent an appreciation message thanking me for my ability to do what was asked of me. An example of that is when I was asked to get an order together I immediately went to help with that. I also impressed my mentor with my ability to advocate for myself and what I wanted to get done this included asking for help, asking for tasks to do, and talking and negotiating tasks that I wanted to get done. They were also happy with my ability to find stuff that needed to get done. I think all of this demonstrates how I was able to do my job adequately and without any conflict and I like to imagine if I went back I could be able to apply successfully to a position. In the end though I have figured out that I am not that interested in working with animals, of course this is not due to the animals itself it’s just that something about the job felt restricting. I found that what I really need is something that would allow me to go to a lot of places in a day, be it walking around a city or hiking through the woods. I just would like to do something where I can walk. It was also a much more stressful environment than I imagined it would be because you have to deal with medical protocol and abuse cases.
Project
Ewan Sutherland
Durango, Colorado
206-513-9215
Through my time in school I have had a variety of experiences and different focuses that I believe makes me stand out as someone who can work well with all types of people and be able to be a reliable asset by myself. I have taken difficult courses as well as courses with an emphasis on job preparation like automotive mechanics. My skills in the humanities department also are quite fleshed out, having a good understanding of various different parts of philosophy and literature.
Education
Animas High School, Durango, CO
Expected graduation: May 2023
Notable classes: Digital Art Foundations, Modern World Literature
Outdoor Education and Leadership.
West Seattle High School, Seattle, WA
2019-2021
Notable classes: AP World History, Automotive Engineering
Experience
General Maintenance, Trees by the Sea
2020 holiday season - 2021 holiday season
2020-2021
La Plata County Humane Society (internship)
2022-2022
Awards, Achievements, Hobbies, and Interests
Durango, Colorado
206-513-9215
Through my time in school I have had a variety of experiences and different focuses that I believe makes me stand out as someone who can work well with all types of people and be able to be a reliable asset by myself. I have taken difficult courses as well as courses with an emphasis on job preparation like automotive mechanics. My skills in the humanities department also are quite fleshed out, having a good understanding of various different parts of philosophy and literature.
Education
Animas High School, Durango, CO
Expected graduation: May 2023
Notable classes: Digital Art Foundations, Modern World Literature
Outdoor Education and Leadership.
- Module on Leave No Trace principles and presented it to a group of my peers
- Backcountry cooking module with a final presentation of our cooking to a panel of judges
- Presentation on fuel types
- Presentation on water purification types
- Module on how to work during an emergency situation ie; avalanche, medical emergencies, and harsh weather climates. This module also had an emphasis on communication
West Seattle High School, Seattle, WA
2019-2021
Notable classes: AP World History, Automotive Engineering
Experience
General Maintenance, Trees by the Sea
2020 holiday season - 2021 holiday season
- Preformed cleaning task so the buyer had a clean space to walk
- Prepped and readied the merchandise for consumers
- Classified the merchandise into categories
- Assisted the owner in miscellaneous tasks
2020-2021
- Preformed cleaning tasks utilizing the given tools
- Worked with animals on a regular basis
- Restocked certain pens and buckets
La Plata County Humane Society (internship)
2022-2022
- Helped with checking in animals and providing them with vaccinations and kennels
- Cleaned the animals environment including kennels and rooms that the kennels were housed in
- I moved animals from place to place using a lead or a leash.
Awards, Achievements, Hobbies, and Interests
- Skiing at the advance level
- Avid hiker
- Interested in geopolitics
- I know how to use photoshop and other adobe programs