My first summer job was at a beautiful little tea room in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. I wasn’t exactly sure what I had been hired to do, but I was fairly confident it would involve pouring tea and serving dainty sandwiches and pastries to tourists, all the while telling them about our charming little island.
Sadly this was not the case. I spent my summer in the basement of the tea room peeling potatoes for the potato salad they served with every meal. I never graduated to even making the potato salad. Needless to say I was a little disappointed and to this day I do not eat potato salad.
I was hoping when I spoke with Tyler McAlister about his job at North Grenville Community Church this past summer that his experience would be a much richer one than mine. I was not disappointed.
North Grenville Community Church, located in Kemptville, Ontario was looking for a Junior Education Consultant and advertised the position on the FMCiC’s website. Tyler’s Dad, Mr. Church Health Thursday as I like to call him, told him about the opportunity and he applied for the summer internship. A Skype interview happened, a job offer made and shortly after that Tyler was off to Kemptville for the summer.
I asked Tyler exactly what a Junior Education Consultant does, “I evaluated North Grenville’s current children’s program curriculum and then looked at other available curriculums. Then I presented everything to the teachers to get their feedback. I also worked on laying the groundwork for a youth group at North Grenville which involved coordinating and running some youth events throughout the summer.”
And based on Tyler’s research and teacher feedback, the folks at North Grenville decided to go with Bible App for Kids, a free online curriculum.
Tyler also organized a few movie nights, hang out times and study/lesson gatherings. He made some good connections with the youth and felt it was a positive experience, “It taught me that I can’t just go on the fly and try to guess how much time they need for a lesson. Things didn’t run how I imagined it would with me just letting things happen so I learned to really plan and organize lessons beforehand.”
Sounds like a cool way to spend your summer. I asked Tyler if he would be interested in this type of internship again, “I would definitely do it again. North Grenville is a very welcoming community. It was a really good experience, and I had a lot of fun doing it.”
Thinking this kind of opportunity might just be the thing for you? Then check out the FMCiC website for non-potato peeling employment opportunities.
