Endersession 2018
For my senior year endersession I will be volunteering at the San Diego House Rabbit Society and starting the second week, I will be interning with Michael Hernandez, a criminal defense attorney, on Mondays and Tuesdays.
Week Five
On Monday, I went to the courthouse to serve a motion to continue for the lawyer Christian Ham. I had to go to the Hall of Justice and turn the legal papers into the District Attorney's office so they could keep a record of the papers. I then scanned the documents and faxed them back to Mr.Ham. The rest of that day consisted of writing more client letters. On Tuesday, I went to court with Michael because he had to discuss his current case with the prosecutor assigned to it. While there, we also listened in on some of the other discussions. When we were at his office I was filing some paperwork. For the last bit of the day we met with some potential clients to discuss their case. On Thursday, I did the normal routine of cleaning pens, but later that day I helped Megan microchip a couple of the rabbits since they were getting adopted. The process was relatively easy and all I had to do afterwards was input the data into the system to register the rabbit to that microchip ID. On Thursday and Friday I cleaned pens, cleaned litter boxes, and set up for bunny 101.
What have you learned over Endersession?
I think the most important thing I have learned is that you have to care about whatever you do. I'm doing two completely different internships, but at both of them I'm doing really important work. When I'm working with Michael, I am doing work that relates to what I want to do in the future and I so far love everything I have done there. When I'm working at the rabbit shelter I'm around animals that depend on me to do my job correctly and I really love taking care of them. If you're not interested in what you're doing then find something else. Life is too short to not like what it is you're doing. I'm going to court, reading about cases, and learning about what it takes to become a lawyer. I'm also learning how to run a shelter, how to communicate with people, and how to work as a team to make things go as smoothly as possible.
What have you done at HTH that you are most proud of?
I think the thing I am the most proud of is the behavior book I was apart of my junior year. I did a lot of research about the causes of paranoia and while it was really challenging I also learned a lot. I had to find the societal causes as well as the biological causes of that behavior and try to explain how that behavior was useful in the past and how it'll be perceived in the future. Another part of this project was to interview someone who had some sort of connection to our topic and for that I interviewed a psychologist. Without this project, I wouldn't have discovered my passion for psychology and I wouldn't have applied to colleges as a psychology major.
What have you learned over Endersession?
I think the most important thing I have learned is that you have to care about whatever you do. I'm doing two completely different internships, but at both of them I'm doing really important work. When I'm working with Michael, I am doing work that relates to what I want to do in the future and I so far love everything I have done there. When I'm working at the rabbit shelter I'm around animals that depend on me to do my job correctly and I really love taking care of them. If you're not interested in what you're doing then find something else. Life is too short to not like what it is you're doing. I'm going to court, reading about cases, and learning about what it takes to become a lawyer. I'm also learning how to run a shelter, how to communicate with people, and how to work as a team to make things go as smoothly as possible.
What have you done at HTH that you are most proud of?
I think the thing I am the most proud of is the behavior book I was apart of my junior year. I did a lot of research about the causes of paranoia and while it was really challenging I also learned a lot. I had to find the societal causes as well as the biological causes of that behavior and try to explain how that behavior was useful in the past and how it'll be perceived in the future. Another part of this project was to interview someone who had some sort of connection to our topic and for that I interviewed a psychologist. Without this project, I wouldn't have discovered my passion for psychology and I wouldn't have applied to colleges as a psychology major.
Week Four
This week was a pretty relaxed week. On Tuesday, I helped write some more letters to clients and I also filed some of the client information. On Wednesday, I helped update the pen cards that go on the cages so people could learn more about that specific bunny. It was mainly just looking over the pen card online to ensure all of the information was up to date. On Thursday, I restocked the store and I counted all of the Oxbow inventory we had in the stock room and in the store. I took Friday off because I got my braces off so I am working Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, I cleaned pens, took down the Bunny 101 set up, and did some laundry.
During my endersession I have met multiple people, but the two that have helped me the most are probably Megan and Erica. They're two of my many mentors at the rabbit shelter and they're the ones who show me the ropes. While I don't see Megan much now that I am only there three days a week, whenever I do see her she is always really kind and helpful. She deals with most of the logistics like pen cards, boarding documents, etc. She deals with customers a lot and she's shown me that great customer service could make or break the customer's experience. At times it could be frustrating, but she always keeps her cool and I know that by just watching her work I can learn so much more about how to make people's experience pleasant and how to keep a shelter running. Erica works both in the store and in the shelter. She'll talk to me about her day and the different rabbits, but most importantly she helps me understand why what we do is so important. These rabbits don't have a home other than us, they depend on us for basically everything and if we don't do our jobs right we could hurt them.
During my endersession I have met multiple people, but the two that have helped me the most are probably Megan and Erica. They're two of my many mentors at the rabbit shelter and they're the ones who show me the ropes. While I don't see Megan much now that I am only there three days a week, whenever I do see her she is always really kind and helpful. She deals with most of the logistics like pen cards, boarding documents, etc. She deals with customers a lot and she's shown me that great customer service could make or break the customer's experience. At times it could be frustrating, but she always keeps her cool and I know that by just watching her work I can learn so much more about how to make people's experience pleasant and how to keep a shelter running. Erica works both in the store and in the shelter. She'll talk to me about her day and the different rabbits, but most importantly she helps me understand why what we do is so important. These rabbits don't have a home other than us, they depend on us for basically everything and if we don't do our jobs right we could hurt them.
Week Three
This week was pretty similar to last week. On Monday, I wrote some more letters to clients letting them know the latest updates on their case. The only difference was in this letter I wrote I was updating the client on their sentence so they knew what the judge ordered them to do. At the rabbit shelter, I cleaned cages, changed the water bowls, and did some laundry. I also helped restock the bunny store as well as reorganize the stock room by creating a new system. We put chalk paper on the different boxes and labeled them with the name of the item along with how many were in there. We got a new baby bunny on Saturday named Sprinkle and whenever I got the chance I tried to hang out with her. I also hung out with Archie who is a boarder that has been there for a while, he loves attention and he's super cuddly.
So far I haven't come across any challenges, I enjoy what I'm doing at both places and I enjoy who I am working with. The only thing I would say is that at the rabbit shelter we normally finish the tasks within the first three hours so for the rest of the day it's kind of slow. It isn't necessarily a bad thing just occasionally we don't have anything to do so the volunteers and I just sit around for a bit, but we get to do bunny love when it gets to that point so it works out in the end.
So far I haven't come across any challenges, I enjoy what I'm doing at both places and I enjoy who I am working with. The only thing I would say is that at the rabbit shelter we normally finish the tasks within the first three hours so for the rest of the day it's kind of slow. It isn't necessarily a bad thing just occasionally we don't have anything to do so the volunteers and I just sit around for a bit, but we get to do bunny love when it gets to that point so it works out in the end.
Week Two
This week, I started my internship with Michael Hernandez, a criminal defense attorney here in San Diego. I had worked with him my sophomore year and so it was cool seeing him again two years later. While I was there I mainly scanned documents and wrote update letters to their clients. We also visited the courthouse so we could pick up the dockets from the hearings. At the rabbit society, I cleaned cages, fed the bunnies, changed litter boxes, and learned how to check the health of a rabbit. I also helped make bags with sweet potato crisps that people could buy if they wanted to give their rabbit treats. It was a little surprising to see that some of the bunnies were gone, but that's because they were adopted which is a good thing. Some of my favorites are still there and I love getting to play with them towards the end of my shift.
Week One
My first week of endersession went pretty well I think. My first day was spent learning how to do everything so I followed Megan and Erica around while they showed me how to take care of the bunnies. For the rest of the week, I changed litter boxes, cleaned some pens, fed them, swept the shelter, and I also was able to play with the bunnies for a bit. When I wasn't taking care of the bunnies, I was helping with different things around the store. I priced some bunny toys and I made bunny bags which consist of different toys and treats. Overall, it's a lot of hard work, but it is very rewarding. The bunnies are happy and it is always nice when you see the 'adoption hold' sign on their pen. I really enjoy volunteering at the San Diego House Rabbit Society and I hope to continue to do so after endersession ends. (Click on photo to see larger image)