Samantha Wells

Describe the steps you took to obtain your internship/research opportunity.

Before this internship, I worked as a research assistant at the Department of Economic Opportunity for the State of Florida. Although I enjoyed it, I wanted to gain experience in the Psychology area. After speaking to some friends, I learned about Nole Network and the FSU Intern program. Then I decided to try it, updated my resume, and wrote cover letters for the positions that interested me. After a long process, with a lot of peer reviews from friends, I applied for the position. I heard back in the following weeks, and before the interview process, I did "mock" interviews with my friends to help me prepare.

How far in advance did you prepare and begin applying for your experiential learning opportunity?

I started preparing over two weeks before for the experiential learning opportunity. However, I applied within a few days before applications were due.

Describe some of your responsibilities or duties during your experiential learning opportunity.

My experiential learning opportunity initially consisted of dyadic coding videos, meaning coding interactions in videos between teachers and children. After I was comfortable with that, I moved on to also transcribing those interactions between teachers and children.

What was a typical day like "on the job?"

A typical day at the job consisted of completing dyadic coding for multiple videos in a day. I was also part of some meetings to understand the deadlines and ensure that I met them.

What are some major takeaways from your experience? How will these help prepare you for the next step after graduation?

One of my biggest takeaways from this experience is to not be scared to seek more. What I mean by this is to not feel scared of asking questions, and want to do more in the job. I started as a dyadic coder for the internship, but after asking for and seeking more opportunities, I was able to learn to transcribe videos as well. I did not only learn a new skill but I also got offered a part-time position for the spring semester. In the future, I will keep in mind to never be scared of wanting to do more and pushing for more opportunities in the workplace.

Did this experience help clarify your career path? If yes, how so?

Being able to be a part of research for the Florida Center for Reading Research, clarified my career path. After this experience, I fell in love with being part of something so meaningful that it can have future benefits for children all around the United States. I was unsure if I wanted to focus on research in Psychology, but after working on the internship I realized that this is precisely what I want to do.