Emily Duff
Mrs. Cressy
IDST Internship 400
July 20, 2015
Internship Final Paper
In the summer of my senior year, like all the years in college I really have
no idea on what I want to do after graduating from Holy Cross College. I threw
around the idea about going to graduate school around, but when I really
thought about it, I don’t think grad school is for me. Then I started to look
around of internship’s and thought about Sprig O’ Mint. As a Holy Cross
student in order to graduate it is mandatory to complete an Internship which
involves you to work for a company separate to the school. I decided to do mine
with Jerome Hull at Sprig O’ Mint Golf Club, I was kind of just hoping to get it
done with, but what I did not realize is that while interning at Sprig one of the
girls working there was also working elsewhere. Breann one of my fellow
employee’s working under me was also working with children ages 1-5. She
had been going over to their houses to help them because they had slower
developmental problems. Which I thought was interesting. But while interning
at Sprig O’ Mint I had a lot of fun while changeling myself on tasks.
I was given the opportunity to complete my Internship at Sprig O’ Mint
Golf Course in Bremen, IN. Sprig O’ Mint is a privately owned by four
gentlemen who’s grandfathers started the course back in 1954. My position at
the course was Pro Shop assistant manager and I aided under Head
Professional and Administrator of Golf Jerome Hull. Throughout my time there
I assisted customers, I worked on smaller tasks around the pro shop, helped
with preparation/scheduling, ordered inventory, entered inventory and also
was able to help with junior golf camp. One thing I thought was fun was the
last couple of days I got to help with replacing cart batteries. All of these tasks
that I was asked to complete aided me to grow my understanding of the golf
business, also while helping understand more about golf since I play it here at
Holy Cross. What I enjoyed most about this Internship understanding most
was the pragmatic learning that it required me to do. While interning here I got
to learn so much about the golf industry and how to keep Sprig O’ Mint a
successful course. The Internship experience absolutely provided me with
development in all five areas of the College Competencies that are addressed
here at Holy Cross College.
The Five College Competencies at Holy Cross College are creative and
critical thinking, oral and written communication, spiritual and human growth,
technology and information management, and quantitative reasoning.
Throughout my Internship at Sprig O’ Mint Golf Course I absolutely agree that
I hit all five of these competencies and I have faith that I made myself an
exceptionally better student. Getting to work at a golf course is much different
than a lot of other occupations because almost all of it is related to client
communication. I believe that I was able to progress my communication skills
as fine as my spiritual and human growth the most because of the great
volumes of communication that I was faced with each day. While interning at
Sprig I learned that I had to think on my feet a lot when the Pro was our,
because with customers they are the first priority when it comes to a
successful business. Despite the fact participating in my internship at Sprig, I
dealt with several diverse customers of different social class, different
background and different race, and I do thing that I was able to handle myself
in a very professional way.
The Internship was a good chance for me to get out of the classroom and
further my knowledge as a student. At Holy Cross we learn so much about
different problems and how to go about them in different ways. I instituted
countless times during my Internship that I was applying different ideas that I
had learned in class and essentially applying them in my internship. It was
overwhelming to be able to see all of the great things that I have learned here at
Holy Cross really pay off in my internship. Holy Cross College sufficiently
equipped me for the internship that I chose and also I feel very confident for
when I do go out into the work force one day. In my opinion I do agree that
everyone should do an internship before they ever think about graduating, Holy
Cross has really helped me in learning what I want to do with my career.
When I started working at Sprig O’ Mint I appreciated the fact that they
were not disorganized and also that they really made every effort to make sure
everything was running smoothly. I did start to learn that many days out of the
week, Sprig was very busy. Jerome was very nice and gave me a heads up that
there were going to be a lot of times that we will be busy and there won’t be
very many people on the clock. Why? Because Sprig O’ Mint had to do some
budget cuts. At first this kind of made me nervous but then it also helped me
become a harder worker. As far as the potentials that I had for this internship I
was going to be doing, they were surpassed really early into my Internship. I
first thought that I was going to be playing a small role in the Sprig O’ Mint’s
business aspect, but in the end I got to learn a lot about what it takes to run a
business. I started to realize my great responsibilities when I was asked to put
an outing together for Breast Cancer Awareness. When thinking about the
outing it made me a bit nervous and excited that I was given the responsibility.
The great thing was I was able to think back to some of my classes that I had
taken at Holy Cross to help me out. I thought that this was such a great
opportunity because it gave me a chance to show my supervisor that I am
capable to put an outing together and it also to be successful.
I certainly loved the period that I spent at Sprig O’ Mint Golf Course
because it was a great way to learn more about what I want to do here at Holy
Cross. My internship was such a great opportunity to learn more about the
sport that I am most passionate about, and also help me in learning that
maybe this is not what I want to do with my career. Every aspect of my
internship really helped improve myself as a person. While my time here at
Sprig O’ Mint I really had a great time, and when you find a career that you
actually enjoy that makes work so much more enjoyable to go to. My time
spent at Sprig O’ Mint Golf Course has really helped me learn more about
myself and what my true passions are about my golf game and also some of the
business aspects of the golf industry.
While interning I feel that everyone cannot do everything perfectly, there
were times in my internship where I really felt that I was struggling. While
working at Sprig I really had a hard time being able to line up the carts in the
perfect order, why did think this was so hard? Well I am not the best parker in
the world but when it came to the carts it was very difficult to be able to put
them in a line in front of the pro shop, I worked very hard this summer and
now I know for the future how to put them in the right spots. In my internship
I would often get help from my superintendent Jerome if I needed an assistance
of questions. One great thing was I learned very quickly from mistakes being
made by me or the other employees, but I do feel though I was a big help to the
course when I was there.
While my time here at Sprig O’ Mint went by fast I really feel that I
learned so much. I give huge thanks to Jerome Hull for letting me be able to
intern there for those 3 months or so and also for all of the employees who
accepted me there and helped me learn more about myself and also about what
I really want to do with my career. I honestly know that I wouldn’t be able to do
it without them. Also I would love to thank Mrs. Cressy for approving me to
even do this internship. Without this internship I would not have the
knowledge of what I am thinking about doing in my career.