Brandeis University Class of 2023
Health, Science, Society and Policy (HSSP) & Biology Major
Real Kids Real Food Intern
Real Kids Real Food Counselor Ages 3-6 In the summer of 2020
I interned with Betsy as part of the Eat to Thrive/Real Kids Real Food virtual summer program. I worked with the 3-6 group, which can be a tricky group to work with; however, I learned that the key to success for online camps is to engage the children busy with different activities throughout the hour. The program also taught me how to make personal lifestyle choices to implement more healthy practices and how to effectively teach that to these young children.
Every week we would make lesson plans and this taught me how to organize my thoughts into one page summaries of what was going to happen in the class and it also helped to communicate our goals to the parents. My favorite part of the internship was teaching the children. The group we had was a lively bunch, and keeping them attentive for an hour was something that took time and patience. When working with young children, you have to be flexible and be able to adapt on the fly.
We taught the children a range of educational topics, such as about the life cycles of plants which they implemented by planting veggies, the water cycle, fruits and vegetables and much more. We had to make sure the lessons were understandable (age appropriate) and enjoyable for young children. My Co-Counselor and I worked hard on refining the lesson plan to make that happen. Overall, the children had an enjoyable time in the class and they would always tell about the fun they had and how they learned so much. There were five components to our lesson plan: the implementation of the healthy living objective, exercise, meditation, review of old material, and recipe demonstration. The children prepared the recipe alongside or after the video with their parents. This made them feel like a real chef and incorporated them and their parents more into the process of learning about healthy lifestyles.
Another skill I learned more about was marketing and promotion. I would help to create letters and newsletter through Constant Contact software. This allowed me to be creative and it also allowed me to see the promotional and marketing side of an organization. I also made a lot of phone calls to local daycares and preschools in order to enroll more children to join the class. In order to run a successful class, you have to be able to market yourself and the product successfully and Betsy Bragg helped to show us that and how to use the Constant Contact software to help make sure the promotional and marketing end was a success.
Betsy Bragg was a phenomenal director and I learned a lot from her. She was dedicated to helping others and showed so much kindness and patience when working with me to complete a task. She was a great person to work with and helped me gain self confidence and teach me more about healthy living that I will take with me even after I leave this position. I have learned so much in my time at this internship from professional skills to lifestyle improvement and I am very thankful for it all.