As I move along briskly into my final semester here at Walsh I am proudly working another internship with the IS department on campus. This is the same internship that I have had for the past year now and really have enjoyed, as well as, gained a great deal of knowledge from. I was anxious to get back to work after winter break as I hadn’t worked for almost a month, in fact, the first time I didn’t work over Christmas break in a couple years. Normally I would work back at the winery (Laurello Vineyards) back near my hometown, but this winter break was cut a bit shorter than usual as I was part of chamber choir and we performed locally around the North Canton community before heading back for break. Once back, I was busy getting together with family and friends and it seemed that work would not be feasible. On top of that my family encouraged me to stay home and relax, as I really hadn’t had a summer break (working here at school and taking classes from May-August 2009) then going right into classes for the fall semester. Looking back at break I’m glad I decided to just take it easy, spend the time with the people who mean the most to me—my family and friends! But nonetheless I was chomping at the bit to get back to work come spring 2010.

Now back at Walsh I can honestly say I’m excited to be back at work. Perhaps you don’t believe me? but I really enjoy working on campus. It’s worked out so well over the past couple of years. I means the reasons to work on campus are endless. It’s so convenient (I mean in all honesty, if you live on the Walsh campus there’s a 99.9% chance you won’t have to walk longer than 5 minutes to get to your job)! Also, the people you work with, as well as the customers (students, faculty, and staff) that you assist allow you to further network and stay involved and up-to-date on everything that’s going on at Walsh. The IS department is great about scheduling your work schedule around your school schedule, so there’s never any conflicts that keep you from your academics. In fact, we are encouraged to bring in our homework for a slow day so we can work on our assignments at the Help Desk. A personal reason I enjoy working on campus is that I feel that I am giving back to the Walsh community, as they are giving so much to be in return. Faculty and staff do so much for their students, that I feel that I can somehow return this favor whenever a technical problem arises. The feeling of accomplishment when you can solve someone’s stubborn computer questions, or recover files that they thought were toast, is a feeling that keeps me passionate about my job. When it comes to my savings, I feel that I am able to truly save the money I make from working in IS, and several other jobs on campus. I mean sure I take a little out for spending money and for essential things for school or the room, but the rest I can put in the bank and actually save, instead of throwing it all into my gas tank every week to drive to a job. I guess at this point in my life, this is the perfect job situation for me, and I am truly thankful for this opportunity.

When I describe my job to family and friends, I think they think I am having too much fun to be actually working, but in all honesty we do work hard. I mean sure there are a lot of fun times. I don’t think there’s been a time I’ve worked in IS that I haven’t had fun—no matter how busy. In fact these first couple of weeks beginning the spring 2010 semester has been pretty hectic from new student email set-ups to new computer set-up and registrations on our student network for those who brought back new computers after break. But at the same time the hours fly and before we know, it’s time to go. I feel that as an intern I’m exposed to a great deal of “real-life” experiences that I can take with me into my future career. Things such as the ability to sit-in on important conferences, the ability to perform all help desk tasks, handle all phone calls, and ability to physically go out of the office and fix the PC or technical problem on the spot. No making coffee and running copies for us interns (I mean sure Katie Brown and I have attempted coffee on several occasions—however this was not one of our strong suits—as we made the coffee extremely weak, I mean it was a tough feat with a coffee maker designed with more features than a Swiss Army knife—we now stick to pure IS work!).

I feel that everyone I work with would say the same—that our job rocks! I mean sure you have paper runs in the middle of a blizzard while its -40 out, or have to change every toner cartridge on your paper run because someone went to every lab and printed out a 200 slide PowerPoint, only to get impatient and leave before it began to print(multiple times). But the way we all get along so well and joke around makes up for any downside. In fact the people (full-time staff) we work with are truly all great individuals!! They all have great attitudes, are understanding, and have a great sense of humor. From my supervisor Brian kidding with me that he will make me wear a sign that says “do not talk to Chris Burr, he is on IS’s clock!” (hence, I talk to everyone I see on campus and sometimes forget that I am still working and need to return to the office—I’m improving on this though, right Carey? ha-ha–to the hilarious things that just randomly come up in conversation between us co-workers throughout our times at the help desk…too many to even mention. Overall, we work as a team to solve most of the problems we face on a daily basis, if one person isn’t sure, there’s a good chance someone else knows, and can teach that person so that they will have the knowledge. Perhaps this job is a perfect example of a “win-win situation,” as we are constantly helping others, while gaining important skills and the knowledge we need to take us the places we want to go in our near future.

My wish for all of you is that if you’re in the market for a job/internship (if you’re a junior or senior, you should be looking) that you will be able to have the opportunities that I have been given. I am truly grateful, and hope and pray that your future is filled with many opportunities like this!

Until next time,
Have a great day!

Chris Burr