Name: Sara Penn
Hometown: New Haven, CT
College and Major: Albertus Magnus College, Class of 2023; Sociology
Tutor Site: Science Park Clubs: Math, Arts & Crafts, Performing Arts
Favorite Children’s Book: The Divergent Series
I was familiar with New Haven Reads before I started this internship. I volunteered at New Haven Reads during my senior year of high school to fulfill my community service hours. During the couple months of volunteering here, I worked in the Pre-K and Kindergarten program assisting the students one day a week. I didn’t know the full extent of what other opportunities New Haven Reads had other than tutoring students until I started working at Literacy Volunteers and saw their tutoring programs during the school year. Being a summer intern here has given me the opportunity to see just how much is actually going on, and to be a part of it.
This summer I have been involved with Math, Arts & Crafts and Performing Arts enrichment clubs. In the beginning, I was kind of nervous to do these clubs, but throughout these past couple weeks running them, they have been easier than I expected them to be. Seeing the students’ faces light up when we start lights up my whole experience working with them, making this experience so much better. Having the help from other tutors and also the site team has helped me a lot and I’m grateful for them being there.
The students make the whole experience great. In the beginning, it took some time for the students to get to know me and get to know them. Throughout these weeks, I’ve developed bonds with the students I’m tutoring, running the clubs, and co-leading clubs because they see you every time you work with them and you get to know who they are and I share so many laughs with them. I get so excited coming in to work with the students and working with other tutors because you see so many backgrounds of tutors and students and it just makes this whole experience great. I also appreciate the site team at Science Park for making me feel at home and being there every step of the way, thank you guys.
I want to thank KeyBank for giving me the chance to be a part of all the amazing things that are happening at New Haven Reads. I’ve absolutely loved my time here; I would be honored to come back again and possibly work at New Haven Reads and continue tutoring to change the lives of the students in New Haven.
Tags: intern spotlight, interns, read, tutor, tutors
