Thursday…

Lately I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about this internship. Never in my life have I felt so privileged, honored to be given such a responsibility. And I feel that since beginning my duties here in Grenada, I have developed into a much more professional, humble, and genuine person. Before my arrival here on Grenada I would think often, and often not, about how the cards would unfold this summer. And I often felt that it was better to not think about it. I find myself quite pessimistic at times and am often discouraged by these feelings. My thoughts about this trip before hand were troubled, bland at best. I was excited about working here, in a neutral kind of way, but deep down inside I felt that this trip was going to be a mishap. Why? I don’t know. But that was how I felt. Maybe it was a fear or responsibility; perhaps a fear of the unexpected. Maybe it was the culture shock, or my inexperience in Java. I never felt that way again about this place.

Grenada is beautiful, in all aspects. I could rant about the ocean; I could rant about the lush forests. I could rant about the way the sunsets through my window, eclipsing out of view above the westward Caribbean Sea. I could rant for days on end about the proud, high-spirited people of Grenada, always willing to lend a hand, always willing to give an open ear. At times I feel there is so much passion running through my veins it’s almost unbearable. Passion inspired by the aforementioned. Passion inspired by my work with the Ministry of Education. I often find myself bursting out with laughter, something I have not done so much since I was a child. But, what I really want to say here is not an account of my blessings. I do that more often now than ever. Regardless, I want to talk about the future, particularly of this program.

I have become as of late contemplative about the program we are so lucky to be a part of. As a person who had absolutely no professional experience in education before, I must say I was put in my place very quickly. But the reality check we received our first week of work was strong, strong enough to keep us on track until now. Teaching requires patience, knowledge, focus, humility, and discipline, at least in my eyes. These things I have not always had, and have been improving upon since our work began. These human character developments are something that I will utilize and cherish to the end of my lifetime, and it is for this reason that I hope IST will continue this program in the future; for the benefit of the IST student and the conscience of our College.

The Ministry is a body of serious consideration and influence. They, like IST, also hold a key to the continuation of this program. I can’t simply justify the benefits to us as IST students and ignore the repayment through the Ministry. We have done good work here. We have taught four different groups of students Java, trained a group of teachers basic computer repairs, and are in the process of training another group of IT teachers Java. In order to educate these groups it was our responsibility, as the interns, to develop comprehensive lesson plans and write a manual to accompany our lessons. This was tough work, not to mention unexplored territory for all of us.

Often, due to my pessimistic nature (I consider it being careful and realistic), I feel that we are letting the Ministry down. Maybe it’s due to our inexperience, the fear of the unknown (see paragraph one for more details). But after thinking about the actual work we have done I feel better, I feel that we have done the best job we could have. This is encouraging. It is because of this that I want this program in the future to be even better. I do not necessarily expect to come back to Grenada again (at least with this program), but I want to know that I made a difference. I want to see this program is better developed. I want this partnership with the Ministry and IST to be more defined. I want the interns that are coming here to be more prepared. If these things can be done, with the help of us as interns, greater things can be accomplished in the future for the youth here in Grenada, the Ministry of Education, and IST.