It’s been a busy June for Jiawei “Alan” L.’19, a rising senior from China. In just the last few weeks, Alan successfully ran for The Winchendon School’s Student Government treasurer position and completed a ColLAB working as an intern at the Museum of Chinese in America. Alan chose The Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA), as it is dedicated to celebrating people of Chinese descent in the United States.
Alan knows he’s going to be busy again come September with college applications along with his newfound responsibilities as a member of the student government. The internship at MOCA gave him a real sense of earning trust in the workplace, just as he will be trusted next year with managing the student government’s money. “For the first few days of my ColLAB, they only allowed me to carry boxes because they didn’t know if I could be trusted with real paperwork. But after a few days, they began to believe in me and gave me more important tasks like scanning files and looking through memberships. Eventually, they let me move into the office and log into their database to move around information and make important updates.”
Understanding the lesson that more responsibility is earned in the workplace served Alan well. He realized how important it was for him to show his managers that he was capable and responsible enough to handle whatever work was asked of him. “I learned a lot about how employers let you do simple tasks first to test you before they give you more responsibility.” During his internship, he found himself relying on The Winchendon School’s core values. Remaining adaptable throughout his ColLAB, as he was often asked to complete tasks that he did not know how to do, Alan found success. He emphasized the importance of asking lots of questions and being resourceful. We know Alan will apply this same focused work ethic next year as he becomes a member of the student government and a role model in the community as a senior.
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