This summer went by too fast, and now I am already into by second week of my senior year at Juniata College.
The things I learned and took from my internship at RJ Lee Group were things that I never really thought I would ever gain experience in. There were so many new techniques I learned; that I would have never learned if it weren't for this internship. There were also skills I brought into the internship that I was also to learn how to perform these skills in a different (possibly updated) way that was not the same way I had learned at Juniata. Now being back, I am constantly remembering things from my internship and applying them to my studies.
I think this internship was different from other opportunities because of the amount of work and time that I was allowed to work unsupervised. It was a great feeling to be trusted to work on my own and I don't think I would have found that at many other internships. On the opposite side of that, it was also great that if (or when) I did have question there was never someone far away or too busy to answer them. Everyone at RJ Lee worked well together to accomplished the common goal of getting projects done quickly and done well.
It was a little sad for me to leave the internship at the end of the summer. I had made so many new friends and really felt like I had "a place" at RJ Lee Group. It was really the type of place and work environment that I can hope to work in once I graduate. My favorite part of the internship must have been the work I did in the petrographic light microscopy department because I felt like it was the department that best suited what I had been learning in school. But there was nothing during my internship that I really disliked doing. Actually, I cannot think of any task that I dreaded doing during my time at RJ Lee.
In conclusion, I would like to thank RJ Lee Group and all the people I worked with over the summer for the wonderful opportunity. I would also like to that Juniata alumni Justin Rieter and his wife Holly for allowing me to stay with them this summer and showing me a good time in the Pittsburgh area. Like I said, this summer was unforgettable and I hate that its over but I have to finish up my last year a Juniata.
