New internship program under way

#Middlebury #Interns

Camila De La Cruz works on data needed for the Telephone Reassurance Program for the Middlebury Senior Center. De La Cruz is a summer intern with the Town of Middlebury.

By MARJORIE NEEDHAM

The new Town of Middlebury summer internship program created by Selectman Elaine Strobel and approved by the Board of Selectmen at their June 15 meeting got under way in July, thanks to Strobel’s efforts and to town employees who welcomed the idea of working with summer interns. The program’s goal is to offer high school students from minority backgrounds an opportunity to get on the job exposure to town operations. Strobel said Barbara Whitaker, executive assistant to First Selectman Edward B. St. John, and the welcoming town employees were instrumental in the successful launch of this new program.

At the Senior Center, Senior and Social Services Director JoAnn Cappelletti proudly picked up a 30-page tutorial on the newest Operation Fuel software that intern Camila De La Cruz put together for her. She said she and Camila watched the online presentation on the software. There was no manual to go with the program, just a number to call if users had any questions.

So Camila sat down at the computer with the video and got to work. She saved screenshots of the important instructions and put them into a PowerPoint presentation, adding arrows pointing to features of the tutorial. Then she printed it out, and the step-by-step tutorial now sits in a handy spot on Cappelletti’s desk so she can refer to it as she becomes accustomed to the new software.

With that project complete, Camila began work extracting from a database the names, phone numbers and addresses for Middlebury seniors who may wish to be part of the Telephone Reassurance Program. Cappelletti said this was once an active program at the senior center, one in which volunteers made regular calls to seniors as frequently as the seniors requested. Due to a lack of volunteers, the program has been inactive for many years, but Cappelletti hopes to get it going again. Camila said she had been working with the database for about two weeks and believed she was almost done.

Camila, 17, will be a senior at Kennedy High School in Waterbury this fall. She said she hopes to become a pediatric doctor or pediatric nurse, something she has wanted to become ever since she was a child. She loves children and enjoys mentoring kindergarten students through the Young Educator’s Society at Kennedy High.

Carolina De La Cruz uses a computer to help set up the audio-visual equipment for the Conservation Commission meeting. She is a summer intern working part of her time with Zoning Enforcement Officer Curtis Bosco.

Her twin sister, Carolina, also is interning here. She is working part of the time with Zoning Enforcement Officer Curtis Bosco and part of the time with Middlebury Historian Dr. Robert Rafford. We caught up with her on a Tuesday as she was working with Bosco to set up Shepardson auditorium for a live stream of Tuesday night’s Conservation Commission meeting.

Bosco said he hoped to show Carolina his profession is an interesting one and a lot of good can come out of it. He said he’s trying to expose her to all the facets of zoning enforcement. “It’s not something a student in high school would think of doing,” he said, pointing out that the profession offers a good starting salary in a career that doesn’t require a college education.

Over at the Historical Society, Dr. Rafford said he was very pleased to have Carolina’s help. She has been doing a variety of tasks there, including scanning documents and photos.

D’Shaunt O’Brien temporarily takes the police officer’s position in a police cruiser. He switched to the passenger seat before heading out on patrol with Officer Fred Marcantonio. (Marjorie Needham photos)

A third intern, D’Shaunt O’Brien, 16, was spending a week at the Middlebury Police Department. He was getting exposed to various tasks there, spending part of his time working with Cindy Veneziano in Records helping to file firearms sales and transfers paperwork. He was riding with an officer one to two hours each day, and was scheduled to learn fingerprinting. He also helped Amy Von Culin, the administrative assistant, with data entry.

D’Shaunt will be a junior at Kennedy High School this fall. He aspires to become a hospital administrator after he completes his education. The following week, he was scheduled to work with Middlebury CFO Robin Stanziale.

Strobel said the new town program has gotten a 200-fold return on its investment in these young people. She said she is really grateful and proud of the employees who stepped up to the plate and helped these kids out – Betsy Anderson, Curt Bosco, JoAnn Cappelletti, Chief Fran Dabbo, Dr. Robert Rafford, Robin Stanziale, and Amy Von Culin.