i have a real job.....

I have a real job.....can you believe it? I just got hired to work for the American Diabetes Association specializing in Youth Markets. I call this a real job because I have huge responsibilities. Not saying that my other jobs in the past weren't real jobs or I didn't have responsibilities, this one is just different. The pay is different, the work enviroment is different, the people are different, everything is different. This is a job that is perfect for my degree which is Health Promotion. I had an internship this past fall with the ADA specializing in Youth Markets and I absolutely fell in love with my internship. Let me give you a little overview of what I did during my internship. When I started at the ADA I learned the ropes of PR....I went around to schools and school districts giving them our information about our School Walk Program and wanting to see if they wanted to sign on with our program. If you don't know what the School Walk Program is, it is similar to Jump Rope for Heart BUT we are raising money and educating kids about diabetes. (Sidenote- The American Heart Association is our biggest competition). I was driving all around Houston and going to schools to tell them about our program, to check in with schools that were already signed on with us, or dropping materials off to the schools. Shortly after "blitzing" ( which is what we call what I just explained above) I started to shadow my 2 supervisors while they went to schools around the Houston area and spoke about Diabetes. I would help out here and there with the "kickoffs" ( which is what we call the education/speaking/fundraising portion of the School Walk Program). I usually helped with the games, I wasn't confident enough to actually speak about diabetes. Well, with months of preperation, studying, and freaking out....I was finally put out there to do my own Kickoff ( which meant speaking to a BUNCH of students about diabetes, by myself....alone....no one with me) Quite scary if you ask me. I had NEVER spoken publically infront of a big growd ( other than being interviewed by TV stations for softball while I was in highschool - but they can always edit) This was a no-editing session...improv....on the spot speaking. My first ever school I spoke at was in La Porte, it was an elementary school. I was scared to death. I had another intern with me but she was only helping with the games, the education portion of the kickoff was up to me. (Sidenote- before this internship I did not know much about diabetes.....I had to completely educate myself on diabetes, what it is, how you get it, how to prevent, statististics, etc). So Needless to say, my kickoff went great and from there they continued to go great. I love doing kickoffs to elementary kids. I love them! I am partial to that age because I have worked with that age group before. Highschool and middleschool kids just don't seem to care too much about what I have to say, etc. Other than educating them about diabetes I would explain to them how to raise money for the ADA and how they can earn certain gifts/prizes. The school gets about 2 weeks for their students to raise the money and then they have

what we call the "School Walk"event which is where the kids walk around the track, playground, gym, school etc, and its a time for them to get exercise and walk for diabetes. So that was my internship in a nutshell. I don't know if I explained it very well... I lose my concentration a lot while I'm writing and a lot of times things I write really don't make sense ( I'm also substituting right now , too). My new job is exactly the same as my internship except I am getting paid and I now will be working in the office some. I am so excited about this job because I really do enjoy speaking to students and teachers about diabetes. I am a diabetes know-it-all...haha!

So I am now a working woman and Brandon loves it :)