Meeting #1: February
The first internship meeting of the year went well. An overview of what is going to happen as time progresses was the topic of discussion. We are having two hour seminars that focus on different topics. These hours count towards the total internship experience. Today we created our resumes in order to get the ball rolling. I couldn't remember all my extracurricular but I think I got most of them. The resume allows others to see what kind of a student I am at a glance. I've never had to make on before so I’m glad I did today. I also turned in my papers for the internship that I desire. I’m really hoping that I get to do mine with the Sheriff's Department. My sister did her's there and had an amazing experience. I think it would be the most interesting! The next seminar discusses time management.
Meeting #2: March
This meeting may have been the most important seminar that I will go to. After adding up the hours of activities we do on a daily basis, I realized how essential time management is. Between school, work, practice, and other activities, my days are pretty crammed. We read an article today by Kara Miller which was generally true but irritating. I felt this way because the lifestyles are incomparable and explain the differences in work ethic. Thinking ahead to the next week and seeing how much I have to do created a small panic attack inside. Today we did a chart that categorized me as a combination of “The Prioritizer” and “the Procrastinator.” We discussed the difference between importance and urgency. Important things help achieve goals. Urgent things are pressing matters. It is scary to think about but I know some of my routines will have to change. Friends cannot be first on the list of priorities. At the end of the meeting, I accepted Mrs. Phillip’s challenge to get an extra hour of sleep per night, eat at least three breakfast meals during the week, and create “To-Do” lists. The sleep part will definitely be the biggest challenge but I will learn to love time management.
Meeting #3: April
This meeting I was unfortunately absent for because I had a lacrosse game that afternoon. I met up with Mrs. Phillip’s beforehand and made up for my absence. I know that at this meeting placements were given. I'm ecstatic to say I got the internship that I wanted. I'm so excited to go to the Sheriff’s Department this summer!
Meeting #4: May
At this meeting we split up into groups with classmates that were interning at the same place. I was in a group with probably about 7 other people. Deputy Diggs came in to talk to us and give us more details about our internship. So, we went aside with him and he gave us a packet regarding dress attire and another just to be able to do the internship there. We need to look nice but it is not nearly as dressy as I thought. Deputy Diggs was so cool, nice, and helpful. I look forward to working with him! He told us we would go to different areas in the department because there are so many things they do there. He talked about being in the presence of inmates which is really cool to me. He told us to come in at 8 the first day but we could create our own schedule for the 2 weeks. It’s up to us to get the 50 hours done. We asked him about the different type of inmates there are. He told a few funny stories. Quite the characters at the Virginia Beach Jail! He made me excited to do my internship. I'm so glad that its not something I'm dreading.
Meeting #5:
All I had to do was grab my paperwork and fill it out for my internship coming very soon! I'm looking forward to it.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Internship Day 1:
Ryland, Alex, and I arrived at 8 am. We checked in, had our bags scanned, turned in our licenses, and clocked in! We found out Deputy Diggs would not be overseeing us. Deputy K Rosenberger was in his place and it was his first day on the job. He didn’t know what we were supoosed to do nor did he have anything planned for us today. So we shredded an entire trash can of papers for a couple of hours. Then we went to the mail room and helped them sort the mail. This was very interesting. I was unaware of how many rules there was on mail that comes in. The people in that department were so cool and friendly. They taught us how to help and actually appreciated our work. This took a long time because Mondays are their busiest day since they don’t receive mail on Sundays. It’s crazy how many people send things to people in jail that can’t go through. The card cannot have marker on it unless it is Sharpie, no paint, no glitter, no felt, no double paper cards, no more than five photos, no inappropriate photos, no stickers, no glue, and it can’t be large. The employees are usually nice enough to make a copy of the card so that the inmate can still view it. This took up the rest of the time. We left at 1, completing the first 5 hours to our 50 hour internship.
Unfortunately, I was pretty disappointed Deputy Diggs wasn’t our mentor because nothing was really planned for us and other than the people in the mail room, no one else seemed that happy to have us around.
Internship Day 2:
Today we came in at 7. We started the day off just like yesterday, shredding papers. After an hour or so of that Ryland and I went to the mailroom to sort the mail, skim through each letter, approve them, and sort them again. The mail room is down a person and seems like a department that the others do not appreciate. They do not realize what extreme hours and work these people put in. At the Sheriff’s Department, job positions rotate frequently so everyone gets the chance to do and learn other things. However, no one rotates with the mail room.
I think they should because it’s not a bad department and others don’t realize how much it does.
internship Day 3:
We arrived at 7 again today and started the day off with some shredding. From here, I went through and stamped 7 workbooks with a seal. I wasn’t told what for. It was just something they needed done. I went to the mailroom again and sorted the mail because they are the only department that asked for our assistance and actually had something for us to do. I realized one of the letters I was reading was what the employees call a “kite.” This means it was written by someone in the jail to another person in the jail. I could tell by what they were talking about and the fact that it was in blue ink on legal paper was a good hint as well. The writer actually sent it to someone and then that person put it in a different envelope with their own return address. I was pretty excited I realized that. Everyday in the mailroom I met new people and talked to them. They were all so friendly and asked us about school and future dreams. I loved helping these people and spending time with them. The mailroom was actually fun and going through the letters was pretty entertaining.
Today was okay but I hope tomorrow there is something different to do.
Internship Day 4:
Today Deputy Rosenberger took us to the courthouse! We got to sit in a couple of court cases. I saw one where a boy my age was sentenced to a few days in jail because of numerous charges for possession. It was sad and scary to see but hopefully jail time will actually make him realize he’s got to get his life back on track. We also watched an inmate’s case. The woman has three children and was in jail for hitting her husband. She also had drunk in public charges on her record though. I felt sad for her because she was only 25. I also spent a lot of time in “eye of the courthouse” also known as the camera room. I sat and watched the cameras with the lady who is in charge of that. They also unlock every door in the courthouse by computer so she is the woman in charge of that. I also went into a different control room that was behind one-way glass facing the inmates who were in holding cells, waiting for their trials. There were two in yellow jumpsuits instead of orange. I learned that means you're really a troublemaker. After watching them, I believed it. I also learned the Virginia Beach Courthouse is really an important one for cases that attract media. It is one of few who have the brick tunnel for the inmate going to trial. This way they are not exposed and fewer shenanigans can occur. We left by noon after coming in at seven.
This was by far my favorite day. I got to see some really interesting things and meet other people. I learned a lot about the system and watching interesting court cases was something I could’ve done longer!
Internship Day 5:
Today deputy Rosenberger chose me to spend the day in civil processing. Beth Calhoun took me under her wing. She was previously a teacher so she loved showing me around. She gave me a tour of the department where I met the civil processing deputies and learned their zones. She taught me why they are drawn out as they are. Some deputies have larger zones but that’s because that zone contains less houses. Once a deputy is assigned a zone they usually keep it because it is beneficial if he/she is accustomed to the area. I also got to see and play on the tablets that they use when serving documents. It no longer all has to be done by hand on site. I learned that evictions have to call into the 911 center first and give the location. I also got to enter commonwealth witness subpoenas into the computer database for Ms. Beth. The day flew by.
I really enjoyed my day in civil processing. It was something new and interesting! She called Deputy Rosenberger to see if I could stay with her again tomorrow.
Internship Day 6:
Today I was in civil processing again with Ms. Beth! I watched how a DMV Tag is run for a deputy regarding a levy document. After the deputy goes to the property he will write down car license plates and then you can run them in the system and it’ll tell you whether or not they belong to the person. If they do they will be taken since they owe money. I also stamped incoming mail. It is part of the mail sorting process for the division. It’s necessary because some papers are urgent and need to be done that day. I also learned many different types of documents and how to enter them into the computer. I did subpoenas, warrant in debts, capias, summons for unlawful detainers, notices, and juvenile summons, as well as juvenile petitions.
I couldn’t believe how much Ms. Beth was teaching me! I definitely wasn’t entering them into the system as fast as she did, but she was sweet and let me continue my time doing them. Today we also went the Sheriff’s Department’s own restaurant thing which is really cool and cheap. Ms. Beth bought her and I lunch. That was so nice of her. I love spending time with her just talking!
Internship Day 7:
Ms. Beth was waiting for me at check-in today and I was excited to see her. Civil processing was so much more fun than the classification wing. Today I did some mapping for a deputy that was covering for another deputy. I did this mapping because she was covering a zone that she was unfamiliar with. I used their street atlas where I looked up the street name and located the home. I also did some more mail stamping sorting according to court dates. I also got to learn more about the procedure for out of state documents. They’re entered in a little bit differently and saved for a year after just in case. I also did Ducas Tecums and Show Causes today.
Today was another great day with Ms. Beth full of paper entering. She’s definitely one of the greatest people I’ve encountered working there.
Internship Day 8:
I spent the day today in Ms. Beth’s office again entering all the papers I know how to do into the computer. I’ve finally gotten used to how to put all these different documents into the system. You have to be careful when looking at what you're entering because the court it is in changes, the type of document changes, and so does the time and date. In addition to the different types of papers I did yesterday, Friday, and Monday, I also did Rule for Show Causes and Department of Child Support Enforcement (DCSE) papers. Ms. Beth and I counted that I'm up to 13 different document types.
I felt pretty good about myself getting a hang for every document. Ms. Beth hardly had to watch over me. I spent most of the day behind the screen just entering these different documents. I didn’t mind though because it was interesting and kept me busy. Tomorrow I will come back to civil processing!
Internship Day 9:
Today is my last day in civil processing with my favorite mentor Ms. Beth! Today I learned all about eviction papers and the eviction process. The first step is an unlawful detainer which a Judge must deal with and approve to be able to file for an eviction. The person being evicted is given 72 hours before the eviction will take place and the deputy calls. The paper is only good for 30 days so evictions must be distributed promptly. I put them in the sheriffs specific mailboxes for them to give out in their day. I spent some time today with the Corporal of the unit. He said he appreciated my presence and if I ever needed anything written for college or something else he’d be happy to do so. He also said if I wanted to come in and enter more documents, he would give me community service hours.
Civil processing is full of great people. The Corporal was so nice and I actually felt appreciated and welcome in the department. I'm actually sad to lose contact with them.
Internship Day 10:
Today I only had an hour left. I stayed later other days so I'd finish a day early but I had an appointment yesterday so I was short an hour. However, I stayed 4 hours. I was in classification where Ryland and I filed inmate papers based on their release date. We were filing release dates in 2008 which makes me question if the department is really behind or if that’s normal. We also did some quality shredding. There’s always tons of stuff to shred due to so many things being confidential. I also went to the mailroom to sort, skim, approve, and re-sort the mail today. I conducted my interviews today too.
I was happy I finished my hours and got three extra. I'm relieved it’s over but I enjoyed my time because you really learn more than you think while there. It was an unforgettable experience that I'm thankful for.
The first internship meeting of the year went well. An overview of what is going to happen as time progresses was the topic of discussion. We are having two hour seminars that focus on different topics. These hours count towards the total internship experience. Today we created our resumes in order to get the ball rolling. I couldn't remember all my extracurricular but I think I got most of them. The resume allows others to see what kind of a student I am at a glance. I've never had to make on before so I’m glad I did today. I also turned in my papers for the internship that I desire. I’m really hoping that I get to do mine with the Sheriff's Department. My sister did her's there and had an amazing experience. I think it would be the most interesting! The next seminar discusses time management.
Meeting #2: March
This meeting may have been the most important seminar that I will go to. After adding up the hours of activities we do on a daily basis, I realized how essential time management is. Between school, work, practice, and other activities, my days are pretty crammed. We read an article today by Kara Miller which was generally true but irritating. I felt this way because the lifestyles are incomparable and explain the differences in work ethic. Thinking ahead to the next week and seeing how much I have to do created a small panic attack inside. Today we did a chart that categorized me as a combination of “The Prioritizer” and “the Procrastinator.” We discussed the difference between importance and urgency. Important things help achieve goals. Urgent things are pressing matters. It is scary to think about but I know some of my routines will have to change. Friends cannot be first on the list of priorities. At the end of the meeting, I accepted Mrs. Phillip’s challenge to get an extra hour of sleep per night, eat at least three breakfast meals during the week, and create “To-Do” lists. The sleep part will definitely be the biggest challenge but I will learn to love time management.
Meeting #3: April
This meeting I was unfortunately absent for because I had a lacrosse game that afternoon. I met up with Mrs. Phillip’s beforehand and made up for my absence. I know that at this meeting placements were given. I'm ecstatic to say I got the internship that I wanted. I'm so excited to go to the Sheriff’s Department this summer!
Meeting #4: May
At this meeting we split up into groups with classmates that were interning at the same place. I was in a group with probably about 7 other people. Deputy Diggs came in to talk to us and give us more details about our internship. So, we went aside with him and he gave us a packet regarding dress attire and another just to be able to do the internship there. We need to look nice but it is not nearly as dressy as I thought. Deputy Diggs was so cool, nice, and helpful. I look forward to working with him! He told us we would go to different areas in the department because there are so many things they do there. He talked about being in the presence of inmates which is really cool to me. He told us to come in at 8 the first day but we could create our own schedule for the 2 weeks. It’s up to us to get the 50 hours done. We asked him about the different type of inmates there are. He told a few funny stories. Quite the characters at the Virginia Beach Jail! He made me excited to do my internship. I'm so glad that its not something I'm dreading.
Meeting #5:
All I had to do was grab my paperwork and fill it out for my internship coming very soon! I'm looking forward to it.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Internship Day 1:
Ryland, Alex, and I arrived at 8 am. We checked in, had our bags scanned, turned in our licenses, and clocked in! We found out Deputy Diggs would not be overseeing us. Deputy K Rosenberger was in his place and it was his first day on the job. He didn’t know what we were supoosed to do nor did he have anything planned for us today. So we shredded an entire trash can of papers for a couple of hours. Then we went to the mail room and helped them sort the mail. This was very interesting. I was unaware of how many rules there was on mail that comes in. The people in that department were so cool and friendly. They taught us how to help and actually appreciated our work. This took a long time because Mondays are their busiest day since they don’t receive mail on Sundays. It’s crazy how many people send things to people in jail that can’t go through. The card cannot have marker on it unless it is Sharpie, no paint, no glitter, no felt, no double paper cards, no more than five photos, no inappropriate photos, no stickers, no glue, and it can’t be large. The employees are usually nice enough to make a copy of the card so that the inmate can still view it. This took up the rest of the time. We left at 1, completing the first 5 hours to our 50 hour internship.
Unfortunately, I was pretty disappointed Deputy Diggs wasn’t our mentor because nothing was really planned for us and other than the people in the mail room, no one else seemed that happy to have us around.
Internship Day 2:
Today we came in at 7. We started the day off just like yesterday, shredding papers. After an hour or so of that Ryland and I went to the mailroom to sort the mail, skim through each letter, approve them, and sort them again. The mail room is down a person and seems like a department that the others do not appreciate. They do not realize what extreme hours and work these people put in. At the Sheriff’s Department, job positions rotate frequently so everyone gets the chance to do and learn other things. However, no one rotates with the mail room.
I think they should because it’s not a bad department and others don’t realize how much it does.
internship Day 3:
We arrived at 7 again today and started the day off with some shredding. From here, I went through and stamped 7 workbooks with a seal. I wasn’t told what for. It was just something they needed done. I went to the mailroom again and sorted the mail because they are the only department that asked for our assistance and actually had something for us to do. I realized one of the letters I was reading was what the employees call a “kite.” This means it was written by someone in the jail to another person in the jail. I could tell by what they were talking about and the fact that it was in blue ink on legal paper was a good hint as well. The writer actually sent it to someone and then that person put it in a different envelope with their own return address. I was pretty excited I realized that. Everyday in the mailroom I met new people and talked to them. They were all so friendly and asked us about school and future dreams. I loved helping these people and spending time with them. The mailroom was actually fun and going through the letters was pretty entertaining.
Today was okay but I hope tomorrow there is something different to do.
Internship Day 4:
Today Deputy Rosenberger took us to the courthouse! We got to sit in a couple of court cases. I saw one where a boy my age was sentenced to a few days in jail because of numerous charges for possession. It was sad and scary to see but hopefully jail time will actually make him realize he’s got to get his life back on track. We also watched an inmate’s case. The woman has three children and was in jail for hitting her husband. She also had drunk in public charges on her record though. I felt sad for her because she was only 25. I also spent a lot of time in “eye of the courthouse” also known as the camera room. I sat and watched the cameras with the lady who is in charge of that. They also unlock every door in the courthouse by computer so she is the woman in charge of that. I also went into a different control room that was behind one-way glass facing the inmates who were in holding cells, waiting for their trials. There were two in yellow jumpsuits instead of orange. I learned that means you're really a troublemaker. After watching them, I believed it. I also learned the Virginia Beach Courthouse is really an important one for cases that attract media. It is one of few who have the brick tunnel for the inmate going to trial. This way they are not exposed and fewer shenanigans can occur. We left by noon after coming in at seven.
This was by far my favorite day. I got to see some really interesting things and meet other people. I learned a lot about the system and watching interesting court cases was something I could’ve done longer!
Internship Day 5:
Today deputy Rosenberger chose me to spend the day in civil processing. Beth Calhoun took me under her wing. She was previously a teacher so she loved showing me around. She gave me a tour of the department where I met the civil processing deputies and learned their zones. She taught me why they are drawn out as they are. Some deputies have larger zones but that’s because that zone contains less houses. Once a deputy is assigned a zone they usually keep it because it is beneficial if he/she is accustomed to the area. I also got to see and play on the tablets that they use when serving documents. It no longer all has to be done by hand on site. I learned that evictions have to call into the 911 center first and give the location. I also got to enter commonwealth witness subpoenas into the computer database for Ms. Beth. The day flew by.
I really enjoyed my day in civil processing. It was something new and interesting! She called Deputy Rosenberger to see if I could stay with her again tomorrow.
Internship Day 6:
Today I was in civil processing again with Ms. Beth! I watched how a DMV Tag is run for a deputy regarding a levy document. After the deputy goes to the property he will write down car license plates and then you can run them in the system and it’ll tell you whether or not they belong to the person. If they do they will be taken since they owe money. I also stamped incoming mail. It is part of the mail sorting process for the division. It’s necessary because some papers are urgent and need to be done that day. I also learned many different types of documents and how to enter them into the computer. I did subpoenas, warrant in debts, capias, summons for unlawful detainers, notices, and juvenile summons, as well as juvenile petitions.
I couldn’t believe how much Ms. Beth was teaching me! I definitely wasn’t entering them into the system as fast as she did, but she was sweet and let me continue my time doing them. Today we also went the Sheriff’s Department’s own restaurant thing which is really cool and cheap. Ms. Beth bought her and I lunch. That was so nice of her. I love spending time with her just talking!
Internship Day 7:
Ms. Beth was waiting for me at check-in today and I was excited to see her. Civil processing was so much more fun than the classification wing. Today I did some mapping for a deputy that was covering for another deputy. I did this mapping because she was covering a zone that she was unfamiliar with. I used their street atlas where I looked up the street name and located the home. I also did some more mail stamping sorting according to court dates. I also got to learn more about the procedure for out of state documents. They’re entered in a little bit differently and saved for a year after just in case. I also did Ducas Tecums and Show Causes today.
Today was another great day with Ms. Beth full of paper entering. She’s definitely one of the greatest people I’ve encountered working there.
Internship Day 8:
I spent the day today in Ms. Beth’s office again entering all the papers I know how to do into the computer. I’ve finally gotten used to how to put all these different documents into the system. You have to be careful when looking at what you're entering because the court it is in changes, the type of document changes, and so does the time and date. In addition to the different types of papers I did yesterday, Friday, and Monday, I also did Rule for Show Causes and Department of Child Support Enforcement (DCSE) papers. Ms. Beth and I counted that I'm up to 13 different document types.
I felt pretty good about myself getting a hang for every document. Ms. Beth hardly had to watch over me. I spent most of the day behind the screen just entering these different documents. I didn’t mind though because it was interesting and kept me busy. Tomorrow I will come back to civil processing!
Internship Day 9:
Today is my last day in civil processing with my favorite mentor Ms. Beth! Today I learned all about eviction papers and the eviction process. The first step is an unlawful detainer which a Judge must deal with and approve to be able to file for an eviction. The person being evicted is given 72 hours before the eviction will take place and the deputy calls. The paper is only good for 30 days so evictions must be distributed promptly. I put them in the sheriffs specific mailboxes for them to give out in their day. I spent some time today with the Corporal of the unit. He said he appreciated my presence and if I ever needed anything written for college or something else he’d be happy to do so. He also said if I wanted to come in and enter more documents, he would give me community service hours.
Civil processing is full of great people. The Corporal was so nice and I actually felt appreciated and welcome in the department. I'm actually sad to lose contact with them.
Internship Day 10:
Today I only had an hour left. I stayed later other days so I'd finish a day early but I had an appointment yesterday so I was short an hour. However, I stayed 4 hours. I was in classification where Ryland and I filed inmate papers based on their release date. We were filing release dates in 2008 which makes me question if the department is really behind or if that’s normal. We also did some quality shredding. There’s always tons of stuff to shred due to so many things being confidential. I also went to the mailroom to sort, skim, approve, and re-sort the mail today. I conducted my interviews today too.
I was happy I finished my hours and got three extra. I'm relieved it’s over but I enjoyed my time because you really learn more than you think while there. It was an unforgettable experience that I'm thankful for.