2012 Interns: Day 1, Part B - The party's oooooverrrrr...

So after the great fun of the videos it was time to actually get to work, RRRRR rrrrrrrrr (sad trombone noise, obviously). So we took the group around and dropped them with their respective labs - so long as there was someone there. Although a few labs were ready and waiting, a few others were unprepared, or didn't tell us where to find them, or just plain weren't there. This was really frustrating for me, because it was a lousy first impression to make on fresh interns, and made the Center as a whole look pretty unorganized and just plain bad. The interns who didn't have anyone to meet with ended up going home, and it was only 2:45. And the interns didn't appreciate this much either - a few of them noted in their blogs that they were annoyed or disappointed. In all fairness, in the case of one lab, one person had to leave early while the other was stuck in a meeting; so that was totally understandable, and some of that lab's interns stuck around until they could meet. Though, there were two interns who stuck around for another reason... they had no lab to meet with anymore.

You know I don't hold back, so here's the basic truth: One lab asked for two interns, and at the end of last week decided they actually could not take them anymore. They were too busy with other projects to be as hands on as they would like, and they didn't want the two interns to suffer with a poor experience because of it. (To be fair, this lab typically does go above and beyond to provide an excellent summer for its interns, which has definitely made for great experiences in the past and is much appreciated by everyone; and it would indeed be a shame to only provide a portion of such an experience.) So basically, we had to see if we could figure out something else for these two interns to do all summer, with pretty much one day to figure it out.

Although we were able to come up with one opportunity over the weekend, I didn't feel satisfied that it would give these two interns what they wanted to get out of their summer. A lot of kids are just looking for a fun experience and some coin, but I got the impression that these two in particular were also looking for something to give them a head start on their future career; and I didn't feel certain that what we had in mind would do it for them. So, while the interns were all out on the Hunt, we were scrambling behind the scenes trying to find more research options. Surprisingly, there were a number of people eager to take on interns even at the eleventh hour, and they were downright excited at the prospect! It was a lot of work to get everything coordinated, but in the end we had three options to present to our two lost interns.

I was really really worried about how the two would react - Would they be really upset with us? Would they accuse us of a bait and switch? And, worst case scenario, would they end up wishing they had done something else for the summer? Luckily, none of these were the case. While the two interns looked a bit worried and uncomfortable at first, after some discussion (and strong assurances that this was not a reflection on them in any way) they each picked new projects that they were both very interested in. We told them they could sleep on it, but they were both confident about which new projects they wanted to do, and in fact seemed pretty excited to get started (or maybe that was just relief that they weren't fired or in trouble for some reason). Either way, they each got to meet with their new labs, who were likewise excited to get started with them. And we breathed a big (but still nervous) sigh of relief.

This was all super stressful, but I think it's all going to be okay. We are committed to doing everything we can to make sure ALL of our interns have a fun and meaningful summer, and doggone it we will make it happen!

2012 Interns: Day 1, Part A - The title of "Best Interns EVER" may be in jeopardy.

I know I've said a few times that last year's summer interns were our best ever (not considering my own tenure as an intern, of course), but after today I think they've got some pretty stiff competition! We had a really awesome time with the 2012 interns on their first day today, and I can't wait to see what's in store for the rest of the summer.

The day started off a little quiet and nervous, but before too long we broke the interns into three groups (The Newtons, the Edisons, and the Eastmans) to compete against each other in the third annual intern version of the Hunt. I was happy to see the groups eagerly and enthusiastically venture off into the vast space that is RIT's campus, but got a little worried when, two hours in, a lot of the interns seemed to be struggling to find much of anything. Oh boy. We all gathered back in the Reading Room at noon for pizza and to relax before the groups would get down and dirty with video processing. Similar to past years, not a single kid in there had ever used iMovie to make a video... One team thought ahead and started their processing while they waited for the pizza to arrive, and the rest followed suit once they were done chowing down. I set video viewing time for 1:30, even though I knew none of the groups would be done by then. Sure enough, 1:30 rolled around and they asked for 15 more minutes. 1:45 rolled around and, while they THOUGHT they were ready, none of the groups had actually exported their videos to transferable files - and one group even LOST their project! (They ended up resurrecting it from the Trash; don't ask me how that all happened.) We judges took the time to get started on paper plate awards for the teams, since we were already seeing categories worth recognizing, such as: the "I'm ready! Oh wait, no I'm not..." Award, the "My video got trashed :-(" Award, and the "First ones done!!! (...but still late.)" Award. Finally, around 2, it was SHOWTIME!

First up: The Edisons - Whoa. These guys set the bar pretty high. They got a ton of the mystery items and threw in a bunch of special effects - someone managed to figure out iMovie just fine (and went overboard, if you ask Joe). I appreciated that they really made use of their resources and the fact they they kept reminding us that they were good interns for doing so. 1,000 bonus points for finding Zoran, and then jokingly calling him their "NON-helper (with an accent)". You can watch the video on intern Denise's blog.

Looks like someone sacrificed video quality for a quicker export time... No wonder they won the "First ones done!!!" award.

Next up: The Eastmans - They led their video by saying it was dedicated to me, so that right there earned them 2,000 bonus points. And then their video totally delivered - tons of hunt items (which they interacted with/presented incredibly well), great production value, and interspersed clips of me awkwardly waving which obviously made it that much better. You can watch Team Eastman on intern Kyle's blog.

Taking advantage of traditional Hunt bribery and appealing to my vanity.

And lastly: The Newtons - A.K.A. the Kaila show, because she seemed to be the only one willing to get in front of the camera. Bonus points for team member introductions at the start of the video and for Kaila dropping the dictionary thesaurus. This team got a ton of hunt items too! I'll post a link when I get one.

Final verdict, after much deliberation: Eastmans take #1 (overall best production value), and Edisons and Newtons tie for second/last (losing points for extraneous FX, and not enough team member representation, respectively). We also awarded a Crowd Favorite AKA "Biggest Mouth" Award to one of the teams (since they won basically by cheering most loudly for themselves).

Overall, the videos TOTALLY blew us away! I couldn't believe how many items all the teams got and how well produced their videos were. Sorry, 2010 and 2011 interns, but these guys totally owned you!

Next up, Part B- Scandal!

Whistle while you work, do-de-do do do do do

If anyone actually reads this blog regularly you may have noticed I have been absent for some time. As my twitter would hint at, I spent last week (June 24 - July 1) in Disney World! But I've been back this whole week, which anyone else who works can tell you was a very odd week what with Independence Day vacation right in the middle. Most people avoided suffering through two Mondays by taking the whole week off, which made for a very quiet return to work for me. Even so, I've been busy with catching up on my regular goings on from last week and also getting ready for the interns, who START ON MONDAY, yippie! While most of that prep work is not interesting enough to warrant mentioning here (besides getting to walk all around campus collecting fresh images for the intern scavenger hunt, and "performing a dry run" for the upcoming weekly BBQs, booyah my job is awesome!!!), there is one time consuming albeit incredibly satisfying manual labor project that has given my week a very exciting conclusion:

CLEANING UP THE READING ROOM!!!!!!!!

I have been saying for years now that I was going to redesign the Reading Room, and with a little help and elbow grease we have finally made some significant progress. Anyone who has seen the room anytime in the past forever would recognize that the somewhat-lousy-yet-surprisingly-sohpisticated panoramic image above from my phone looks TOTALLY different. At this point we've really only cleaned out clutter and rearranged some furniture - it's like those tv shows where they stage houses to help get them sold. So we're still not done, but the progress we've made is totally impressive and you can imagine so much more with the space now. I'm really excited to see everything coming together! I wonder how confused the interns will be when they arrive on Monday to a totally different room than they were expecting?

Extra, extra! Spring Imaging Connection Now Available!

The latest issue of the CIS Imaging Connection newsletter is hot off the press (or whatever the modern day digital equivalent of that phrase would be). Highlights from the Spring issue include: 

• Commencement 2012 
• Awards & Recognitions 
• ImagineRIT Recap 
• Freshman Imaging Project 
• Past Receptions & Upcoming Events 
• Venus Transit at the RIT Observatory

Check it out!

365 days later

Oddly enough, today I have finished updating something I did exactly 365 days ago! If it weren't for that pesky leap day this year, I could have more simply said "one year ago", but it was actually June 23 of last year whereas today happens to be the 22nd, so now things are complicated. (In fact right now I'm still not entirely sure I've gotten it right, but I think so. Feel free to correct me, I really only devoted 5 seconds to checking myself.) And the only reason I noticed this at all is because I looked back through the archives to link to my original post about this wonderful thing which I have updated, and happened to notice it was from almost the exact same time last year. Wowie wow wow wow!

Anyways, what I'm actually talking about is the webpage I made for the Innovative Freshmen Experience / Freshman Imaging Project class. I've updated it to now contain all of the information about 2011-2012's project. This includes new videos, pictures and contact info for the students, information on this year's imaging system, et cetera - AND a call for ideas for next year's project! Go check it out and see all the amazing things our freshmen had been up to all year!

Eventually I will get around to adding updated pictures for the IFE pages' banners, but that will have to be another day.

Operation: In-Processing - COMPLETE

I hope you read the title for this post in a robot voice, because that's totally how it sounded in my head when I typed it.

Yesterday was the in-processing for this year's crop of Imaging Science High School Summer Interns! Yippee! Well, not really all that yippee - it's mostly waiting in line and paperwork and signatures. (Hey, kids - just wait until you someday buy a house.) But, it's the first time all of the selected interns are together, so that's exciting!

The day took a bit of preparation over the past month or so to set up - I had to coordinate with HR and the Registrar to make sure they would be prepared for the group, and I took care of all the paperwork on our end to prepare to get the interns entered into the system. I sent out the hire packets before I left for my big vacation, so the interns had a little over a month to fill out the necessary forms and gather all the additional documentation required. Even with that much prep time, invariably there is always at least one intern who forgets something important - so, a few of us may or may not have had a little secret pool going with guesses on how many would forget their papers. Well, we ALL ended up being wrong, because NONE of the interns forgot anything! Which makes me proud and happy (even though it means I lost the possibly-hypothetical pool).

Oh wait - there was one intern who forgot something... to show up! This was really disappointing to me, but I suppose this is the age and maturity level we can expect from high school students. I would hope that most of them would be very appreciative of this opportunity and take it very seriously, especially because for many of them it is their first job and the impressions made here can have a major impact on their future. And it should go without saying that even though the selected interns have made it "in" at this point, this is still a job that values professionalism and expects employees to act responsibly. Hopefully I can turn this into a learning experience, because really that's what this internship is all about.

Anyways... We had told the interns to show up by 3PM SHARP, and by 2:55 fewer than half had arrived. EEK. That was not looking good. 3:00 rolled around and we were up to 10 out of 14, so off we went with someone hanging behind for stragglers. One more caught up to us right outside the door, and we were on our way to HR. They were ready for us, and did a really fantastic job of getting everyone through smoothly. Two more of the missing three showed up (after waiting around for the final missing intern to show... I feel bad that they wasted their time...) and got all caught up. After all that we all made our way down to the Registrar's to get IDs. This was a bit of a lengthy process because even though they were ready for us, we couldn't split up the group like we could in HR; so once half of them were done with ID in hand, I took them to ITS to get computer accounts while the rest would catch up later. After that it was a trek across campus to the parking office to get parking permits, though the group had dwindled at this point because there were only 6 interns planning on driving that didn't already have permits.

And with that, processing was complete; and those 13 interns are now all ready to hit the ground running when they start on July 9 - only three weeks away! (I wonder if they are as excited to get started as I am for them?)

Movin' on up

You are looking at the new Communications Officer for RIT Staff Council! Woo!

So in case it wasn't obvious already, Staff Council leadership elections were today. I'll admit, I had three outcomes I was expecting - and this wasn't one of them. But I couldn't be happier that this was how things ultimately worked out! 

So since I never hold anything back on here, I'll go ahead and share what went down: leading up to the elections, I knew I wanted to be on RSC-EC again, but I wasn't sure in what capacity. I wanted to at least be an At-Large again, but I wasn't ready to take on Chair (with work + EYP + classes again in the fall + life... I am overwhelmed enough as it is!). So I suggested to fit me in wherever. Once the rest of the slate of candidates was worked out, things got tricky and I needed to exercise a little strategy... See, the EC must consist of an equal number of exempt and non-exempt employees. The candidates for Chair, Vice Chair, and Communications were ALL exempt (as am I) - and since the elections go top-down, that left only one open spot for an exempt At-Large. Uhoh. Not a big fan of those odds. So it was time to up my game.

Communications and Events already had more than 1 candidate each (all of whom I thought were great and I didn't want to run against), and I wasn't interested in Chair (for reasons stated previously). So that left Vice Chair.... There was only one candidate, and I wasn't keen on running against him either, but it wouldn't be proper governance to have both the chair and vice chair run unopposed. So, I figured: Hey, if I get Vice Chair, bonus; if not, hopefully people would take pity on me when it came down to At-Large. So I went ahead and volunteered to run for Vice, and that's how I came to my three expected outcomes: Vice, At-Large, or nada. Now, of course I couldn't tell anyone that Vice wasn't my original intent - I took my candidacy very seriously, and besides, the more I looked into Vice the more I started to like it and see myself doing it! But I knew I had a strong opponent, so I didn't want to get my hopes up too much even though I started to really want the position.

Enter: Elections! So the chair ran unopposed and was successful; next came Vice. We each gave a little spiel, and then everyone voted. It came out to a TIE - but then it was discovered that one too many people voted! Unfortunately that person's vote was for me (thank you, person!)... so I lost, waaah waaaaaaaaah. Yeah, I was disappointed (but very happy for the winner, yes really!). Next came Communications... and on top of the two nominees, I was nominated by someone on the floor! What! This caught me by surprise, and I was afraid that my reaction might have made people think I wasn't totally interested, but it must not have mattered - I guess the pity factor totally worked (and sooner than I expected,) because obviously we know how that race turned out! I'm so psyched!!!

The rest of the election went more smoothly, though there actually was one more tie - this time with the legitimate number of votes, so it resulted in one of the candidates opting to step back and serve as an alternate instead. All of the runner-up candidates for the various positions were successfully elected into other positions (pity FTW!), so all in all I think we all ended up with results we are pleased with! (Or at least I hope so...)

I am really looking forward to stepping into my new role as Communications Chair! As the Ad-Hoc Outreach Committee was really only established as a one year deal, it works out perfectly for me to carry the torch of the few things we had remaining that we wanted to do but hadn't completed over to Communications (as it was a bit redundant to have the two committees separate anyways - lesson learned). I am also looking forward to working with the new Executive Committee and new Chair - though I am definitely going to miss our outgoing chair :*(!!!!!! A bunch of us from EC stood up and said some parting words to her as part of the "passing of the gavel" - it was very heartfelt and emotional and touching. It was hard not to well up a little. Our outgoing chair did such a wonderful job and worked so hard, and I can say for me personally, had a huge impact on my experience with Staff Council and decision to stay on as part of it - MOLLY, I WILL MISS YOU!!!!!!! (Good thing you're still on RSC... and now you don't have to sit at the head of the room :-) You can come sit with me and be the Statler to my Waldorf.)

I am definitely excited to see what we'll accomplish in the year ahead, and to see how my second year on Staff Council compares to the first. Onwards and upwards, let's do this!