A Pleasure To Have In Class

Of course my grade school teachers would write in my report cards that I was "a pleasure to have in class." Not sure I was, but it was pretty much a standard phrase they used – back in the 1900s! Was it sincere? I'm going to say sure since I have historic documents stating so. Ha.

But this summer as I was a "teacher" of sorts, my star pupil was definitely a true pleasure to have on our writing team. I mentored a college-aged intern again and she was amazing! 

It happened that I've known this "tiny dancer" and her parents for years, but that didn't automatically get her the position. She had to – and did – rock her way through all the interviews! It wasn't the summer we promised her since we were working remotely for half of it. But she enjoyed it. We made it work.

Since tomorrow is her last day already (sob, sob) that means today had to be Trifle Thursday! Naturally.

I texted her mom for ideas of flavors and was pleased to hear she liked chocolate (who doesn't?) and mint, too. My favorite!

For this delicious concoction: Bottom layer is crumbled up brownies. Pudding layer is white chocolate pudding with a touch of mint extract and green food coloring. Crunchy layer is crushed Thin Mints. With a little Cool Whip layer. Repeat. Then garnished with Andes Mints, naturally. So good.

My mom would be so proud of how often I use her rolling pin! Never for pie crust or anything as domestic as that. But I have crushed a lot of cookies for my trifle crunchy layers! Just put them in a gallon Ziploc bag and vent your frustrations. Trifle making is 100% therapy!

When I texted the picture of my completed masterpiece to Jim last night. He happened to be golfing against my intern's dad. He said, "She better be bringing some of that home!" So like a good mentor, when I realized there was about one large serving left in the early afternoon (they go fast), I got her a to-go container and told her "You better scoop up the rest and take it home to your dad!"

Not only was she a quick learner and very professional, she's obviously very considerate. 

(You're welcome, Mr. G. Enjoy your trifle!)

My Summer Daughters

 

Life has been so busy that I haven't been able to update you on my summer daughters. Well, let's just call them interns since that's what they were.

This week was super quiet because our two interns were gone. Their last day was this past Friday and it didn't seem real until we were in the office and realized, dang, we miss them.

Well of course we are in marketing so we could get a picture of them with our team before they were gone. Looking at this picture, they are on the left end of the seated row – Grace and Melanie.

And naturally, we are such a "fun department" we had to have a fun group pose!

It was a fulfilling summer for me because I was the "official" mentor for Grace, our writing intern on our marketing team. If you ask, pretty much everyone will label me as the "mother hen" or "team mother" so I love this. 

And she was great. And she left such a heart-warming thank-you note on my desk so I knew that my efforts were worth it. 

My take away was this: Never underestimate the power you have to make someone feel welcome, valued, and incredibly talented. Sometimes they just need to hear it from someone new. Be the person that says what they haven't heard before!

Jolly Holiday

I'm so old school that when I hear of a new "holiday" each day I just go back to Mary Poppins and recall that it's a jolly holiday with Mary!

Today's new to me holiday was National Intern Day.

So of course I was compelled to make a card and buy some little treats for the 2 rock star interns on our marketing corporate communications team. They've been with us since May and I will miss them so much when they go. It's like mentoring people who still have 2 years of college to decide what they might want to do – and giving them real-work situations to help them decide. 

Back in the last century when I was in college, most internships weren't paid and I could not give up a summer of income to do one. So I really admire how forward-thinking our 2 writers are. It's a level of maturity I don't think I had heading into my junior year at college. 

But as I said to the golf "opponents" tonight, if you have a college aged kid interested in anything my company offers – from marketing to finance – let me know. We have a generous – very generous – program at Sentry that I'd recommend.

It could be a jolly holiday for someone next year!