To conclude the summer internship program, each intern will write about one particular topic or discovery they made while working at Nine13sports. For this one, Dylan Rizol, a Business Management major at Indiana University, has tackled the blog:
As a college student I know about having to finish. I have to finish homework, readings, and tests, among others. Hence, completing tasks and assignments have become a pretty routine event that borders on the mundane most of the time. Therefore, when I first started learning the rules for when Nine13 goes to events and finishing the course was one of them, it seemed only natural.
My view changed on this rule, however, a few weeks ago when we were working with the Indiana National Guard STARR program. Tom Hanley was giving the spiel to the kids that were on the bike just as I had done at events in the past. This time, however, was one of the few times that I had actually heard our Executive Director give it, so I wasn’t prepared for what he had to say about completing the course. Tom was telling the kids how Nine13 believes in finishing what they start, and how finishing these courses here today is going to set them on the right track to make sure they finish what they start in the future.
Finishing what you start is just one of the many life skills we exercise (no pun intended) at Nine13sports.
After we began the course I began to think about how I had never thought about how finishing each course could help them in the future. For me my immediate reaction is, of course you finish what you start, but for some of these kids they may not realize how important that concept really is. It was then when it dawned on me how important what we do with these kids actually is. Yes, fun and exercise are very important, but we are also teaching/reinforcing a concept that is so paramount for these children’s futures who might not learn about this concept until it’s too late otherwise. I knew what we did for kids was amazing from the start, but it has begun to sink how much we actually affect these kids lives.