Reflections From Our PHPC Kids Summer Interns

Throughout the summer, PHPC Kids has benefited from two standout interns, Madeline Sumrow and Suzanne Baxter. In case you don’t know them, Madeline and Suzanne are both Hockaday students and active participants in the PHPC Youth House. We are so thankful for their help planning events and keeping in communication with our families during this “virtual” summer. And now, they’d like to share their thoughts on the experience. Thanks for all your hard work, Madeline and Suzanne! 

While this internship isn’t what I originally expected, I think the changes this summer have helped me grow and learn more from this experience. I prefer to plan things out far in advance, but with the current pandemic, this was not an option. It has been good growth for me to see how we’ve adapted and stayed connected through these circumstances. It was also a chance to be more creative with the type of virtual events we planned through Zoom. Instead of seeing how the church typically runs in person, I was able to see how the church adapts and stays connected even during hard times. While I’ve grown a lot, I’ve also had so much fun! My favorite part of interning this summer is our PHPC Kids! It is always great to see their smiling faces on Zoom and seeing how happy they are to be involved, even virtually. I’ve also loved seeing Sunday school friends continue to connect and grow friendships by playing games and being together on Zoom, when we can’t be together in person. Seeing each kid’s positive attitude has always brightened my day!

—Suzanne Baxter, PHPC Kids Summer Intern

When our world went into lockdown and more things began to close down, I figured this internship would be one of those things to go. However, once I was told we were still going on with the internship, I was so excited and ready to spend time planning for and hanging out with the kids. I’ve loved every minute of it, so it’s hard to pick my favorite part. But, if I had to choose, my favorite part of the internship would be planning the social events and seeing how much the kids enjoy the activities we plan. I love watching kids make friends and existing friends get closer through fellowship. I couldn’t be more grateful for this opportunity to give back to the program that gave me so much as a kid and get to know everyone’s amazing kids!

—Madeline Sumrow, PHPC Kids Summer Intern

BOTH: 

As everything has switched virtually this summer, our programming underwent a lot of reimagining and reorganization. For example, Journalism Workshop became virtual, VBS now had take-home activities and check-in Zooms, and different age groups continued to meet for fellowship activities over Zoom. However, some of our original projects stayed the same, such as working on the weekly parent email, posting on social media, and organizing the PHPC Kids resource room. Even though a lot changed, we are so grateful for every chance we had to help out with PHPC Kids and give back to our church. It’s been an amazing learning experience that’s given us so many happy and funny memories, especially from virtual summer camps and fellowship events. We are so thankful for Ann Nielsen and Sarah Bennett who have made this internship possible even during this pandemic. They have guided us along the way and helped us learn so much from this opportunity!