Summer Learning : 3 Youths Share What Working Has Taught Them : ‘Each Day Brings New, Diverse Tasks’

The lazy days of summer are anything but for Jennie Fuguet, Brent McFarland and Claudia Rios.

The three Southland youths are among the 23 million young people nationwide who are working at summer jobs this year.

The Times asked Fuguet, McFarland and Rios to write about their summer job experiences. Their following essays, edited by Times staff writer Jesus Sanchez, show that the three have already learned a wide range of skills. For example, Fuguet, 16, who works behind the concession stand at the Edwards Cinema Crown Valley theater in Mission Viejo, has learned about the importance of customer relations.

McFarland, 17, of San Pedro has been trained to use a computer to draw blueprints at Rodin Bieberly Associates, an architectural firm. Rios, 18, has put her bilingual skills to work at Kaiser Permanente’s Los Angeles Medical Center.

I am now amazed at how fast this summer experience has whizzed by. I can clearly look back upon my arrival to the intermediate cardiac surgical unit. As I went through the corridor leading to the nurses’ station, all sorts of sensations went through me.

As is obvious, I was a bit queasy yet excited with my first day. Right away I began mingling, thanks to my supervisor, Edna Leong, who introduced me to everyone. My first day, I was mostly immersed in observation and in getting myself acquainted with my new surroundings.

My days are not a routinized schedule of specific things to do. Each day brings new, diverse tasks from which I gain experience, no matter how simple or arduous that task might be.

There are times when I walk patients. I enjoy being with my patients because they teach me about life through their own experiences. I chat with patients with distinct cultures and ethnic backgrounds which I am not familiar with.

I even get attached to my patients. I hate having to see them leave; it hurts. Three of my patients have even given me their address and number to keep in touch, especially when I go away in September to UC Riverside.

My bilingual skills have worked this summer too. There is a patient who knows no English. Almost every time, they (medical staff) call on me to translate medical procedures or just to communicate.