Staff Stories - May 26, 2022

Interning at Goodwin Living Changed My View of Senior Living

By Sofia Romero

My name is Sofia Romero. I am 18 years old and a senior at Wakefield High School.

After I graduate, I’m planning to go to Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA) for my first two years of studies. I really like the education field, so I plan to major in childhood education. I imagine myself in the future teaching young kids and also learning from them day after day.

A teaching career requires a lot of passion and responsibility. In my opinion, education is fundamental for the development of our society, and what I want from this career is the power to contribute in a meaningful way to the lives of others.

As I was preparing to graduate from high school, I spent six weeks as an intern at Goodwin Living. My school offered this opportunity to me, and it gave me experience in several different departments at Goodwin Living – departments which serve the entire organization. Goodwin Living includes two Life Plan Communities, an at home program, hospice, home health, rehabilitation and brain health. I worked with the supply chain team and the marketing and communications team during my internship. Both teams were awesome, and I really enjoyed working with them.

When I learned about the opportunity to intern with a senior living and health care organization, I had no idea what it would be like to work there. I took the opportunity because I wanted to learn and grow during my internship.

Spending time at Goodwin Living changed my perception of senior living communities. I used to think that senior living communities were all nursing homes, where people are usually elderly and frail and need a lot of care. I thought that team members at senior living communities would all be caregivers. However, working at Goodwin Living changed how I see senior living communities and the services they provide older adults who age in their own homes.

Residents at the Goodwin Living Life Plan Communities are very energetic and participate in a wide variety of activities. Moreover, team members do much more than just providing care to the residents. The departments that I worked in during my internship support everyone in the organization—residents, others served by various Goodwin Living programs and team members.

Working at Goodwin Living provided many new experiences for me. It was not only the experience of working in senior living and healthcare, but also working in an office. It was a different experience than I expected. The working environment surprised me because I could see that the team members really care about each other. It is more than just a place to work; you get involved with the company and the people there.

I learned so much in this time working for Goodwin Living. It let me grow so much as a person and in my professional life. I think that is because they care as much about you as a person as they do about your work. When you work at Goodwin Living, it’s not just a place to work.

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Editor’s Note: During her six-week internship, Sofia Romero spent just a few hours every Wednesday with the Marketing & Communications Department. She graduates from Wakefield High School very soon, and she eagerly awaits the start of her college career. Sofia emigrated from Venezuela to the United States with her family only a few years ago. She shared as much with us as we shared with her, and we appreciated the opportunity to learn from her. We delight in the fact that she took the time to write this blog article, and we wish her all the best as she pursues her degree in childhood education.