Every summer since 2000, I have worked a summer job. Below are the two main jobs I have worked and what I have gained from them.
Garvey Schubert and Barer (
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In the summer of 2000, I got my first real job at the law firm of Garvey Schubert and Barer. I worked in their Central File room for 11 weeks performing various clerical duties. Among other things, I completely organized the file room, shifting around the files, off-siting old files, and making room for new ones. Working at GSB was a very grunt-work job, not intelectually challenging at all, with the exception that I can now look at a stack of random files and instantly know which ones are out of order, and where they need to be placed in order to alphabetize them.
While the work was tedius, repetitive, and at times boring, it was a fun experience to interact with the office staff in a relaxed environment. At the end of the summer, I knew I didn't want to work in a cubicle doing paperwork all day long. I wanted to be active, and interactive, working with other people, and possibly kids in my future job.
Dennis Warshal Arts (
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Having had enough as a paper pusher I looked locally for a job in the summer of 2001, finding a part-time spot working with neighbor Dennis Warshal at his Event Planning business, then called Dennis Warshal and Associates, recently changed to Dennis Warshal Arts in order to reflect his growing interest in marketing his art work. At first, I worked as needed, usually three times a week preparting for events, and setting up the event on the day of.
I continued working with Dennis through the summer, and into the school year, working the occasional weekend event if an extra set of hands were needed. In our work, we would manufacture centerpieces, floral arrangements, signs, and decorations of all sorts for a wide variety of parties, events, and celebrations. On a typical day, Dennis would make a finished product, a 'prototype' we called it, and then we would work seperately, creating another 10 or 20 copies of it. I quickly developed an 'artistic eye' and would sit and fuss with an arrangement until it was up to par. Whether for better or worse, I've become a bit of a perfectionist since working with Dennis. I've found myself constantly pushing to make better arrangements and art work for the clients and their events.
In the summer of 2002, I went to work full time for Dennis as a Welding Assistant. I quickly picked up welding and steel sculpture and was making artwork in no time. Over the course of the summer, I grew to be an accomplished welder, making a number of pieces working either with or under the guidance of Dennis. I also made two solo pieces of art, one of which I am proud of for its technical nature, as well as its colorful design.
I most enjoy working at Dennis Warshal Arts becuase it is fun for me to create a beautiful, colorful technically designed piece of art, whether it be a chuppah, a table centerpiece, or a floral arrangement. It makes me use both sides of my brain, my free-flowing creative, design side, and my strict task-oriented technical side. I believe this is best explained in my first piece of steel art work, as Dennis explains what he sees in it:
Currently, when I work for Dennis, I never know what to expect from a day at work. I could be wressling huge pieces of steel sculpture, contorting them into artistic shapes and modifying them with a full array of power tools, or I could be doing delicate floral work and making precision cut-outs of people from pictures mounted on foam cor.
Creation