Written by Micah Womack is a 17-year-old rising senior at Detroit Collegiate Preparatory at Northwestern High School. Next summer she graduates, but this summer she spent six weeks as an intern at SpaceLab through the Grow Detroit’s Young Talent (GDYT) program. As a Motor City Match (MCM) business, SpaceLab was excited to participate through GDYT and MCM’s partnership. Micah wrote the post below at the end of her internship with us. We’ll be posting more of her work – interviews that she conducted with SpaceLab’s Bobby Burton and some of our coworking member companies – and we hope to work with her again.
Today I’m here to tell you about my summer. This summer was amazing; I couldn’t ask for a better one. While kids my age were staying up late I had to go to bed at 10. While the kids my age were out late, I was in the house getting ready for the next day.
My favorite part of my summer was the first day I walked into SpaceLab. I was welcomed, and I felt like this where I belong in the future. Working at SpaceLab is something I love doing. I met new people and learned new things. I can honestly can say I learned a lot from this wonderful experience. Before this job I couldn’t tell you one thing about architecture, now I can give you a thousand and one facts about it.
I have learned about new websites that I never heard of: Eventbrite, Hootsuite, Doodle and many more. Everyone who knows me knows I love to work on Canva, but I actually didn’t use Canva that much. I learned to use different websites such as the ones I just named. I also learned how to set up Lunch and Learns and to set up calendars for sharing and coordinating events. This workplace has shown me a lot, and not just all on the computer. I learned about different companies and what they do, when they first became a company, and about the people.
The people who I was surrounded with this summer, who work in SpaceLab, were amazing. Every morning I was greeted with a “Hello” or “Good morning.” When I first started out, I felt like I was just going to work and wanted to get it over with. But as I really got used to it, I actually loved waking up in the morning, taking a 30-minute bus ride and a 5-minute walk just to get here.
There are a lot of wonderful people walking about in SpaceLab. They’re always smiling and working. I didn’t think that I would gain so much information, but before I left I learned different things from Berardi+ (architecture firm), from WolfVR (virtual reality company), and from SDG (architecture firm). I wish I could have interviewed everyone, but I kind of read everyone from the way they dressed, walked, or smiled. If I could go down the list and name everybody in this building I would, but here are the ones I’ll remember most: Louis, Michal, Mark, Bryan, Naomi, Valentina, Melvin, Andrew, and Ms. Doreen. For the most part, I’m going to really miss Mrs. Karen and Mr. Bobby. Since I’ve been here, they have made this job experience amazing – they taught me so much.
Mrs. Karen taught me always follow your heart and your dreams, and everything will fall in place. Mr. Bobby taught me to believe in yourself even when nobody does, and never let anybody’s opinion change your thought or opinion on something. I just want to thank them for this experience that they gave me. They really showed me a lot. They took me on a wonderful college tour and showed me different aspects of the school and business life.
Thank y’all for having me around for these amazing six weeks. I’m going to truly miss y’all and being here.
SpaceLab Detroit 