Interview Assignment 3d5360

Seth Van Dyke Art Kanehara Comm 1010-42 11/29/15 Interview Assignment Ever since I can I have loved helping people. I have always enjoyed sharing my life experiences with others and hoping they would learn from my mistakes and my successes. For my interview I decided to interview one of my close friends. We met when I moved down to Salt Lake City earlier this year. We are actively involved in the motorcycle community and that's where our friendship started. I always wondered what he did for a living because I noticed he's really good with people and has a lot of time to do cool activities. The first time I heard what my friend does for a living I heard he was a priest for a Methodist church. I asked him what his actual job is and he is a peer leader for a church. The church is called the Park City Community Church. It's located at 4501 Utah 224 Park City, UT 84098. He advises mostly teenagers and helps them with their trials and issues. He also plans trips and activities where there are opportunities to serve and help the community. He's a relaxed Californian so he loves to talk and talk. I have always been told I should help the youth because I am good at relating to younger peers and putting things in a way they can understand. I believe I inherited a bit of this ion from my mother. She is the director of a successful preschool and youth summer camp and I have always been

involved in helping her. I really enjoy those opportunities so I've always looked for jobs that could allow me to do that. Q: “What is your name?” A: “Mark Weaver” Q: “How old are you?” A: “34” Q: “Where do you work?” A: “Park City Community Church 4501 Utah 224Park City, UT 84098” Q: “What is the most fulfilling part of your job?” A: “I would have to say the most fulfilling part about my job is building relationships with teenagers and seeing positive changes made in their lives as a result of those relationships. I know when I was younger and when I was in high school I started to get into parties, substance abuse, and making some decision that were kind of destructive. But I didn't have anyone to look up to or to talk to about that and I just followed my friends and did what they did and followed the crowd. I learned the hard way from a lot of my mistakes. I learned through a lot of consequences. I really like to be open with kids about all the bad decisions I've made and I like to have them feel comfortable with me sharing what's going on in their lives. I can help them think through their choices and sometimes you really see some light bulbs go off and some “Aha!” moments. These kids really are inspired and want to make some positive changes in their lives and decide that it's better to help other people then to live selfishly. That's a reward in itself, where you feel that kids are looking up to you and think you're really cool for whatever reason it could be. Its really rewarding to know you're doing something positive with your time. It's nice to be apart of something other than “society” and taking advantage of other people and get ahead of everyone in a selfish way. It's a very rewarding job.” Q: “What benefits come form your job?” A: “It is a really good salary with lots of benefits. There is a lot of freedom that comes with this job. My wife has a job and she gets in trouble if she goes in 5 minutes late. When I come in two hours late no one notices. I love that there is freedom and it is a highly relational job. My job is just hanging out with teenagers and I get the chance to plan awesome activities that I would want to do even when Im not working. I recently got back from a 3 week trip to Costa Rica and got to do a lot of humanitarian work. We also did a lot of surfing and community service. I get to go snowboarding with them

whenever I want and go to haunted houses and stuff like that. It’s my job to plan all sorts of fun events. It’s just a fun job and so that is really beneficial. Also just to have a position of authority is cool. It’s nice to have a say and be respected. I love leading and helping to run an organization. It’s rewarding that I get to work a job that I get to be creative and come up with really fun ideas for people and more specifically kids to do. I love seeing other people having a good time, enjoying the ideas I come up with and seeing a project come together. Especially when it enriches others relationships and lets them have fun. It’s a satisfying job.” Q: “What communication skills are necessary for your job?” A: “That’s the primary area of my job actually. Honestly I had no idea I was going to go into youth ministry but I ended up getting my degree in communications in college. I had no idea how much that degree would apply now. First of all I teach every Sunday and sometimes I preach in front of the church. so my public speaking experience really paid off. Where I learned to write speeches that were meaningful and inspiring and persuasive. I learned to stand in front of a group and not choke and be too nervous and preach. My whole job is just communicating. Interpersonal communicating with students, just sitting around in a circle and getting them talking about their lives and not just doing all the talking. But facilitating constructive communication where I ask open ended questions that really engage the students in deep thought and processing out their decision making in their lives. Healthy communication is a big part of my job and get to be open and honest and transparent with students. Telling things about my personal life and just about my philosophies , my morals, things like that. They also get to share what they feel and believe . I try to foster a really safe environment for effective and healthy communication so it’s not just surface level like “hey, how’s the weather, what cars and sports are you into right now . We actually get to talk about our feelings and our emotions and process those out in a community that feels safe . There is also a lot of organizational communication. This is a Methodist church, so there is a committee for everything. There is a whole hierarchy within and an istrative counsel. There is a youth committee. We get together and have meetings frequently, at least once a month where we talk about how the ministry is going and how we can improve attendance as an organization. So we brainstorm ideas together. I can’t think of any aspect of my job that’s not communication oriented.” Q: “Do you get the chance to travel a lot for work?” A: “Yes, especially on mission trips and service projects. We even get to do a lot of recreational trips. We’ll take kids and even sometimes leaders on trips.

Sometimes out of the state and out of the country. Sometimes I’ll go to conferences, a couple weeks ago I got to go to Kansas City for a big Christian leadership conference.” Q: “What is your salary?” A: “I make $62,000 a year.” Q: “Do you make enough money in your opinion to live a fulfilling and ideal lifestyle you desire?” A: “That’s a tough question. I live in Park City but compared to the rest of the world yes. I have a truck and a nice condo and a motorcycle and I pay all of our bills. I am able to pay for my wife’s minivan. The cost of living in Park City is so high that I only have a 2 bedroom condo and I have 2 kids. A boy and a girl that share a room. That’s not going to last forever. I pay like $500 more for rent than when I paid for a 3 bedroom house in California. Park city just has a ridiculously high cost of living. So my wife is working nights at a hotel just so we can make sure to have enough money for groceries and things like that once we have all our bills paid. That isn’t ideal for now but before she never had to work and I preferred that. I am usually left alone at nights with the kids and that’s hard at times. I really can’t complain. I make the top end of what youth pastors make. I live a pretty comfortable life. I do a lot of recreational activities and have time to have a lot of fun. No matter how much I make it seems a little bit more money would be a lot more helpful. I used to make about $40,000 but now I make $22,000 more than that. I still feel like I live paycheck to paycheck just because personally I’m not the most responsible person when it comes to finances. I open a lot of credit cards and then max them out. I don’t have very good money management skills but I definitely make enough to live a satisfying life. I have no complaints. If I really cracked down on my spending and got out of some credit card debt I would be totally fine with money and my wife would most likely not have to work. It’s just hard to live in a culture where you can get what you want now but pay later.” Q: “What schooling have you completed?” A: “My undergrad was communications at Purdue University which isn't really relevant but I went to seminary and got a Masters in Theological Studies at Anderson University.” The interview went better than expected. Mark answered all my questions with exactness and even answered my other questions before I asked them. Mark is very ionate about his job and he loves to talk about it. Hence

the reason his answers are so long. After performing the interview Mark showed me around the facility where he works. On one half of the building there is a church with a chapel and a couple istrative offices. The back of the chapel overlooks the Canyons resort and it is a breathtaking view. The other side includes a large gym and commons room. There are also classrooms full of couches and comfy chairs where class is held. I learned a lot from this interview. I would love to pursue my career in youth advising and maybe even therapy. Mark told me you don't need to get a lot of education to get a job doing what he does. He said all you need is to have the right connections, which is ironic because that is what this assignment is somewhat about. One thing I leaned through doing the interview is I wouldn't necessarily want to work for a church related organization. I interviewed with the church after the interview and they loved me. They told me I would be perfect to be Mark’s assistant and eventually take over his job in the next couple months. They later discussed in a large committee about me to propose I work at the church. The end result was they didn't find it fitting for a Mormon to teach their kids about life and to try and open kids minds to the idea of Christianity. So there seems to be some political issues in church related organizations and it seems it would have some restrictions inthe ways you could educate the youth. I am actively trying to find a job dealing with youth advising. I think it would be so much fun. My interview with Mark sparked my interest even more and I would love to find a position with the amount of freedom and salary his job contains.

Interview Questions: 1. What past jobs have you had with helping the youth? 2. What kind of education do you have to be a peer advisor? 3. Have you ever planned or held an activity for a large group? If so what? If not, what are some of your future ideas? 4. What experiences have you had in your life that could benefit the youth in our organization? 5. What are some of your hobbies and skills you can contribute and implement in this job?