Hi! My name is Samantha Parker (pictured left) and for the past 10 weeks (the end of May to the end of July) I had the chance to be an Events Intern at Wright-locke Farm. I also had the chance to learn so much more about this phenomenal place. I am currently a rising junior at Boston University’s school of Hospitality and as a requirement of the program, we have to do something called “work experience hours.” This requirement is two 400-hour jobs or internships and this summer I decided to do my first one at Wright-Locke Farm. Although I was considered to be Amy Rindskopf’s intern helping and learning about events, I learned and experienced all the amazing things that happen at this Farm.
For me, choosing the right major was very difficult. Throughout my college experience, I changed my major numerous times, but when transferring to Boston University I did not get into the program I initially applied to. When this happened I had no idea what to do because I knew that Boston University was the school I wanted to be at; so I talked to an advisor and he recommended Hospitality to me. I instantly realized this is exactly what I should be doing. Knowing how many different jobs and job fields you can do with a hospitality major, I didn’t want to waste any time figuring out what I wanted to do, so I started applying to jobs and internships. This is when I saw the posting for Wright-Locke Farm — a farm only 20 minutes from my home town in Melrose.
When I came across this job posting, I was surprised to learn that there was a farm in Winchester. In the 16 years I have lived in Melrose, I had never heard of this amazing place, but I am so glad that I discovered it. I knew as soon as I went for my interview for this position that this would be the perfect place for me to intern. One reason being that I am still trying to figure out what I want to do for a career when I graduate and this internship for events would give me the most exposure to the event industry. You see, the Farm does such an array of events — from 1st birthday parties to graduations to weddings, etc. Another reason being that each client is not only renting the barn space, but they are responsible for finding all their own vendors. Coordinating between Farm, client, and vendor gave me the knowledge of so many local vendors that I would not have gotten anywhere else (as most venues work exclusively with specific vendors). Throughout my time here I did exactly what I intended to do which was to learn about coordinating events and getting to size up local vendors.
The best part about being an intern at Wright-Locke has been the trust the senior staff had in me, especially Amy! She gave me the opportunity to jump in and help out at events as much as possible — which, for me, is the best way to learn. I am a very hands-on learner and the way events run at the Farm, you have to be able to jump right in and deal with anything that is thrown your way. I did just that, which let me learn much more about events than I ever imagined. Alongside the event management side of things, I also had the opportunity to work the Farm Stand. This gave me the opportunity to learn how closely tied this farm truly is to the community. I have loved my time here at the Farm so much that, although my internship is complete, I wont be quite leaving yet. I am happy to say that I’ll be working in the Farm Stand until I go back to school in September!
I am so grateful that I was given this chance to work at Wright-Locke Farm, because I learned so much and got to experience an amazing and magical place!
