During the past few months, many of The Hill School’s students participated in an H-Term course, project or job. Kerry Elliott ’23 spent her H-Term as an intern at Elliott Greenleaf Law Firm in Blue Bell, Pa. in order to gain perspective on a possible future career in law.

Around the office, Elliott completes tasks such as shredding and scanning, which she learned how to do first. She also organizes and restocks books in the library, organizes case files and creates electronic folders for other online files.

Elliott talked about how she worked with case files, saying, “I would get this big stack of papers and help to organize them and put them in their correct folders.” Elliott said that when she does that work for a long time she gets in a good routine and can work pretty quickly.

Being an intern at Elliott Greenleaf Law Firm has allowed Elliott to explore her future as a possible lawyer. Her dad saw this opportunity as a way to allow Elliott to experience working at a family business, learning to manage time and follow others’ instructions.

“My dad works there, and I was thinking of what I could do,” Elliott said. “I wanted to do something that would be beneficial towards the future.”

Elliott mentions that not many people go into the office due to COVID-19. Every morning all of the people working get their temperatures taken and have to wear a mask at all times, except in the private spaces of their offices.

People do physically go into conference rooms to take calls, but most participants are joining from Zoom. According to Elliott, the staff is diligent about following the COVID-19 protocols, and they have remained safe and healthy.

On a workday, Elliott and her father will either head into the office at 9 a.m. or 11 a.m., depending on if her dad takes his calls at around 10 a.m. from home or not. She starts her day with shredding and scanning, and then Elliott does any other needed work.

Sometime between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. Elliott takes her lunch break, followed by a project assigned by her father. This could either be working on a case file or organizing electronic folders. If she has free time before leaving at around 7 p.m. to 8 p.m., she will do homework for her classes at Hill.

Elliott’s favorite work task is shredding. This is because she can listen to music and be by herself in her office. Her least favorite is scanning because it is repetitive and she has to be in a room with a few other workers. Overall, Elliott prefers assignments where she can be fully immersed in her work.

Working with her father at Elliott Greenleaf Law Firm has taught her a lot about being a lawyer and working in an office. This internship has taught her how to approach things that she might not necessarily want to do, like going into law. After doing all of this work, Elliott reported that she does not think she wants to pursue this career, but she is able to take this experience and make it something positive.

During H-Term, Elliott has learned a lot. She said, “It’s been a good learning experience because this is my first job and my first time working in a social environment.”