A letter and a philosophy of supervision
Penning a letter of recommendation is difficult, but it's good writing practice. The letter in question is for a graduate student who has been a fantastic help at work, and I was very surprised when she asked me to write a recommendation for her. It feels strange to be writing praise for someone who has—in my mind—accomplished more than I have done to date. But then I've always felt sort of weird about assigning myself a particular status or level of expertise, especially in relation to someone my age.

I treat students/interns as equals because it feels like the right thing to do. (Perhaps it's because I'm not too far from the student world; in fact, I'll reenter that world in August. It's still kind of weird supervising graduate students, though.) I won an award for my particular brand of supervision at my last job, and it's secretly (or not so secretly) one of my most treasured accomplishments. It always surprises me how often student workers or interns are relegated to doing grunt work when they could be doing much more engaging work.

Someday I'll write a book (or, failing that, a pamphlet) about the successful supervision of student workers. Here are two title candidates:

The Proper Care and Feeding of Student Workers
Interns! Interns! Interns! A Celebration of the Curious Species in Four Part Harmony

And my current favorite:

The Meek Shall (Forcibly) Inherit the Earth: How to Rise Up Against Your Superiors