Gina Heitkamp '15 - Mayo Clinic

Gina Heitkamp

Class Year: 2015

Major: Nursing

Hometown: Maria Stein, Ohio

Internship: Summer III Nursing Extern at Mayo Clinic

Location: Rochester, Minnesota

Internship Responsibilities: I worked as a Summer III Nursing Extern at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. The ten week program is geared for nursing students entering their senior year of nursing school.  Each extern is assigned to a specific unit in the hospital for the summer and works with different clinical coaches.  I worked on an internal medicine floor and was partnered with four different clinical coaches who facilitated my learning by involving me in the patient care they provided.  As a Summer III Extern, I was able to work side by side with my coach to see what being a nurse really entailed.  I spent my shift with them, working to complete assessments, administer medications, and perform a variety of nursing skills under his or her guidance.  I was able to not only experience the nursing side of patient care, but also how Mayo Clinic really stresses the importance of interdisciplinary teamwork.  I collaborated with the medicine service, social services, dieticians, pharmacists, in addition to other teams to provide holistic patient care. 

What I Learned: I worked with some of the best nurses I have ever met.  They taught me more than just nursing skills, but also how to prioritize, critically think, and see the patient as more than just a diagnosis.  Most importantly, I gained confidence in myself as a nurse.  The patient interactions have been invaluable. It has been an honor to work at the #1 hospital in the nation.

Brooke Jones '16 - Westfield Group Fitness Center

Brooke Jones

Year: 2016

Major: Health Promotion and Fitness

Hometown: Ashland, OH

Internship: Westfield Group Fitness Center

Location: Westfield Center, OH

Internship Responsibilities: My internship was at the Fitness Center for the home office of Westfield Group. As an intern I helped with two programs for the employees called Get Fit and Get Moving. Get Fit was for employees that did not work for the home office in order to get part of their gym membership paid for since they did not have a “free” facility and Get Moving was a program for any employee to get half of their registration fee paid for if they signed up for a walking, running, or biking event. I also helped create two bulletin boards to help guide the employees in the fitness center. The first bulletin had tips to help their form on the different cardio machines and pictures that showed right from wrong. The second bulletin was a group fitness incentive that encouraged the employees to attend more group fitness classes by handing out tickets. The tickets were hung up on the bulletin board each week and the ticket number that was drawn would win the prize for that week.

There was not personal training for the employees but other aspects of being a trainer were involved to help them. I did fitness assessments for any employee that signed up to become a member of the fitness center and asked for one. The assessment covered height, weight, body fat percentage, blood pressure, resting heart rate, girth measurements, muscle endurance, muscle strength, and flexibility. On top of the assessment the employees had the opportunity to get a personalized workout made just for them on software called ExercisePro. It had a picture and detailed instructions of each workout that I gave them for what they wanted to get out of their program. I enjoyed this part because each employee was different and I got to learn more about them individually and what their goals were!

Rebecca Carter '15- ODOT: Office of Environmental Science, Ecological Permits Section

Rebecca Carter

Class Year: 2015

Major(s): Environmental Science BS, Art w/Concentration in Communication Design

Hometown: Hilliard, Ohio

Internship: Ohio Department of Transportation: Office of Environmental Science, Ecological Permits Section

Internship Responsibilities:  As a part of the Office of Environmental Science for the Ohio Department of Transportation I was a member of a team of many experienced environmental specialists. The Department of Transportation is in charge of maintaining and expanding the State’s vast network of roads.  All ODOT projects undergo environmental evaluation to determine the impacts of their construction and operation with many laws and regulations. 

In the Eco section we are in charge of evaluating each project site to determining the environmental impacts and then coordinate with various state and federal agencies (such as the OEPA, ODNR, USFWS, and USACE) to ensure permit compliance or adequate mitigation.  All projects must submit an Ecological Survey Report (ESR) to the Office for review.   I was a part of this reviewing the ESRs that were submitted. Besides permit review I got to be involved in field reviews and surveys.  Sometimes projects have impacts that need mitigation and it is our job to find suitable sites. Some mitigation examples include: creation of new wetlands, improvements on existing wetlands, restoration of streams, and creation of bat habitats.  These sites require us to travel across the state and assess the sites in person. 

What I Learned: Most times we would be showing the USACE or OEPA how the site was preforming and meeting the permit standards. We would trek through the wetland/stream/forest in boots and waders looking at the quality of the site and how it was functioning.  Other times I was able to go into a stream and do a mussel recon to see if there would be a potential mussel community that would be affected by a project.  This internship has provided me with a hands-on experience working with experts in the field I am studying. 

Cordray in Colorado, Part Six: The End

Well after 14 weeks, 60 workdays, and 427 hours in the office (super random number, but I kept track) I have successfully completed my full-time internship! And what an amazing experience it’s been! Now that it’s over, I can look back, reflect on the experience as a whole, and really assess how much I’ve learned and grown this semester.

Reading through my daily journal, it’s hard to imagine how slowly the first few weeks went by! I felt incredibly overwhelmed and very determined to prove myself to my superiors. In stark contrast, these past few weeks flew by so quickly. I was much more comfortable with my role in the organization and had become very friendly with my colleagues and supervisors. The transformation from week one to week fourteen was just amazing!

This last week was one of my favorite weeks at my internship. My colleagues threw me a going away barbecue outside and it was so much fun! Everyone showed up and brought food (even the CEO) and we had a great time! I could really tell that they appreciated all the work I had done throughout the semester (look at the awesome going-away present one of them painted for me!) Throughout the time I was there, they had come to really value me as a person and an employee in the organization. In an attempt to keep me at the Fine Arts Center, they even offered me a part-time job at the front desk for the summer because they didn’t want to see me go. After expressing to them that I may need a job that would enable me to make more money this summer, they talked with management and said that if I stay over the summer, it could possibly lead to a full-time job in the fall!

As exciting as it was to be potentially offered a full-time job, I asked if I could take some time to really think about it before making a decision. As much fun as it’s been to be out in Colorado and working at the Fine Arts Center, I’m not quite sure it’s the first career move I want to make post-graduation. But who knows – maybe my next step will be working at the Fine Arts Center until I figure everything out (and actually making money – who’d have thought?!)

Overall, I feel that this experience has really given me the self –confidence I needed to attack the work force with all the determination I have. I learned that even though I didn’t know everything when I started (and still don’t, now that I’m leaving), because I went about my work with a positive attitude and a willingness to learn, things mostly worked out in my favor. Everyone in the office (even people I barely spoke to) noticed my positive energy and willingness to work and many said that they would miss my smiling face every day! It took me leaving to realize that even when I didn’t think I was being noticed or recognized, I was always being appreciated – even by the people who didn’t directly work with me.

This experience has really helped me feel prepared to move on from the role of student to an active member of the workforce. I am so thankful to Otterbein for requiring me to participate in an internship – and I’m so proud of myself for going all the way out to Colorado to do it! Throughout these past 14 weeks, I’ve learned so much about myself and even though my internship didn’t exactly line up with what I want to do as a career, I am confident that I have learned skills that will carry over into whatever career I chose to pursue.

So to any future interns reading this, I implore you to not just think about how much an internship pays you, or how close it is to Otterbein or your hometown, but to think about the experience as a whole! Open yourself up to learn as much as you can – about work, but also about yourself! You can only truly grow as a person when you’re outside of your comfort zone.

Thanks to everyone who kept with me on this incredible journey, and thanks to the Center for Career and Professional Development for allowing me to be a guest blogger and give my honest (sometimes too honest) opinion of my internship experience. I can’t wait to return to Otterbein next week for graduation!

As always thanks so much for reading, it’s been a real pleasure!

Sincerely,

Dillon Cordray

Music and Business ’15

Adam Piccin '16 - Bricker & Eckler LLP

Adam Piccin
Class Year: 2016

Major: Public Relations, Health Communications

Hometown: Lewis Center, Ohio

Internship: Bricker & Eckler LLP

Location: Columbus, Ohio

Internship Responsibilities: I was a Public Relations and Marketing Intern at Bricker & Eckler LLP for eight months starting in the spring of 2014.  Bricker & Eckler is one of Ohio’s leading law firms and has more than 140 attorneys in four offices located in Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati-Dayton and Marietta.  As an intern in the Practice Development Department, I executed PR and marketing strategies for the law firm, which included writing blogs, press releases, business letters, articles and internal communication copy. I performed extensive research, created marketing lists and regularly updated Bricker’s website.

What I Learned: I have gained experience in HTML coding, copyediting, fixing broken links, utilizing mass email marketing services, marketing database management and more. My favorite part of the internship was my supervisors treating me like an invaluable member of the team and trusted me with responsibilities that did not consist of typical administrative work. The assignments given to me from the other eight members of the department made for incredible learning experiences as well as portfolio samples. In addition, I found it very cool that I was featured on the company’s Intranet floor plan and that I had my own phone number.

I learned to take chances and try new things because you never know what you like until you try it. I am grateful for the incredible internship I had at Bricker & Eckler and would recommend the firm’s internship program without reservation to other students studying public relations, marketing or communications.

Jessica Moore '16, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, DEAMS Program

Jessica Moore

Class Year: 2016

Major: Sociology with concentrations in Criminology, Family & Fraud

Hometown: New Carlisle, Ohio

Internship: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, DEAMS Program

Location: Fairborn, Ohio

Internship Responsibilities: This summer I had the pleasure of working as a summer intern for the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in the Defense Enterprise and Account Managing Systems (DEAMS) program. I joined the Junior Force Council where I was in charge of recruiting volunteers and ensuring everything ran smoothly for our big event, the Symposium, at the end of the summer.  This annual event is where high ranking individuals come and speak about the event theme, which for this year was Career and Connections. I was in also charge of making welcome packets, keeping supplies stocked and coordinating several fundraisers.

What I Learned: Here I learned about the financial aspects of business and how people with various backgrounds and skills can work together as a cohesive whole to accomplish anything. Through this opportunity, I learned more than I ever thought I would.
I was very lucky in that I was placed in an office where I could learn and have fun doing it. Overall I had a fantastic experience and I would love to work there again in the future.

Cordray in Colorado, Part 6: Finding Motivation

Three weeks left of my internship and I honestly can't believe it's almost over! It has been a pretty amazing 11 weeks here in Colorado Springs, but it has also been an incredibly long 11 weeks. At this point, I am absolutely ready to come home, graduate, and move on from the life of an unpaid intern! That being said, as I enter the home stretch, I can't help but feel a little unmotivated at times. This past week, I had a moment where I realized that although it is almost done, I still have almost a month of work left before I can hang up the towel on this internship. So the question is, how do I find the motivation I need to finish strong?

Here are a few things that will hopefully help me (and anyone else doing a semester-long internship) stay motivated:

1. Remember what it was like during week one. Week one of my internship was the time where I was bound and determined to prove myself. I accomplished all the tasks my supervisors set before me quickly and efficiently and talked with them in a very professional manner. Since then, things have changed dramatically. I've become comfortable in my work environment and don't constantly feel the need to prove myself. My superiors know that I am a hard worker and we've become friends - often talking to each other in a friendly and joking manner. Although this is inevitable, it also can lead to me being a bit lazy. In order to continue strong, I need to remember how I worked the first few weeks when I was still trying to prove myself and remember the motivation I had then!

2. Ask yourself how you want your co-workers and supervisors to remember you. This past week, after having a good laugh with my supervisor, I thought to myself "when this is over, do you want to be remembered as the good-natured, fun intern who made your supervisor laugh occasionally? Or do you want to be remembered as the intern who got stuff done quickly and tackled projects head-on while also maintaining a fun, positive attitude?" Sure, I will most-likely get a great recommendation out of the internship regardless of how I work these last few weeks, but I would rather the good recommendation be due to my consistent work ethic rather than my social skills.

3. Make weekly goals. This has helped me from the beginning of my internship, but it's important not to forget. When a task or project is assigned to me, it's important not to just let it sit by the wayside until I feel like doing it. Some projects I get done quickly because I like them, and others I avoid because they aren't fun (normally involving spreadsheets) - but if I set a goal to finish it by a certain date, then I feel more pressure to get it done! The best feeling on a Friday afternoon is to look at a weekly to-do list and see that everything on it is crossed off - even the boring tasks!

This blog post topic reminded me of a tip I read at the beginning of my internship. It said something along the lines of "pace yourself throughout - don't jump in too eagerly in the beginning only to be burnt out by the end." At the time, I was bound and determined to jump in eagerly and prove myself, but after eleven weeks, I do feel pretty burnt out! Following these tips and realizing that the internship is quickly coming to an end will hopefully enable me to finish strong and continue to prove to my superiors that I am a willing and hard-working individual.

As always, thanks for reading! Until next time!

Dillon Cordray

Music and Business '11