Indiana INTERNnet celebrated internship excellence on Feb. 3, 2016, at the 10th Annual IMPACT Awards luncheon. Though the event is over and the winners have been announced, we are continuing to celebrate the nomineesâ successes.
These are their stories.
Ryan Palmore graduated from IUPUI in August with a BA in philosophy. After completing a summer internship with the Indiana Commission for Higher Education (CHE), he was hired by the organization as a Student Support Specialist. After several months, he was promoted to Assistant Director â Student Support Services.
Indiana INTERNnet: What did you enjoy about working in a state agency?
Ryan Palmore: Being able to experience firsthand how various public entities operate internally and across institutions–public and private–has greatly increased my awareness of and appreciation for the hard work that goes into seeing that Indiana residents’ needs and wishes are valued.
IIN: It seems lately the value of higher education has been called into question. How would you defend it, especially after interning with CHE?
Palmore: What’s the old adage? âIt’s not what you’ve got, it’s how you use it.â Opportunities abound daily to capitalize on my higher education â deconstructing political arguments, crafting creative blog posts, contextualizing social phenomena. Especially in the early stages, higher education provides a structured pathway to encourage grappling with challenging issues across a spectrum of domains. The end result is a lifelong set of capacities and skills, many of which are prerequisites to a satisfying career and life.
IIN: Why did you enjoy community outreach opportunities to promote CHEâs programs?
Palmore: The opportunity to directly engage a variety of folks through dialogue and resource sharing really brought home a fuller appreciation of the value of the Commission’s many statewide initiatives.
IIN: What are your future career plans and goals?
Palmore: I am fortunate to have been offered a second advancement since my internship with the Commission. For now, I will focus on this position while pursuing graduate studies. I ultimately aspire to a professorship, but am also focused on expanding my higher education chops, that I might balance my theoretical interests with experience tackling real-world issues.
