Category Archives: IMPACT Awards
Baldwin & Lyonsâ intern uses his interests to find career fit
Mike Starr, actuarial services intern at Baldwin & Lyons, Inc., is not your average intern. Starr earned his master’s degree in student affairs and spent time in the professional world before an internship sparked a career change.
While Mike Starr did not always know what he wanted to do as a career, he always knew what he liked.
The actuarial services intern at Baldwin & Lyons, Inc. in Carmel realized early on that he liked math and science as well as a team environment. Blending those interests, however, proved more difficult before his current internship.
As a physics major at The Ohio State University, Starr assumed that medical school was in his future. When those plans fell through, Starr went back to the drawing board.
âWhile I was in school, I was extremely involved in different campus activities, so thatâs when I became aware of student affairs as a …
The difference a year makes
This is a guest blog by Jara Rowe, social media marketing coordinator at Minnetrista and former Indiana INTERNnet intern.Â
This time last year, I was working a full-time job, driving two hours round-trip for an internship with Indiana INTERNnet (IIN), and finishing my masterâs degree. It was a lot of work, but I was determined it was necessary to take the next step in my career.
Fast-forward a year, I completed my internship with IIN, started and completed an internship with McGowan Insurance Group, Inc., completed my Master of Arts in Public Relations, and started a new full-time job that I love. I am currently the Social Media Marketing Coordinator at Minnetrista.
While interviewing for a part-time position at Minnetrista, I was able to showcase the skills I developed while interning with IIN and my passion for social media. The interviewer recognized my potential and forwarded my information to …
Internship reinforces the dream of working with youth
This is a guest blog from Adeline Dible, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods student and  intern at East 10th United Methodist Children and Youth Center.
I walked into a strange looking building thinking to myself, âI must be in the wrong place,â until I heard the chatter and happy cries of the toddlers upstairs waking up from their afternoon naps. The halls were decorated in the tiny handprints of the 4-year-olds and the painted smears from the 2-year-olds. You could hear the adults cheering right along with the small children.
It was at this moment that I knew that this youth center right was exactly where I belonged.
I currently work for East 10th United Methodist Children and Youth Center (UMCYC) on the east side of Indianapolis. This center provides a safe place where the spiritual, emotional, educational and physical needs of children, youth and their families are responded to in a …
IMPACT Awards make an impact on a new intern
This is a guest blog from Beth Hahn, intern at Thomas P. Miller & Associates and student at IUPUI.Â
Throughout the course of my undergraduate and graduate career, I have been an intern in a variety of settings including, but not limited to: an elementary school, funding organization, local community center and a consulting firm.
As an intern, I have assisted organizations on a variety of tasks ranging from copying and filing documents to supporting organizations with their strategic planning process. These internship opportunities have been truly instrumental in my personal and professional development. More importantly, these internships have given me confidence on how I want to move forward in my own professional goals once I graduate from IUPUIâs School of Social Work in May.
I have been in my current internship at Thomas P. Miller, & Associates (TPMA) since December. I was a bit anxious about my new …
Annual IMPACT Awards hit the jackpot
On Feb. 4, 2015, Indiana INTERNnet hosted the 9th annual IMPACT Awards at the Ivy Tech Culinary Center, where a record-setting crowd came together to celebrate the achievements of the stateâs interns, employers and career development professionals. We hope to see even more of the stateâs best in 2016!
Group Dekkoâs Jennifer Fisher framed her IMPACT Awards keynote speech around how great success only comes from taking risks. âYou canât win the lottery if you donât play,â she said, reminding both interns and employers that while becoming an intern or hiring one is a risk, the rewards can be great.
Fisher quizzed the audience on people whose success was once tempered by failure and people who told them no. Lucille Ball was encouraged to quit acting and Elvis was turned away time and time again before they changed American culture. Interns, Fisher said, should not give up on their dreams …
Last call for IMPACT Awards nominations
Each year, Indiana INTERNnet aims to celebrate the interns, employers and career development professionals that make internships exceptional at the IMPACT Awards.
Nominations for the 2014 IMPACT Awards are due on Oct. 24 by 5 p.m. EST, and time is running out to nominate your colleagues! The Feb. 4, 2015 IMPACT Awards luncheon will honor three interns of the year (high school, college and non-traditional), two employers of the year (for-profit and nonprofit) and one career development professional of the year.
To fill out our online nomination form, visit http://bit.ly/1qGHeIh and tell us how your nominee made the internship experience valuable for all those involved. Help us celebrate the benefits of internships by filling out a nomination form today!
Ron Arruejo: Making an IMPACT
Indiana INTERNnet celebrated internship excellence on Feb. 5, 2014, at the 8th Annual IMPACT Awards luncheon. Though the event is over and the winners have been announced, we are continuing to celebrate the nomineesâ successes.
It isnât just Ron Arruejoâs affinity for Indyâs delicious food truck offerings that motivates him to commute from Bloomington to the capitol city weekly (though weâre sure it plays a role!). Itâs a hands-on internship experience with Thomas P. Miller & Associates (TPMA) that makes the travel worthwhile.
âBeing able to work on a vast variety of projects from local economic development to state economic reforms and various market analyses with universities, counties and regions has given me a deeper appreciation of how interconnected the economy is with everyone and everything,â Ron said.
In 2012, Ron was placed with TPMA for his fellowship for graduate school. He has been with TPMA as an intern …
Kristen Hay: Making an IMPACT
Indiana INTERNnet celebrated internship excellence on Feb. 5, 2014, at the 8th Annual IMPACT Awards luncheon. Though the event is over and the winners have been announced, we are continuing to celebrate the nomineesâ successes.
This is a blog post by Kristen Hay, student at the University of Indianapolis. She was a social media intern with a writing focus at BLASTmedia.
BLASTmedia (BLAST) is not your typical internship experienceâitâs above and beyond.
I started and completed the summer of my senior year at the University of Indianapolis as the social media intern with a writing focus on the social media team at BLAST.
Along with a great team, work environment and job tasks, I spent the summer working as a cashier at a retail job and tutoring in my schoolâs writing lab. While BLAST provided fun in the form of company outings, it also gave me the learning experience …
Sloan Jones: Making an IMPACT
Indiana INTERNnet celebrated internship excellence on Feb. 5, 2014, at the 8th Annual IMPACT Awards luncheon. Though the event is over and the winners have been announced, we are continuing to celebrate the nomineesâ successes.
When you think of the fashion world, Indiana is probably not the place that comes to mind. But that didnât stop Sloan Jones from developing her business and industry skills with the J. Crew Factory in Michigan City last summer.
Sloan started out as a part-time worker at the store. The next summer, she asked the store manager, Mariceli Paz, if she could be the store intern. With the help of an Indiana State University professor and Paz, they designed a manager-in-training program just for her.
âThe internship allowed me to get a taste of what it takes to be a manager of a retail store,â Sloan explained. âCustomer service, register duties, store events, …
Allison Bowman: Making an IMPACT
Indiana INTERNnet celebrated internship excellence on Feb. 5, 2014, at the 8th Annual IMPACT Awards luncheon. Though the event is over and the winners have been announced, we are continuing to celebrate the nomineesâ successes.
Like a fine wine, some internships just get better with time. Allison Bowman will tell you that.
The Rose-Hulman senior has been an intern with BAE Systems every summer since graduating from high school in 2010. She performed a different rotation each year, broadening her skills and knowledge.
In her last year as an intern with BAE, she volunteered to be the sourcing intern, which in the past had rarely been a successful internship due to the lack of necessary skills and knowledge of the business. She volunteered for this post so she could see the big picture of the company as a whole and learn more about the business side.
âAllison was tasked …
Chris Jones: Making an IMPACT
Indiana INTERNnet celebrated internship excellence on Feb. 5, 2014, at the 8th Annual IMPACT Awards luncheon. Though the event is over and the winners have been announced, we are continuing to celebrate the nomineesâ successes.
We arenât huge fans of labels, but this is one we really like:
âIntern-to-Hire.â
And Chris Jones earned the label after graduating from Indiana State University in December 2013 and going to work immediately for Baldwin & Lyons following a successful internship with them.
Chris had his hands on many jobs within the company. He assisted in the development of the recently established project management office (PMO). He took over the management of the companyâs top strategic project that changed the rating premiums for the largest account. Baldwin & Lyons also updated their ChangePoint system, and Chris co-managed that project.
âChris is a motivated, personable project coordinator with strong management and organizational skills,â said …
Shawna McLetchie: Making an IMPACT
Indiana INTERNnet celebrated internship excellence on Feb. 5, 2014, at the 8th Annual IMPACT Awards luncheon. Though the event is over and the winners have been announced, we are continuing to celebrate the nomineesâ successes.
When Shawna McLetchie began a grant-funded internship with the School of Medicine at IUPUI in 2012, she had minimal lab experience.
Now, she can âwowâ you with all that sheâs picked up.
âMy time in Dr. [Janice] Blumâs lab has allowed me to learn techniques like ELISIA, Western Blot and qPCR,â she said. âI have also been able to communicate in science by the writing I am starting to do as well as presenting my research project in lab meetings or even just talking to Dr. Blum about my data.â
Scientific lab work was not the first career path she chose, however. She graduated from Hanover College in 2011 with a degree in biology, …
Sriram Jegatha Aranganathan: Making an IMPACT
Indiana INTERNnet celebrated internship excellence on Feb. 5, 2014, at the 8th Annual IMPACT Awards luncheon. Though the event is over and the winners have been announced, we are continuing to celebrate the nomineesâ successes.
This is a blog by Sriram Jegatha Aranganathan, a senior studying Mechanical Engineering at Indiana Tech in Fort Wayne, IN.
During the summer of 2013, I had the pleasure of being an engineering intern at Oji Intertech in North Manchester, IN. Oji is a growing company that serves the automotive and industrial packaging industries. Their core competencies are centered on compression molding, die cutting, assembly and extrusion coating. I worked under the supervision of Aaron Highley, who also graduated from Indiana Tech and has been working at Oji for more than 2 years.
To begin my experience, I could not find an apartment for 3 months in North Manchester, so the best way to …
Ashlyn Sanders: Making an IMPACT
Indiana INTERNnet celebrated internship excellence on Feb. 5, 2014, at the 8th Annual IMPACT Awards luncheon. Though the event is over and the winners have been announced, we are continuing to celebrate the nomineesâ successes.
This is a blog by Ashlyn Sanders, a senior Marketing & Operations Management and Psychology major at Indiana University, Bloomington.
During my sophomore year of college, I attended the business career fair at Indiana University and realized that day exactly where I wanted to work â ExactTarget.
Unfortunately, I was not chosen that year to be an intern, which encouraged me to work even harder to earn a spot the following year. One year later, however, I was chosen to be an ExactTarget Slingshot intern, and I had the time of my life that summer.
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âI would recommend that everyone gets at least one internship under their belt during …
Jessica Otteman: Making an IMPACT
Indiana INTERNnet celebrated internship excellence on Feb. 5, 2014, at the 8th Annual IMPACT Awards luncheon. Though the event is over and the winners have been announced, we are continuing to celebrate the nomineesâ successes.
This is a blog by Jessica Otteman, a senior studying Business Administration and Facility & Event Management at Grace College in Winona Lake, IN.
Last summer, I had the privilege of working as the Event Management Intern at the headquarters of the Special Olympics of Southern California in Long Beach. While my time with the Special Olympics seemed short (it lasted from May to July), I learned about what goes into making a large-scale athletic event happen by working alongside the Special Olympics staff.
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 âTo provide year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, giving them continuing opportunities …