Category Archives: Internship

8th Annual IMPACT Winners, Part I

We recognized six individuals and organizations that dedicated their energy and expertise to successful internships in 2013 during the 8th Annual IMPACT Awards luncheon, sponsored by Ivy Tech Community College. These are the first three stories; we will post the other three in an upcoming blog.

Pam Plain Intern of the Year (College/University)

Pam Plain led an international public health initiative as a summer intern with Komen Tissue Bank (KTB) at the IU Simon Cancer Center in Indianapolis.

KTB began to collect breast tissue from women all over the world, and started in Kenya, Africa, where the prevalence of a particularly aggressive type of breast cancer is common.  Plain made arrangements for facilities and transportation of medical and surgical supplies and volunteer materials from the United States to Kenya.

“This involved tens of thousands of dollars, superb communication skills and organizational skills, and an understanding …

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Surviving the Unknown

 

Nothing is more nerve wracking than the unknown. Not knowing what to wear. Not knowing what time to wake up. Not knowing what to eat. Not knowing what time to leave your home.  All of these, plus some, went through my mind during the days leading up to my new position as the Marketing and Special Events intern for Indiana INTERNnet.

The unknown consumed my first day. Having to drive a little over an hour with Indiana’s unpredictable weather would pose a challenge. And it did. But who would have thought that I would begin my internship during the second round of the Polar Vortex? Because of the weather, I was nearly 2 hours late on my first day. I did not see that coming. Luckily, I am working with a group of caring and understanding people that admire the fact that I even drive as far as I do every day. However, it …

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Internship Experience at Native American Museum Confirms Career Interests

Heather is a senior humanities major in the honors program with minors in French and history at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College. She a member of Sigma Tau Delta International English Honor Society and holds the position of editor-in-chief of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods’ literary arts magazine publication, Aurora. In her free time, she volunteers with the White Violet Center for Eco-Justice, a ministry of the Sisters of Providence.

This fall semester I interned at the Native American Museum at Dobbs Park in Terre Haute, IN. The museum is run by the Terre Haute Parks Department because it resides on park property. Nestled in the woods, the Native American Museum serves the Terre Haute area through community education on the culture and history of the native peoples of North America, particularly on the peoples of the Woodlands and the Great Lakes regions.

The primary goal for the Native American Museum …

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Intern Featured on Annual Cover of GRAD Magazine

It’s not every day I get a text message from my coworker asking me if I want to be on the cover of a magazine. Naturally, I play it off as a joke and ask what issue. The next day, she explained how GRAD Magazine, a partnership of the Indiana Economic Development Corp., Indiana Commission for Higher Education and Indiana Business Journal (IBJ) media, wants to feature me on the cover of their annual issue. Apparently, one of my blog posts caught their attention. Flabbergasted, I nodded my affirmation. How could I turn down such an opportunity?

“How could I turn down such an opportunity?’

This was not my first encounter with the statewide, higher education publication. As a matter of fact, I remember picking up a copy in the career center at Anderson University my junior year and flipping through its pages for some valuable advice …

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Internship Reflection: Parke County Community Foundation

Sarah Melvin, a 32-year-old mother of two, attended Franklin College out of high school and withdrew her senior year to join the US Navy. After living in Hawaii for eight years, she moved back to the mainland to raise her children near family. Sarah is currently a junior at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College seeking her bachelor’s degree in Business Administration.

I recently served as a Marketing/Support Intern for the Parke County Community Foundation (PCCF). I was curious as to what the organization was and visited the Foundation last summer to perform informational interviews with the staff members. My intentions were to gain insight on how nonprofits operated, and if I would be interested in pursuing a career in the field. Before I left, the executive director offered me the internship position that I recently completed.

The PCCF is a local nonprofit whose mission is to aid …

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Speak Up

“Speak Up” is a guest blog post by Hanover College‘s third-year English Studies student, Alyssa DelPrete, who dreams of making it in the publishing industry. She left her comfortable small-town life and traveled to Philadelphia for the fall semester, obtaining an internship in editing and being immersed in the world of publishing through The Philadelphia Center (TPC). “This experience is already changing me, and I can’t wait to see how I transform over the course of the semester,” says Alyssa.

This past Thursday, I had a meeting with both my TPC advisor and my internship supervisor. Not knowing exactly what to expect, I found myself standing nervously beside Mark, my TPC advisor, as we waited for my supervisor to return to her office. As Mark flipped through the recent issues of Book Business and Publishing Executive, the two publications done by the group at NAPCO that I’m interning with, …

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How to Wrap Up Your Internship (And Eat Your Cake Too)

The last week of my internship with Indiana INTERNnet was bittersweet. On one hand, I am sad to leave this great environment of supportive people. On the other hand, I am excited for the next step in my career. Before I go, I wanted to leave you with a few tips on successfully wrapping up an internship.

1)      Connect with Mentor

From the moment I walked through the door, Janet has been there for me. She answered questions, assigned projects and gave feedback. As I mentioned in a previous blog post, the No. 1 perk of an internship is having a mentor throughout the experience.

As I wrapped up my internship, Janet and I connected to assess my progress and make sure my goals were met. In the last section of the Employers’ Guide , the intern is recommended to provide feedback to the organization. I appreciated the chance to not …

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Honing writing skills through a virtual internship

This is a guest post by Stephanie Dolan, an online student at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College. She is studying journalism and recently completed a virtual internship with {C} Magazine.

As a journalism and media studies major, an internship is integral to finding one’s niche as a writer. I’m thankful that writing allows me more freedom than being locked into one field of expertise; however, occasionally focusing on one area at a time can assist in narrowing down a writer’s strengths and preferences.

My first internship came during the winter semester. I was a newsletter writer focusing on news specific to one organization’s interests. This summer in my second internship, I was a contributing writer for an online entertainment publication, {C} Magazine.

Both of my internships have been virtual experiences, and – as an online student – maintaining a virtual presence was essential for me so that I wouldn’t have to …

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Thoughts from a former TPMA intern

Editor’s Note: Thomas P. Miller and Associates  (TPMA) is and Indianapolis-based company with a mission to align people, technology and initiatives to enhance the economic value of communities, educational institutions and companies. Former TPMA Intern Calli Duggins reflects on her internship and what she learned while at TPMA.  Duggins is now a graduate student at IUPUI.

Working with TPMA as an intern was a critical part of my professional development during my undergraduate work at Butler University.  Prior to this internship, I had interned at a large non-profit organization and a state government agency.  While both of those experiences were valuable because they introduced me into the work environment and helped me improve my interpersonal skills, TPMA afforded me an incredibly well-rounded experience.

The projects assigned to me in the first summer included the development of a new website for TPMA and the creation of community asset inventories to be used in …

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Marketing internship provides applicable work experience

Megan Nelson is a student at St. Mary-of-the-Woods College in Terre Haute, Indiana. She is an employee at Lake Land College (LLC) in Mattoon, Illinois.

The goal of my internship was to use online marketing to increase the college’s non-traditional audience, expand its brand, and get noticed on the Internet. Part of my assignments involved using avenues like Google AdWords to reach this goal. I spent the majority of my first two weeks researching Google AdWords and how it worked before I determined the best way to learn was to “dive in head first” and create one. I generated three text ads on AdWords and conceptualized a single video ad to reach adult students from start to finish. I also explored the possibility of advertising on Pandora Radio by gathering demographic information and creating a survey via SurveyMonkey.com  to help determine if that opportunity would be worth the investment.

During …

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One intern’s experience: Thinking about a career in law enforcement?

This guest post is written by Jennie Faker, a criminal justice major and psychology, sociology, and women’s studies minor at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College.

Since the Criminal Justice program started at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College about six years ago, there has never been an intern at the Terre Haute Police Department – until now. As the City Department’s first SMWC intern I was excited to pave the way for future interns.

The Terre Haute Police Department has 136 sworn officers ranging from the uniform division to investigations. The main goal of the department is to protect and serve the people of Terre Haute as well as providing safety. I did not sit at a desk filing paperwork, stapling, mailing, or typing. I was in the middle of all the action! I rode with uniformed officers and conducted traffic stops, responded to domestic disputes, and served warrants. With the investigations division I sat …

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Employers: A New Age of Internship Possibilities

I invite you to clear your mind of any pre-conceived notions about internships. Now, more than ever, employers have options when selecting an intern to fit your company’s particular needs. The word “internship” is expanding to include all types of structured and supervised experiential learning beyond the traditional 12-week college internship. Each type offers a distinct approach that can produce innumerable benefits for your organization, the student and our state.

Maybe you’ve dismissed the idea of hosting an intern because you don’t have the resources to manage a semester-long office internship. Or maybe your company’s work lends itself to a different internship approach. There are several new internship trends that can address specific goals you have, help you tap into fresh talent and even recruit full-time employees. There are also different demographics you can consider for internships beyond the 20-year-old college student.

New Types

‱ Virtual internships: Low on office …

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Internships make a positive IMPACT

As fall internships are getting into full swing, we want to remind you of an opportunity to recognize the “Rock Star” you had the pleasure of working with this year. Maybe it’s your intern who exceeded expectations. Maybe it’s your employer or career coach who’s served as a great role model. We want to hear your success stories!

The IMPACT Awards Luncheon, sponsored by Ivy Tech Community College, will be on Feb. 6, 2013, at the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art. We are now seeking nominations for these awards.

Several great stories surfaced from the IMPACT Awards last year.

Josh Bloxsome served as a systems engineering intern at Raytheon Technical Services. When several experienced engineers on that task had to be reassigned, Bloxsome’s role increased – and with great success. The project was completed ahead of schedule and under budget. Bloxsome is now CEO of Bloxsome Technology, …

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Adopt an attitude your internship supervisor will love

Beginning a new internship can be scary, if for no other reason than the fact that you have to build a good reputation for yourself from the ground up, usually in about 10-12 weeks. Can your internship supervisor really come to trust you with meaningful work in that small timeframe?

The answer is “yes!” You can expedite the process, too, by adopting an attitude on Day 1 that your supervisor will love. From my internship experiences, here are some ways I found will help you build a good relationship with your supervisors and mentors:

1.  Act like a professional

Be pleasant and respectful. Know when to listen and when to speak. Contribute to the formal and productive office environment, don’t detract from it. Talking about your 21st birthday while the board president is within earshot is not a good idea. Texting during a meeting also won’t win you any points.

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First day on the internship

Today marks Day 2 for me as the Marketing and Special Events intern with Indiana INTERNnet. I just read an excellent blog post by Megan Schuman, last summer’s intern, and by the sound of things, I’m in for an incredible experience!

This will serve as my eighth internship, so I am a huge believer in the benefits and take-aways these experiential learning opportunities provide, and I am beyond excited to talk about this for the next several months. I know I am indebted to all of my internship supervisors and mentors for the great experiences they afforded me and all the wisdom they passed to me.

Internships can be downright fun. I’ve had the opportunity to work for the 500 Festival, the Indiana State Fair and Sen. Richard Lugar’s office in Washington, D.C. I gained practical field knowledge, but I also have a host of fun memories from these experiences, …

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