Category Archives: Work and Learn Indiana’s Intern
Meet the Intern: Fatoumata Sylla
Hello everyone! My name is Fatoumata Sylla. I am an intern at the Institute for Workforce Excellence.
I was born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana, but my family is originally from Guinea, which is located on the west side of Africa. I currently attend Indiana University Indianapolis, where I am currently a sophomore majoring in Law in Liberal Arts and Public Policy with a minor in Leadership and Military Science and a certificate in Paralegal Studies.
I am heavily involved on campus where I serve on two executive boards (Event Coordinator for the African Student Association and Secretary for the NAACP), as well as being a mentor with DEAP (Diversity, Enrichment and Achievement Program), Student Leader for the Orientation Team and the Black Student Union. This helps me stay connected to campus as well as helping the students around me and my community.
I started off as an apprentice through …
Meet the Intern: Travis Robinson
Hello! Iām Travis Robinson. I’m delighted and grateful to be working with the Institute for Workforce Excellence as the Program Operations Intern.
I grew up in Whiteland, Indiana, a lovely small community about 30 minutes south of downtown Indianapolis. I enjoyed my time at Whiteland High School, which helped me set me on the professional path I am currently pursuing.
After high school, I began my studies at Purdue University. Studying agricultural systems management and data-driven agriculture has been an eye-opening experience. I have learned more than I could have imagined from some very intelligent professors. I am going into my senior year at Purdue eager to learn more. Although I know I will miss my university experiences, I’m also excited to use all that Iāve learned in a professional setting.
The Institute for Workforce Excellence has given me a wonderful opportunity to see what this professional setting will look …
What I’ve Learned So Far
I have officially hit week 10 of my internship with Indiana INTERNnet!
I feel it is the perfect time to update you on everything I have done thus far, and also talk through some things I have learned along the way.
First things firstĀ
Internships are a great way to discover the types of things you want out of your career, while also “test driving” different paths you may want to look into. For myself I learned that I truly love social media marketing. Before Indiana INTERNnet, I had zero experience running social media accounts that weren’t my own. I found myself looking forward to creating posts and researching trends that would boost engagement on our site. Creating content feels like second nature at this point and I will most definitely be looking for careers that will allow me to have that creative freedom in the future!
The most rewarding …
Common Challenges New Interns Face
We’ve all been there–the new kid, the freshman, first day of your first job.
No matter who you are, you experience being the bottom rung of the ladder at some point.
One of the most common stereotypes surrounding internships is that you are designated all the grunt work. We see evidence of this in popular tv shows, movies, and even books, so it has to be true, right? Well– yes it is kind of true, interns are given the jobs that other employees don’t care to do, but this is not necessarily a bad thing. We all have to start somewhere, and there’s no better way to learn than to start from the bottom.
The advice I would give to an intern who does not appreciate getting the grunt work is this: perspective is everything. You must always remember that scanning through documents and running errands are some of the …
Intern Stories: Natasha Mecklenburg
“Providing internship opportunities…changes the whole equation”Ā -Eduardo J. Padron
On June 14, 2021 I had the opportunity to interview Natasha Mecklenburg, a private client advisor at Gregory & Appel Insurance located in Indianapolis. I met Natasha at a Rotary Club meeting a week beforehand, and hearing how her intern experience changed the trajectory of her life truly inspired me.
Natasha’s story begins in Zimbabwe, Africa. She was born and raised in Zimbabwe, until she migrated to Switzerland to further her education. Natasha found her niche for hospitality and hotel management early on, which led to her attending an international hotel management university located in Switzerland. This university wasn’t your average college campus, but rather a mock hotel run by the students. During her first few years of school, Natasha had the opportunity to complete two internships. When the time came for her chance at a third, her campus hosted a …
What I Wish I Knew Before My Internship
So, you landed your first internship this summer, congrats!
Internships are a great way to network and get your foot in the door in the world of the corporate job market, but were you aware of the things you should be doing now? You may be thinking to yourself, “I just started, what could I possibly need to do?” Well, I am here to tell you that by starting now, you set yourself up to have a plethora of key takeaways at the end of your internship experience.
First things first, keep track of your projects!Ā Big or small, doesn’t matter, what matters is having enough pieces to fill your portfolio and resume with, so that future employers can get the best idea for how your skills would fit with their team. The best advice I can give is to start healthy/helpful habits now. Create weekly lists of specific tasks you …
Meet the Intern: Kennedy Eineman
Hello! My name is Kennedy Eineman, and I am delighted to join the Indiana INTERNnet team as its summer 2021 intern!
Iām originally from Fairland, Indiana, a small town just southeast of Indianapolis. I attended Triton Central High School, graduating with fewer than 85 people in my class. My small town gave me some of the best memories, but I fell in love with Indianapolis and hoped that one day I would be a part of it.
This past May, I graduated from Ball State University with a major in public relations and a minor in communications. In my time as a college student, I was a part of Kappa Delta sorority, where I held and maintained strong leadership roles. My experience with Kappa Delta is what steered me towards my love for outreach and interpersonal communication: two integral elements to my position at Indiana INTERNnet.
I found Indiana …
Farewell from the Intern
Itās hard to believe Iām already saying goodbye to my summer internship at Indiana INTERNnet ā and to the team that made it so enjoyable! Iām grateful for the opportunity Iāve had to promote work-based learning in Indiana the past couple months, and I know Iāve learned a great deal from it myself, too.
This experience has been a unique one for me, because I had never been a fully virtual intern before. Although itās been strange to work with people Iāve never met in person, everyone has still managed to make me feel like part of the team this summer.
The focus of my work here has been promoting high school internships, which was an interest of mine when I came into this experience. I appreciate the freedom and support Iāve had to complete the project this summer. Iāve been able to create an outreach plan and begin executing …
Student Survey: COVID-19 and Fall Internships
Recently, Indiana INTERNnet shared the results of an employer survey about fall internships. Now we have results to share from a student survey as well. Because COVID-19 changed many schoolsā academic schedules, Indiana INTERNnet wanted to understand how students may have likewise changed their internship plans. The student survey also collected information about completed summer internships. The survey was sent to all of the active students on IndianaINTERN.net (8,301 students) and received 382 responses (4.6% response rate).
Of those surveyed, 17% (66 students) had completed a summer internship. The 83% (316 students) who hadnāt completed a summer internship selected the reason(s) they hadnāt: 1) working a part- or full-time job instead (120 students); 2) not being able to find an internship (84 students); 3) taking summer classes instead (67 students). Sixty-three students said they hadnāt planned to complete a summer internship in the first place, and 60 students said they …
Indiana Intern Showcase Recap
Earlier this week, Indiana INTERNnet hosted its inaugural Indiana Intern Showcase, a virtual event that featured 17 interns from around the state. During the showcase, interns shared about the experiences they had this summer. Many discussed large projects and favorite traditions they participated in throughout their internships. The nearly 50 showcase attendees also had the opportunity to ask questions during several Q&A sessions with presenters. Here are a few of the highlights from the showcase:
Developing skills
Every intern who presented in the showcase spoke to some degree about the skills they had learned and developed over their summer internships. Presenting interns were from a variety of industries, college majors, and educational levels, but they all gave testimony to the educational power of an internship. Students talked about developing skills that ranged from research and writing to engineering and cold calls, human resources and event planning to teaching and accounting. …
Virtual Internships: Lessons Learned
Itās theĀ unofficialĀ summer of virtual internships ā weāve been celebrating the successes and sharing the struggles that come with it. This post concludes our summer blog series about virtual internships.
For many of us, the next month will include finishing virtual/hybrid internships and beginning classes in a virtual/hybrid setting. As we make this transition, it will be helpful for us to reflect on the lessons we’ve learned this summer and consider how they could transfer to our classes this fall. Here are a few that come to my mind:
Adaptability is everything
If you had told me (or probably anyone on the planet) a year ago what life would be like this summer, I wouldnāt have believed you. I would have doubted that Iād be able to transition to such a different lifestyle in such a short time. But here we are now, and Iāve recognized a resilience in both …
High School Internships: Archit Malik
Donāt underestimate the value of high school internships. Weāre shining a light on theseĀ valuable experiences by telling the stories of students around the state. Be on the lookout for additional blog posts aboutĀ high school internships.
For many students, the summer between high school and college feels like a time of waiting and anticipation, but for Archit Malik, itās a time of doing and learning. Heās working as a legal intern at The Garrett Companies this summer, where heās gaining experience in real estate development before starting his freshman year at IUPUI next month.
Born in India, Archit moved to the United States when he was five years old and has lived in five different cities around the nation since then. Perhaps this resilience is what helped give him the confidence to jump into an opportunity at The Garrett Companies this year. He was connected to the company through its …
Virtual Internships: Challenge Accepted
Itās theĀ unofficialĀ summer of virtual internships ā weāre celebrating the successes and sharing the struggles that come with it. Be on the lookout for a blog post about virtual internships every Friday!
Author Bio: I am a rising senior at IUPUI. I am majoring in Finance and International Studies and minoring in Economics and Philanthropic Studies. I am currently a project manager and business analyst for the TechPoint S.O.S. (Summer Opportunities for Students) Challenge, where I am working with a team to develop a website to help parents and students with elementary education. Ā
My summer, like many studentsā around the nation, has not worked out as I expected. For several months I excitedly planned to intern with a corporate funds service in Indianapolis as a loan agent, but everything changed when the pandemic hit. I scrambled to find new opportunities and felt the pressure of needing to build …
Diversify Your (Internship) Portfolio
Shoutout to the finance interns who understand portfolio diversification much better than I do! Here, weāre talking about diversifying a different kind of portfolio: your internship portfolio. This is a compilation of the work youāve completed as an intern for one or several companies. It can be a formal, physical, or digital collection ā or, it can be a more informal mental list. Either way, itās helpful to have more than one type of internship experience to put on your resume and talk about during interviews. So, what are some major classifications of experience to consider?
Type
Whether they planned to or not, many students have recently added a virtual internship to their portfolio. If youāre not one of them, donāt worry! As employers become more comfortable hosting interns virtually, more opportunities will become available. This is a valuable experience to have, especially as work continues to move home. At …
Virtual Internships: Summer Reading
If youāre anything like me, youāre looking for something to do in from the Indiana heat right now. And what better way to spend a summer day than with a good book? Since many of us are still learning how to work effectively at home, it seems like a good topic for some summer reading. Here are nine suggestions to help you be a better virtual intern (or supervisor!) this summer:
1. Work from Home Superstar: How to Stay Focused and Rock Your Day
We all know that distraction is one of the worst enemies of working from home. This book understands the struggle and offers advice about how to be just as productive at home as in the office.
2. Effective Virtual Conversations: Engaging Digital Dialogue for Better Learning, Relationships and Results
Another real challenge of working remotely is communicating virtually. This book focuses on digital communication and provides …