Category Archives: Work and Learn Indiana’s Intern

High School Internships: To the High School Student Considering an Internship

Don’t underestimate the value of high school internships. We’re shining a light on these valuable experiences by telling the stories of students around the state. Be on the lookout for additional blog posts about high school internships.

Dear high school student,

If you’re wondering if you should pursue an internship, the answer is yes.

Maybe you don’t know where it will take place, because it’s nothing more than an idea right now. No problem! The process of finding an internship may teach you just as much as the experience itself. It may feel daunting to search for an opportunity as a high school student, but you’ll find that there are more offerings than you’d expect. Your school, community and Indiana INTERNnet want to help prepare you for the workforce; internships are one of the best ways to do so.

Even an unpaid position likely will benefit you financially over the next few …

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Employers: What Your Intern Wishes You Knew

Whether you’ve hosted interns for years or weeks, chances are you’re still not a mind-reader. You care about making this internship the best possible experience for everyone involved, but your intern may not know how to communicate their goals to you just yet. To make things easier, here’s a list of ten things your intern probably wishes you knew:

1. I’m here to work

If I wanted to be paid to do nothing, I would get a job as a house sitter. I’m here to gain experience in my field of interest, and I’d rather be busy than bored.

2. That said, I know my limits

And you probably do, too. I don’t expect every task you assign me to be incredibly important or challenging, because I understand there are some things I’m just not qualified to do. I’ll learn from the small things, too.

3. I’m always observing

Because …

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Virtual Internships: Museum Musings

It’s the unofficial summer of virtual internships — we’re celebrating the successes and sharing the struggles that come with it. Be on the lookout for a blog post about virtual internships every Friday!

Brooke Hazel is a Digital Media Intern at The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis this summer – rather, for The Children’s Museum, as Brooke is working at home like many interns in Indiana. Brooke is from Brownsburg and attends Butler University as a member of the class of 2022. With double majors in Strategic Communication and Human Communication & Organizational Leadership and double minors in Spanish and Education, Brooke already learned the value of time management before it became more important than ever this year.

She started her summer internship search early – and it paid off. Not only did she land an internship that aligns well with her career goals, but she also made it through the hiring …

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Spend Summer Serving

Here at Indiana INTERNnet, we’re all about experiential learning. Our focus is internships, but we recognize that sometimes students have to get creative and find other opportunities – especially this summer. As some internship programs have been cancelled or changed due to COVID-19, volunteer opportunities have only increased to help communities through this crisis. If your summer internship has been cancelled or shortened, consider spending some of your extra time serving!

Why Volunteer

Recent months have made us all more aware of the needs within our communities – why not help to meet them? Not only will you be making a difference during this historic time, but you’ll also be gaining valuable experience to learn from and add to your resume. Can you say win-win?!

Finding Opportunities

There are so many needs that it can be hard to know where to start. But there are several resources to help you …

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Virtual Internships: Is Being a Virtual Intern Too Easy?

It’s the unofficial summer of virtual internships — we’re 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 junior at Indiana University – Bloomington (Class of 2022). I am majoring in Finance and Accounting with minors in Economics, Mathematics, and Spanish. I am currently an Investment Analyst Intern at Valeo Financial Advisors in Indianapolis, where I conduct research to support our advisors on the investments portion of their comprehensive financial planning service for their clients.

 

 

Last Thursday, I got out of my car and headed up the stairs to the third floor to start my day with the obligatory waves, head nods, and good-mornings, just like every other day at the office. The only difference was that I hadn’t been to the office in nearly three months. …

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Virtual Internships: 10 Thoughts You Have as a Virtual Intern

It’s the unofficial summer of virtual internships — we’re celebrating the successes and sharing the struggles that come with it. Be on the lookout for a blog post about virtual internships every Friday!

As I mentioned in my introductory post, Indiana INTERNnet is the fifth place I’ve been an intern. But it’s the first place I’ve been a fully virtual intern, which makes it a unique experience for me. I know I’m in good company, though – many of you have just started your first virtual summer internship too. So, now seems like a good time to reflect on the first week or two of telecommuting and let you know you’re not the only one who’s had some of these thoughts recently:

1. I miss company Keurigs. Remember the drawers full of fun K-Cup flavors we didn’t have to pay for? Well, I certainly do.

 

2. So much for the …

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Ten Things to Do in Indiana this Summer

Whether your summer internship brought you to Indiana for the first time, moved you to a different city within the state, or kept you kicking it in your Hoosier hometown (shoutout to the summer of virtual internships!), you’re probably eager to explore some of what Indiana has to offer this summer. While it might be different than previous years, there is still fun to be had in 2020! To help you make the most of your time, here are 10 things to do around the state this summer:

Indiana State Parks

Ready to get out of the house? Indiana State Parks are open and most of their services and facilities continue to provide a variety of options for a summer day.

Drive-In Movie Theaters

What better way to spend a summer night than at one of Indiana’s twenty drive-in theaters?!

Drive-in Restaurants

If you’re in the Indianapolis area, you’ll want …

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Meet the Intern: Emily Combs

Greetings!

I’m Emily, the Outreach Intern here at Indiana INTERNnet this summer. I feel grateful and excited for the opportunity to spend the next several months promoting experiential learning in my home state!

I’m originally from Fort Wayne, where I attended Homestead High School and had my first internship experiences as a senior there. I really appreciate the freedom I had to gain professional experience before college, and that’s a major part of why I’m so excited about joining the Indiana INTERNnet team now. This is my fifth formal internship, so I guess you could say it’s a passion! Last summer I was a part-time intern at an Indianapolis nonprofit called Tangram and at Prudential’s Indiana Financial Group. My time in both companies taught me how to apply what I had been learning in the classroom to actual projects and problems.

I’m a rising senior at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, …

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Ciao, Indiana INTERNnet!

This is will be my signing off and farewell post. My time with the awesome Indiana INTERNnet team is complete and while this is a bittersweet post, I am beyond grateful for all of it. I know the future holds nothing but the best for Indiana INTERNnet and everyone involved. I am a much better young professional today thanks to the guidance of the entire team.

Mike,

I have never felt so comfortable being a subordinate. You made it easy to talk to speak to you and that means a lot. In a world full of intimidating bosses, passive aggressive emails, and glass ceilings your team’s accessibility to you by far makes you a great leader. Combine that with your humor and willingness to help, I’d say that makes you not only one of the best supervisors to have worked under but also one of the most understanding.

Allison,

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Farewell, Indiana INTERNnet

Dear Indiana INTERNnet,

The opportunity to intern with this company has been a delightful learning experience. Throughout the semester, I’ve learned and grown in many ways.

Most notably, I had the opportunity to plan and execute an Instagram-based social media campaign. The goal of the campaign was to create engaging content for students on our Instagram. I wrote out a full plan, created graphics, and produced videos through Tik-Tok for the platform. The result was an increase in followers and student engagement on our account!

Mike, our executive director, gave me full creative freedom to do this project.  Thank you for being a fearless leader during these uncertain times.

Allison, you were super welcoming from the beginning. You’ve been my go-to whenever I needed guidance or a question answered. I’ll miss our chats about BeyoncĂš, sociology, and Ball State.

Caitlyn, I’ve learned so …

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Olatundun Awosanya: Making an IMPACT

Indiana INTERNnet celebrated internship excellence on February 18 at the 14th Annual IMPACT Awards Luncheon. Though the event is over and the winners have been announced, we are continuing to celebrate the nominees’ successes.

These are their stories.

Olatundun Awosanya is a senior at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis. She also completed an internship with Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis.

Indiana INTERNnet: Congrats on winning College Intern of the Year at our 2020 IMPACT Awards! Now that your internship is over, what are you up to these days?

Olatundun Awosanya: These days I am working hard to finish my last semester of college strong. Having to switch from a classroom setting to complete online schooling has definitely been a learning curve, but I feel like I have finally gotten adjusted to it. I am sad that there will not be a commencement ceremony to celebrate the accomplishment with my fellow classmates, but …

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Shelby Waligora: Making an IMPACT

Indiana INTERNnet celebrated internship excellence on February 18 at the 14th Annual IMPACT Awards Luncheon. Though the event is over, and the winners have been announced, we are continuing to celebrate the nominees’ successes.

These are their stories.

Shelby Waligora is a senior at DeKalb High School. She completed an internship with The Community Foundation DeKalb County.

Indiana INTERNnet: Congrats on winning High School Intern of the Year at our 2020 IMPACT Awards! Now that your internship is over, what are you up to these days?

Shelby Waligora: Currently I am focusing on finishing my senior year strong at DeKalb High School with the added obstacles. I’m still interning at the Community Foundation; I will hit one year in January. I still hold the title as Promise Intern and still work closely with Promise Enrollment events at DeKalb County schools and still assist in planning the Walk Into My Future event. As time goes …

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Spring, Is That You?

For months I had been anticipating this perfect riding weather. Telling others here at the Indiana INTERNnet how I could not wait to ride my bike into the office instead of taking the Red Line. A few weeks before all this, my fiancĂ© and I had just started up “Reset Sundays,” where we would frequent a different park in the city or surrounding area. We like to get out of our small apartment in downtown Indy. We would walk around for miles and just reconnect with nature and reset for the week ahead.

Fresh Air, Is It Worth It?

The shelter in place order and working from home situation currently happening here in Indiana. Keeping us all cooped up inside plus the beautiful weather have me wanting to go outside for bike ride more than ever, but at what risk?

The truth is that a lot of us …

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My Unexpected Senior Experience

I’m experiencing a less than ideal ending to my undergraduate career.

Yesterday morning, I attended my first online lecture for a course called soil quality. We used a platform called Webex, which felt much like a Skype call. My teacher lectured like normal as if we were in class but only about five of my peers came online (out of 12). This is the only class I have that’s switching over to meeting online during our scheduled class time; and the lab portion of the course is being replaced with shorter take-home assignments.

Other professors chose to create digital spaces where they can be available to students. Mostly, they’re doing this through virtual office hours and Canvas discussion boards. Other than that, course schedules have completely changed. Now on a regular day I download assignments, watch videos, and review PowerPoints in place of class.

The worst …

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Working and Studying from Home

With both city and state governments announcing new guidelines and restrictions to stay healthy and safe, a lot of people are expected to not just stay home, but also work or attend classes from home. There could be a silver lining. No more commuting (at least for the time being), and more opportunities to eat an actual well-balanced meal instead of whatever you can heat up in the office microwave or find in the campus cafeteria. However, in a setting where you’re completely in charge of how you manage your time, you can be your own worst enemy.  Here are some tips to maximize your productivity while working or learning from home.

Respect Your Space

It may be tempting to work from the comfort of a big comfy couch or a cozy bed. Respect your work and the space you work in. Find a designated spot to work at. If …

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