Meaningful Internships in the Time of COVID-19
Although the fall semester looked very different for students at Chatham, many were able to get experience in their fields through adapted or virtual internships. We caught up with four graduating Cougars who completed internships last semester to see how they embraced the unexpected. Check out their internship advice below:
Emily Yosi
(she/her/hers)
Major: BA Human Biology ‘21
Internship: Allegheny Health Network Healthy Food Center
What was your day-to-day life like at your internship?
I had a unique experience that I was really grateful for. The Healthy Food Center provides free food for patients suffering from food insecurity. Normally, patients were able to come in and grocery shop but with COVID we would come out and take their order in the waiting room. I would then package their order and walk them to their car. After they left, I would work with my supervisor to establish some nutritional goals and chart any additional updates on their lives in terms of food.
What valuable lessons did you learn?
Getting exposure to working one-on-one with an underprivileged community is a huge thing especially going into the medical field and I learned a lot from just interacting with the patients. I learned how to communicate with and accommodate every patient. Being an undergrad and getting experience in the medical field and getting experience actually interacting with patients is really rare.
Did your internship shape your plans for the future?
I am planning to become a Physician’s Assistant. I’m not sure what specialty I want to do currently, so I’m keeping my options open. However, this internship which encapsulated both medical and community development services taught me things about food insecurity that I think will serve me in my future as a PA. I had never considered doing work in underserved communities before this experience and it definitely made me shift my focus because I loved what I did there.
What was the most challenging part of fulfilling an internship during COVID-19?
I originally had an internship at Shadyside Hospital that was canceled because of COVID. So, this internship was a last-minute decision because I was looking for something in-person which is difficult to find right now. However, despite changing the plan for my internship entirely, I really enjoyed my experience.
Any advice for students looking to gain a similar experience to yours?
Keep your options open! This gave me a different experience in the medical field that I wouldn’t have gotten if I would have done a more traditional internship in a hospital setting.
Abby Young
(she/her/hers)
Major: Creative Writing ‘21
Internship: Downtown Community Development Corporation
What was your day-to-day life like at your internship?
The Downtown CDC is a newsletter that coordinates events and I was writing for their newsletter. It was completely remote. I would check in with them every Monday and Wednesday and they would assign me people to interview. I got to talk to a lot of restaurant owners and artists in the Pittsburgh area and write up articles about them.
What valuable lessons did you learn?
Just how to talk to people. I also learned how to value the way that other people treated me, be less of a pushover, and value my time as a professional and respect the process of publication.
Did your internship shape your plans for the future?
If anything it really solidified what I thought I was going to do. I’ve always sort of known I would end up working for something like a newsletter because the creative writing world is super competitive. I didn’t even know if journalism was something I could even do and it taught me that I can. The dream is to eventually work up to becoming an author of fantasy novels or an editor but this is a really good start.
What was the most challenging part of fulfilling an internship during COVID-19?
It was difficult to not have any face-to-face interaction especially when you’re trying to get ahold of people to interview them. I think I would have valued actually being in the professional work environment and getting some of those casual connections you would normally get in an office. However, it’s the reality of our world today, so learning how to deal with that is also important.
Any advice for students looking to gain a similar experience to yours?
Don’t be too picky, as writers every job or experience is a stepping stone to our dreams. For internships in general, don’t panic. It’s still a job and if you treat it like everything else in your life that you do professionally, you’ll be fine!
Erica Sickel
(she/her/hers)
Major: Cell and Molecular Biology ‘21
Internship: Woodlands Foundation
What was your day-to-day life like at your internship?
Normally, The Woodlands Foundation runs camps for individuals with disabilities. My role was to help format these camps for a virtual setting, so my internship was completely virtual. I would work on a document collaborating with two other interns planning engaging weekly events centered around health and wellness in the times of COVID for the campers.
What valuable lessons did you learn?
I definitely learned communication, with everything being virtual it’s a lot harder to communicate with all the individuals I was working with. My social skills were tested as I worked hard to connect on a personal level with each camper. It also increased my social awareness as I accommodated each lesson for each individual’s various needs.
Did your internship shape your plans for the future?
I want to go to medical school, I’m currently in the process of studying and applying. I think my internship strengthened my want and drive to go into the medical field. Although I completed my internship with them last semester, I actually have decided to take a summer position working for the Woodlands Foundation in person. It was such a rewarding and encouraging experience.
What was the most challenging part of fulfilling an internship during COVID-19?
I think the most challenging thing was holding myself accountable and making sure the lessons were thorough and planned out enough to make everyone’s time worthwhile. It can be really easy when things are completely online to get off track.
Any advice for students looking to gain a similar experience to yours?
I think as students in the sciences, we are really focused on getting a hands-on experience and it can be really easy to get discouraged when we don’t get that. My advice would be to throw yourself into that experience and see what you can accomplish that isn’t contact-oriented. For me, I gained so much from my experience because I took advantage of it.
Lex Kreiser
(she/her/they/them)
Major: Political Science and Sustainability ‘21
Internship: The Hillary O'Connor Mueri Campaign
What was your day-to-day life like at your internship?
So, it was completely virtual as Hillary O'Connor Mueri was running for election to the U.S. House to represent Ohio's 14th Congressional District. I worked as a call banker mainly. I would vet candidates and make sure they would be good candidates to contact to inform them about events around her campaign and to call and ask for donations towards her campaign.
What valuable lessons did you learn?
It taught me how to be professional over the phone. I also learned how much work, money, and people it takes to run a campaign. I also learned how to work around working with donors across the nation and being sensitive to time zone differences.
Did your internship shape your plans for the future?
I feel like it gave me a new perspective on my Political Science major and opened my eyes to the campaigning aspect of the political science world. I want to work in environmental policy, so not really in the realm of running for office, but it made me realize that I can support candidates or inform them and back them up on environmental evidence with issues they’re working on.
What was the most challenging part of fulfilling an internship during COVID-19?
It was a bit of a challenge to not have a physical site to report to. I felt like that made it more difficult to separate my job/internship from my personal life and turn the working mindset off when it was time to relax.
Any advice for students looking to gain a similar experience to yours?
Don’t give up in your search for an internship and have some patience. Even if you end up in an internship that isn’t what you expected, it’s still a learning experience that can help you get a job after graduation.