Trying on their future – Internships give hands-on experience in students’ fields of interest

Salem Editor — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 19:25:00 GMT

Several times a week, while dressed in hospital scrubs, Salem High School senior Courtney Morgan is busy helping people at Parkland Medical Center in Derry – preparing rooms, making beds, walking with patients, getting them something to drink.

She’s not getting paid. But Courtney, who watches nurses at work in the hospital’s surgical vascular unit, is earning school credit and learning about the nursing field.

Courtney, who wants to study nursing in college, is one of dozens of area high school students who are interning in the field they are thinking about pursuing a career in.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity for the students to see what real nurses do,” said nurse Carol Dabrowski, one of Courtney’s mentors. “Not what you read in a book or see on ‘ER.’ She’s gotten to know what we’re doing on the floor, what our practice is, how we communicate with each other.”

Courtney spends three days a week at Parkland, and two days a week at the special care nursery at Lawrence General Hospital.

Courtney and approximately 73 other Salem High students are currently participating in semester-long internships. So, too, are 10 Pelham High School students.

At Beau Monde, a beauty salon in Salem, junior Shana Vandecasteele is getting a full picture of how the business runs – from cleaning brushes to quarterly tax filings.

That’s important to the Windham teenager, who plans to go to cosmetology school and aspires to open her own salon.

“We’re just trying to incorporate every aspect of cosmetology – as much as we can in that semester,” said co-owner Peggy Stark.

Licensing requirements prevent some interns from getting full hands-on lessons. Shana, for example, can’t work on clients. But she watches the beauticians in action and practices on a pair of mannequin heads.

And she’s doing other tasks, such as booking appointments.

Through their experiences, interns learn the values of teamwork, organization and time management. They learn from their mistakes. They must abide by company rules and act professionally. Some endure first-day jitters.

“We ask the site to treat them as an employee as much as possible,” said Linda Michalczyk, Salem High School’s community liaison.

Salem students are graded on their internships. They must keep journals and maintain time sheets, complete assignments, and are evaluated by their mentors.

Every two weeks they attend a class where they learn about important factors such as safety, confidentiality, work ethics and teamwork.

Sometimes internships can lead to a paying job. That’s what happened to Lynne Resendes, 17, who is interning at Northeast Rehab Outpatient Center in Pelham because she wants to be a physical therapist.

Impressed with the Pelham High senior’s interest and ability to catch on quickly, Clinic Manager Gerriann Samowski hired her as a rehabilitation aide one night a week.

Her tasks when she’s interning include getting hot and cold packs for patients, setting up machines, answering phones and filing.

“It’s really interesting. I’m glad I have this opportunity to do this,” said Lynne. “I’m a hands-on person, so being here has made me learn so much.”

Lynne and other PHS interns must work 135 hours at a site. They have to keep a weekly journal, complete other assignments, write a final reflection paper and be evaluated by their mentors. The school wants them to have at least a 2.5 grade-point average before taking on an internship.

“They are getting a feel for what these people do, what skills are needed in that particular field,” said Louise Paulauskas, Pelham High’s school-to-career coordinator.

Students in the school’s Academy of Finance program work paid summer internships as part of their program.

Companies that bring on interns say they do so not for the free help but to be a good community partner and give opportunities to young people. Many mentors say they wish the same opportunity was available to them when they were in school.

“Bringing a student like this in is like a breath of fresh air for the company because they come in with a lot of enthusiasm,” said Joanne Carbone, office manager at Signature Mortgage Consultants LLC, in Salem.

That’s where Pelham High senior Scott Cloutier is interning. Cloutier, whose tasks include putting together loan packets and updating lists of lenders, wants to study business in college.

“I love coming to a business every day and I love learning how a business works altogether, and learning new things, especially with a computer,” said Cloutier.

Michalczyk said that some of her former interns are now working professionally at the local police and fire departments, and in schools – places where they gained experience as students. It’s evidence, she said, that internships pay off.

Not all interns, however, discover that the field they’re working in is the best fit for them.

Paulauskas recalls a couple of students who interned in physical therapy but decided that wasn’t the career they wanted after discovering how much math and science is involved.

Michalczyk said it’s better for the students to discover now that a particular field isn’t right for them than when they’re juniors in college.

For some students, their internship is boosting their career interest. Cloutier is excited about going into business. Hilary Barlow, who is interning at Landry Architects in Salem, is enthusiastic about studying architecture.

“I think I’ve learned a lot here that will help me,” said Barlow, a Salem High senior. “Getting hands on experience like this has been awesome.”

Her mentor, senior architect Thomas Duff, has welcomed several interns over the years and is happy to give them more responsibilities as they work through the program.

“I gave them every freedom,” Duff said. “They have access to all our resources. They can ask anyone here questions. If they’re really serious about the field, then the sky’s the limit in terms of what they can do here.”

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Trying on their future – Internships give hands-on experience in students’ fields of interest