Dominican: Internships

Summer Vacation Keeps Students Busy

Every school year follows with the same routine of just “kickin it” with your friends, seemingly the only objective for the summer. Though fall classes just started, some have been hard at work all summer, learning on the job.

A variety of summer internships and volunteer experience, from working in fields such as public relations, nutrition, and photography supplied several students with on-the-job experience. Some had to learn to work in unfamiliar environments and others had to improve their multitasking skills.

Senior Camia Redovan spent her summer working as an intern for the Chicago Fire, Chicago’s professional men’s soccer team. “My job focused mainly on events. Mostly dealing with the give-away’(s) at the beginning of the game and activities after the game,” Redovan said.
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ince sports’ marketing is the field Redovan aspires to get into when she graduates, this internship helped her get her foot in the door. Redovan says, “I got to meet so many different people. This internship gave me real life experience on what game day events are like, and it just confirmed that that is what I want to be doing when I’m older.”

Redovan plans to continue working during the school year despite a busy class load. Redovan says, “I know it will keep me busy this year, but I’m lucky to have an internship that I love.”

During this economic downturn, volunteer experience and internships may be pivotal to getting a foot in the door in today’s job market, something Junior Jinny Fester considered.

Fester says, “I originally signed up to volunteer a few days a week at the hospital by my house [St. Joseph’s in Elgin], but when they found out that I was a nutrition major they took me under their wings and gave me more challenging projects to do and called it an internship.”

Fester got to view hospital life in a unique light. Her focus was on nutrition and dietetics. “Going room to room with one of the dieticians and interacting with the different patients was my favorite part. I got to hear feedback straight from the patients’ mouths about how they liked each of the diets they were put on. Seeing how close nutrition plays a role in a patients health was something I’m glad I got to see because it only confirmed that this is what I want to do when I’m older ”Fester said.

Working with all demographics was part of Fester’s job, but she especially enjoyed working with the kids. Fester says, “Nutritional beliefs are built and formed from childhood on. My mom was always into nutrition and made us eat healthy. It made me more open minded to more nutritious foods. If I can help kids see that, then that’s what I want to do.”

Seeing the effects of child obesity only heightened Fester’s interest in working with kids when she’s olders. Fester says, “It was surreal. Although every kid came from a different background, every child was considered obese. Putting a face to the disease made everything so real. These kids looked so unhealthy and it made me want to do anything I could to help them”

Although Fester only worked two or three times a week for a few hours, she still feels it was worth it. “I would highly recommend anyone in any field to volunteer over the summer or even during the school year. You can sit in the classroom for many hours and be told about your major, but until you are thrown into a real world situation I think that’s when you can truly decide if that job is right for you.”

In addition to on-the-job learning, summer internships provided some students with the ability to utilize their talents, something that Senior Val Antunes valued.

Antunes interned at a new start-up foundation called The Aparecio Foundation. Antunes says, “They give scholarship and mentorship programs to low-income, high-potential girls in the public school system. I got to do all the photography for their marketing materials and it was an awesome experience.”

Antunes was given the opportunity to do the two things she loves-photography and using photography to impact other people. Antunes says, “I get to do exactly what I've always wanted to do- use photography as a means for social change. I'm very passionate about working towards social justice, which is why this job is perfect for me.”
Hoping to eventually get hired full-time, Antunes is thrilled. “I have a great time, while helping make an impact on the world.”