Learning by Doing: Seniors Reflect on Recent Internships
Compiled by Madison Schulman
Endicott students gain real-world experience as they complete three internships over their four years at the College. Many can find their career path this way; some also discover what they don’t want to do. Every fall semester, Endicott seniors participate in a semester-long internship where they work full-time, Monday through Thursday, at sites all over the country.
Ahead of this year’s Internship, Co-Op, & Career Fair, we spoke with several seniors to hear about their experiences.
Responses have been edited for clarity and length.
Ashley Alberghini ’23, graphic design major
Food Truck Festivals of America—Stoughton, Mass.
I learned how to create promotional work for an event marketing company, which is something I have only hypothetically designed for. They took me on because they saw that I had a unique design style and wanted to incorporate that into their company to change things up. I am very grateful that they gave me that chance. I received feedback from clients and my bosses. I also learned the behind-the-scenes of running a food truck festival, such as handling and checking tickets, making sure everything runs smoothly, selling tickets, social media promotion, photography, and so much more.
My semester internship was probably the best (of the three) internships that I completed throughout my four years at Endicott. They all provided me with a good amount of real-world experience; some of the work I created would make strong pieces in my portfolio that I could show in future interviews and land a job.
Nicholas Kavanagh ’23, biology/biotechnology major
Cortland Dental + Braces—Chelsea, Mass.
Overall, my experience during my semester-long internship was amazing. I met many great people and learned more than I could imagine in the medical field. Coming into this, I knew most of the things I’d be doing throughout the day. Something I did not expect was working hands-on with the patients. Working as a dental assistant for my internship has allowed me to be knowledgeable about the field and will hopefully give me that extra hand in getting into those schools. Overall, this is just another small step toward my career goals.
The amount of experience gained and information learned is like no other—you’ll never be able to truly understand whether you like something without actually doing it in a professional setting. I plan on applying to dental and medical school once I graduate.
Rebecca Turner ’23, communication major
Atwater Marketing and Events—Jupiter, Fla.
I had an interesting internship experience. I learned how to craft social media content for clients, as well as how to market events. I also learned to advocate for myself when I wasn’t receiving enough work. Being able to come up with work to do on my own became essential for me. Many people struggle with not being told what to do at every moment, but I found, generally, that I did very well.
At previous internships, I was more of a name than a person. At my most recent internship, I worked directly with my supervisor on many different tasks. While I was often assigned more work than the other interns, I found it was because I was good at what I did and took constructive feedback well.
This internship will help me on my career path because I now have social media management and event marketing experience. I also have experience doing outreach, as I reached out to vendors for donations for an event. Because of this internship, I have more skills and abilities that could apply to digital marketing and therefore, could open up more job opportunities.
Gabriel DeBenedetto ’23, engineering/bioengineering major
Salem Hospital—Salem, Mass.
My internship was completely unique to my major as I am the only engineering/bioengineering student who is also pre-medical. I’ve had to do a lot of work outside of my basic curriculum to be a pre-med student. On top of this, I got my EMT license, which gave me the necessary credentials to work at Salem Hospital as a Patient Technician. Gaining these clinical hours has given me a better resume while applying to medical school (because the majority of pre-medical students do not get clinical experience as an undergraduate) and insight into the work environment a hospital provides.
After gaining hundreds of hours in this work setting, I’m confident this is the work environment that I want to be in. My nursing director set up observation days for me where I got to shadow a few different cardiologists in some departments that I am interested in. On these shadow days, I got to spend a lot of time with great doctors and learn about cardiology in the cath lab, echo lab, and stress lab.
I would do this internship over again and all the work it took to get here in a heartbeat. Working on an in-patient cardiac floor has given me the opportunity to treat patients and learn about cardiac interventions as well as show me how much more I have to learn.
Derek Quatieri ’23, interior architecture major
The Architectural Team—Chelsea, Mass.
My internship was a positive experience filled with growth, support, and encouragement from my mentors. They welcomed me from the beginning, continued to be knowledge sources, and helped me throughout the past few months. The camaraderie between my coworkers was my favorite part about coming into the office each day. I learned how to embrace wavering deadlines and new challenges and witnessed how client meetings go. I achieved the goals I established before starting the internship, gradually making progress each week. I’m walking out with more confidence in making design decisions and new tips and tricks in my toolbelt regarding various design programs I’ve used throughout my journey so far.
My experience has also helped me embrace projects outside of my comfort zone and reduce some of the apprehension regarding client meetings and presentations. The Architectural Team is quite a large firm, so my time there helped me realize that a smaller firm may align better with my work pace, but I got to experience working within a bigger team and working on large-scale projects. Career paths change, so there is always the possibility that I find myself at larger worksites in the near future.
Caitlyn Sievers ’23, dual criminal justice and psychology major
Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (Housing Investigations Division)—Boston, Mass.
My primary roles were completing intake appointments with complainants and writing investigative dispositions. I was also able to observe public hearings, appeal hearings, and mediations/conciliations. One of the biggest skills I developed was the legal writing style. Dispositions, like other legal documents, are written with a particular format, tone, and verbiage, so it was really useful for me to have a lot of practice writing them. I also learned a lot more about civil procedures in the justice system, since many of the criminal justice courses at Endicott focus more on the criminal side.
The best aspect of my internship was the people I worked with. My supervisor, Edith, worked so hard on getting me involved in all of the different functions of the commission that I was curious about, even if it was outside of the housing unit. The investigators in my division were friendly, helpful, and always treated me like an equal. All of the people I worked with in other units were always happy to let me observe and talk to me about what their job entails.
This internship was the perfect combination of being pushed outside of my comfort zone and taking on bigger responsibilities while being supported along the way. I also felt like I was doing such meaningful work—sometimes at the end of intake calls, a complainant would be nearly in tears, thanking me for the work that I was doing and telling me that I was doing a really good thing. To hear strangers tell me over the phone that they were grateful for the work that I was doing made the hard days worth it.
Will Perry ’23, sport management major/exercise science minor
Boston College Volleyball—Boston, Mass.
My internship experience was amazing. I was given an incredible opportunity to be part of the volleyball coaching staff at Boston College. My opinion was valued, and I was able to contribute to decision-making processes within the staff. I learned a ton. On the coaching side, Jason Kennedy, Marissa Prinzbach, and Kin Yun are all great volleyball minds. We often stayed up late on road trips discussing how to move forward with team decisions, and how to put the team in the best position to win. I also learned a lot on the administrative side. I was in the office every day, attending meetings with marking, facilities, and compliance all within the athletic department. I got to witness and learned some of the inner workings of a power 5 division I athletic department.
The one negative of the experience was trying to balance internship, school, and sports. It’s the same as every other senior at Endicott, yet the one difference was that my internship required some crazy and high-demand work hours. I was exhausted and didn’t get to spend much time with my friends on our campus at school. But it was very much worth it.
This internship has propelled me into the college coaching industry. Coaching jobs at the division I level are extremely demanding but also very in demand. I was given a rare opportunity that looks great on my resume, and will hopefully help me to gain more opportunities going forward.