From interning at NBC Universal to the world-renowned Mayo Clinic, Illinois State University students gained impressive, hands-on experience through various internships during the summer.
We interviewed four interns who represented the University and made a significant impression on their employers.
Prabhmeet (Pria) Kahlon, junior integrated marketing and communications major, advertisement sales department, National Broadcasting Company (NBC) ad sales intern
Unsure of which specific area of marketing to pursue, Prabhmeet Kahlon gained a clearer picture through her internship with NBC Universal.
Kahlon’s internship lasted 10 weeks and was located in NBC’s Chicago office where she worked on group and individual projects relating to advertisement sales.
“I was able to be a part of real internal meetings with other companies. We were able to figure out what goals I wanted to accomplish,” Kahlon said. “Each week, being a part of a different team, being a part of a different company, and listening in on what’s going to happen next was extremely valuable. I learned how it is to be in a professional setting.”
Kahlon interacted with professionals in all departments—from film to advertising. She even worked on a project remotely with NBC interns in California. Kahlon appreciated the opportunity to explore several areas, beyond ad sales, within NBC.
“Starting in ad sales was great because it opened a path for me,” Kahlon said. “However, NBC told me that if ad sales wasn’t the only place I liked, I could go into the marketing department, because they knew that was something I’m interested in. So, I loved that I was able focus on different areas of my major.”
As a junior integrated marketing and communications major, Kahlon credited her experience at Illinois State for helping her land the internship.
“Illinois State prepared me because of the number of clubs they offer through the College of Business,” Kahlon said.
Kahlon noted that she applied for her NBC internship through her Illinois State Handshake account, which is another resource offered to students as a way to connect them to internship opportunities.
Molly Bastida, third-year audiology doctoral student, Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD) Department, Central Institute for the Deaf and Mercy Hospital intern
Molly Bastida was an intern for both the Central Institute for the Deaf and Mercy Hospital in St. Louis. She worked in the Communication, Sciences and Disorders (CSD) Department, specifically the Audiology Department.
At the Central Institute for the Deaf, she worked with children of all ages who are deaf or hard of hearing to perform different hearing tests and device fittings. Bastida worked with digital hearing aids and cochlear implants, which she said was a great learning experience that correlates with her future career goals in audiology.
“Being at Central Institute for the Deaf provided a challenge somedays, because we see such a wide range of children with different communication abilities,” Bastida said. “I think this summer gave me a good taste into a pediatric population as well as two different environments of a school and a hospital setting. I’m so excited to see more environments.”
Mercy Hospital provided Bastida more experience with adult and geriatric patients. There, Bastida worked with a team and interacted with professionals of all departments, which provided beneficial networking opportunities.
“There’s a large number of audiologists at Mercy Hospital, which is another thing that is unique but also exciting,” Bastida said. “You get to interact with ears, nose, and throat (ENT) physicians, primary care physicians, office staff, nurses, and a whole variety of other professionals there as well. We were interacting with those professionals daily.”
Bastida said Illinois State prepared her for the internship experience through her clinicals and her experience working at the ISU Clinic.
“I know Illinois State audiology says that they want to put out the best clinicians in the state, and I wholeheartedly agree, because most other programs won’t start clinics until your second year or your summer of your first year,” Bastida said. “I think that you can’t understand working and counseling with a patient until you’re fully doing it.”
Mariana Muñoz, senior psychology major with a sociology minor, INtegRIty Counseling and Boys and Girls Club intern
While attending Dr. Jordan Arellanes’s Latino psychology class during the spring 2023 semester, Mariana Muñoz learned about impactful summer internship opportunities with INtegRIty Counseling and the Boys and Girls Club.
“These internships were my first introduction to an idea of what I want to do after I’m done with my undergrad,” Muñoz said. “So, that opened a door for me where I was able to do some fieldwork and meet people in the community and offer them different services that I wasn’t used to.”
Through Arellane’s class, Muñoz also learned of some tactics used in therapy to help guide her through her internship work including a Multidimensional Ecosystemic Comparative Approach (MECA).
“It involves evaluating your own prejudice and being receptive to an individual for what they’ve experienced,” Muñoz said.
As an intern with the Boys and Girls Club, she did field work and worked with second-grade kids. For the first time, she created lesson plans and had to alter her activities based on how the kids were feeling each day.
“I had to adapt my ways of getting the kids’ attention,” Muñoz said. “These kids were amazing, though. I saw so many of them grow comfortably in who they are, and it was all because I was able to be flexible with them and what their needs were. I also wanted to add affirmations into our program, so the kids can empower themselves and start including some positive talk in their in their daily lives.”
With INtegRIty Counseling, Muñoz conducted intakes for people searching for counseling services as well as onboarding patients.
She said that the hardest part of getting the proper help is being able to go out and ask for it.
“I saw a lot of stories of individuals who have experienced resiliency, and those are stories that we need to put out there more.”
Owen Ritter, senior nursing major, Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Mayo Clinic intern
Out of an applicant pool of nearly 1,000 candidates, Owen Ritter was one of 56 undergraduate students who interned at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, where his unit manager was Illinois State alum Zach Missel ’16.
Ritter worked primarily with oncology patients and in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). He said this was no easy task.
“The unit I was on had one of the highest mortality rates in Mayo,” Ritter said. “Learning how to deal with difficult topics like death was challenging, but it helped me to know how to better support the families of the patients.”
Thankfully, Ritter had his own network of assistance to navigate a demanding, unfamiliar circumstance.
“At Mayo, the unit doctors introduced themselves and collaborated with me, which made me feel more comfortable and enabled me to voice my concerns,” Ritter said. “It was a cohesive team on our unit. What I find remarkable about Mayo is that throughout my time there, whether it was a doctor, a nurse, a lab tech, support personnel, or janitorial staff, no one left a room without turning around and asking, ‘Is there anything else I can do for you?’ This struck me because I had never encountered such a healthcare experience before.”
During his time at Mayo, Ritter learned a lot and took away some important new technical skills. However, his biggest takeaway came as a surprise.
“I think the biggest takeaway was learning to be OK with not knowing everything. In general, in school, especially nursing students, we all want to achieve at the highest level. Then, being on a unit where even the most veteran nurses were asking questions and looking things up, took a lot of stress off.”
Ritter said his experience as a Mennonite College of Nursing (MCN) student prepared him for the Mayo Clinic. He also credited Career Services for helping him clean up his resume and create his personal statement.
Students seeking internships are invited to attend the Fall Internship Fair September 20, hosted by Career Services in the Bone Student Center. Resume review and interview preparation services are available in advance.
