Name:Jessica Kweon

Internship, Co-op or Research Site:Esperanza Center, Catholic Charities in Action

Position Title:Legal Services and Educational Services Intern

Major(s)/Minor(s):Psychology B.A.

Current Class Level:Senior

Work Term: Spring 2021

Tell us about your internship, co-op, or research opportunity, including your day-to-day responsibilities.

I'm currently interning virtually for this position. Because I intern for two different branches, I have two different supervisors that I meet on different days. The majority of my work pertains to my legal role. I work closely with my supervisor to gain legal knowledge and practice skills lawyers use for cases, including preparing documents, briefs, and legal research. With supervision, I can also contact clients with regards to cases. In addition, I meet weekly with the other lawyers in the branch to learn about their cases in the past week. This experience has been super insightful in better understanding the work that lawyers do, especially in immigration law.

As an Educational Services intern, I work with my supervisor on projects pertaining to the adult ESOL tutoring program. As a volunteer, it's provided me a lot of perspective on how to better evaluate and improve the program for both students and volunteers! 

Describe the process of obtaining your position. When did you hear of the position and submit your application?

In December, I applied for the Shattuck Family Internship Program for Entrepreneurship Innovation and Social Change. Having been to the Career Center multiple times in my college career, I already had everything I needed, such as my resume, to apply for the program. In January, I was accepted into the program, which graciously provided funding for any nonprofit internship of my choice for the semester. I worked with Christine Routzahn from the Career Center to find and contact local nonprofit organizations that aligned with the kind of professional experience I was seeking for in my senior year. I've volunteered through the Shriver Center as an ESOL teacher for the Esperanza Center since the summer, and I was aware that they offered a number of other services to immigrant populations in the Baltimore area. After contacting and interviewing with the staff, I was able to land an intern position in two different branches, Legal Services and Educational Services, both of which I am very passionate about.

What have you enjoyed the most about your position or organization? 

I love the values, mission, and vision that our organization has in truly serving and supporting the immigrant community. As someone whose parents are immigrants, I know that having access to safe and compassionate services is really important when coming to the United States. I've also loved working with my supervisors. They've both been super fun, encouraging, and helpful throughout this experience!

How do you believe you have made an impact through your work?

Through my work, I am helping to improve teaching procedures that will enhance learning for children with developmental disabilities, like Autism-spectrum disorder (ASD). Although there are procedures currently in place to treat children with ASD in Applied Behavior Analysis, much research needs to be done to continue to strengthen ways to teach children using empirical data. Some areas of research are the number of stimuli and order of stimuli concurrently taught within a session.

What advice would you give to another student who is seeking an internship or similar experience? 

In any aspect of my work, I am directly and indirectly impacting an immigrant in need of services, whether legal or educational. This purpose makes the work I do so worthwhile and personal knowing that I am helping someone adjust to and build their life here in the United States.

Like the Career Center on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram

#UMBCintern

Name: José Alarcon Jr.

Internship, Co-op or Research Site: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

Position Title: Student Trainee

Major(s)/Minor(s): Information Systems

Current Class Level: Senior

Work Term: Summer 2020 - Spring 2021

Tell us about your internship, co-op, or research opportunity, including your day-to-day responsibilities.

CMS is a federal agency in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that works in partnership with states to provide health coverage for more than 70 million beneficiaries through programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. Throughout the course of the pandemic, I have been providing support to the Data & Systems Group in the AWS team in maintaining and operating with on-demand cloud computing to allow high-powered analytic capabilities for structured and unstructured data sets. I also assisted in the proper governance for multimillion-dollar AWS purchases to ensure costs and resources are managed within budget while meeting the needs of the database infrastructure teams.

Describe the process of obtaining your position. When did you hear of the position and submit your application?

I heard about the position at the Career Fair provided by the UMBC Career Center in January of 2020 and submitted my application the same month. 

What have you enjoyed the most about your position or organization? 

I have really enjoyed learning about cloud computing, since it reflects how powerful resources can be used remotely and the impact it has behind-the-scenes.

How do you believe you have made an impact through your work?

Some of my contributions in the Data & Systems Group include enhancing and advancing the capabilities in DevSecOps (Development, Security & Operations)  that are crucial as the team develops and implements software and data products to support Medicaid and CHIP, which is very important for more than 70 million beneficiaries, especially in the middle of a pandemic.

What advice would you give to another student who is seeking an internship or similar experience? 

My advice would be that in order to qualify for an internship, you don't need to be the smartest student in your class. You don't need to know everything. I have learned that most employers look for personality, work ethic, and the eagerness to learn. And lastly, to go outside often and ground yourself.

Like the Career Center on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram

#UMBCintern

Want to be the next Intern of the Week? Make sure to fill out this form and stay tuned. New interns are announced every Monday!

Name:Michael Abrahams

Internship, Co-op or Research Site:LSAMP 

Position Title:Research Fellow

Major(s)/Minor(s):Biological Sciences

Current Class Level:Junior

Work Term:Spring 2021

Tell us about your internship, co-op, or research opportunity, including your day-to-day responsibilities.

I work in the Green lab under the supervision of Dr. Erin Green. Because school is currently inaccessible, my day-to-day job is reading and analyzing research papers, and I also get to use some databases such as Blast.

Describe the process of obtaining your position. When did you hear of the position and submit your application?

I am a member of LSAMP, so I get their weekly meeting updates. That was how I saw the opportunity, then I applied and got accepted.

What have you enjoyed the most about your position or organization? 

I have enjoyed meeting and working with really great people. I get to learn a lot from them and vice versa.

How do you believe you have made an impact through your work?

I hope the little things I do toward the bigger picture puts a smile on someone's face.

What advice would you give to another student who is seeking an internship or similar experience? 

Always try to reach out; it only costs an email.

Like the Career Center on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram

#UMBCintern

Want to be the next Intern of the Week?Make sure to fill out this form and stay tuned. New interns are announced every Monday!

Name: Kathryn Crummitt

Internship, Co-op or Research Site: Maryland General Assembly

Position Title: Legislative Intern

Major(s)/Minor(s): Global Studies and Media and Communication Studies

Current Class Level: Sophomore

Work Term: Spring 2021

Tell us about your internship, co-op, or research opportunity, including your day-to-day responsibilities.

Due to COVID-19 I am teleworking. I work twice a week as a legislative intern for Delegate Mike Griffith in the Maryland General Assembly during its annual January-April session. A few of my day to day responsibilities are working as a constituent responder, tracking bills, checking the Delegate's voice messages, uploading constituent contacts to a database, and any other side projects that might pop up.

Describe the process of obtaining your position. When did you hear of the position and submit your application?

I used networking to obtain this position. A friend of mine from UMBC worked with Delegate Mike Griffith last session and enjoyed her experience. I had met his Chief of Staff before and emailed her inquiring about the position. In addition, I researched that with this internship I would not only gain experience in state policy and legislation but also earn academic credit by enrolling in the UMBC intern success practicum with Dr. Laura Hussey. 

What have you enjoyed the most about your position or organization? 

I love my work, I have a great degree of autonomy and independence. I can manage my work with my Full-time Study enrollment.

How do you believe you have made an impact through your work?

By being a great listener and sharing what I believe ("as it's an important form of Honesty").

What advice would you give to another student who is seeking an internship or similar experience?

Be confident, no one learns by birth, you will get a great chance to learn if you experience it.

Like the Career Center on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram

#UMBCintern

Want to be the next Intern of the Week? Make sure to fill out this form and stay tuned. New interns are announced every Monday!