International Internship Panel 2008
October 23, 2008
Evan Endsley and Makensie Tappe, senior Soc/Anthro majors
Evan and Makensie did an internship in Ecuador during interim 2007 with Rural Urban Comparative Health. They knew they wanted to do a medical internship and looked on the CEL website under Child Family Health - International. There is an on-line application and they needed some Spanish proficiency. They had to pay for their own travel, lodging and food costs.
They spent two weeks in a small rural town, working with dentists in the morning and doctors in the afternoon. Next they spent two weeks in the capital city of Quito, where they had Spanish language class in the morning to learn Spanish medical terminology and worked in a hospital setting in the afternoon.
Both Evan and Makensie are applying to dental school, and they have heard that their international internship is looked at favorably on their application.
They received Soc/Anthro credit for their internships, and Anthropology professor Tom Williamson was their advisor. He explained the steps they followed to get Soc/Anthro credit:
(1) visit CEL (Center for Experiential Learning) to find an internship
(2) find an advisor and negotiate with them to get credit for the internship
(3) keep a journal
(4) write a reflection on the experience
Laurie Moberg, from HECUA (Higher Education Consortium for Urban Affairs), and St. Olaf Soc/Anthro graduate of 2005
HECUA is an organization of 20 liberal arts colleges, universities and associations dedicated to education for social justice. HECUA has semester-long programs in Bangladesh, Eastern Europe, Ecuador, Northern Ireland, Scandinavia as well as many programs in the U.S. The program combines coursework with internship experience and the internships are designed to match a student’s interests. Each student has a HECUA advisor. Laurie stressed that students need to be open-minded about what they experience on the programs. Often students learn most when things don’t work out as planned. For more information on the HECUA programs, check the HECUA website at www.hecua.org
Eric Tvedte - CEL Peer Advisor, junior at St. Olaf College
Eric explained ways that internships can benefit students:
- apply coursework to real-life situations
- explore career options and experience work environments you like and don’t like
- impress job and graduation school interviewers
- get academic credit
CEL has many internship search resources:
- internship database - search general and specific areas of interest
- video workshop series
- alumni on-line directory - St. Olaf alums are generally very willing to give informational interviews to current St. Olaf students
- Ole Recruiting - lists internships available in the Northfield area. You apply on-line for these internships
- CEL Yourself - get yourself on CEL’s e-mail alias to receive valuable internship and job search information
- financial resources
Tips for your internship search:
- be prepared to spend a lot of time searching
- be patient
- ask for help
- start early
- visit with CEL peer advisors - available Tuesdays 3:00-5:00
Contact the CEL website for more information: www.stolaf.edu/services/cel/
