Students Meet the Challenges of Summer Employment
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A career-focused business education includes learning and growing with direct experience in the workforce. From freshmen to seniors, Nichols students share their summer experiences below. |
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Renee Gardner |
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For the last three months I spent my days silently studying patient care areas and carefully observing activities in patient waiting rooms. At times, it seemed like something out of a James Bond movie, but fortunately I was only armed with my Fallon Clinic badge. My title: "Member of The Shadow Team. " The Shadow Team is comprised of a group of four college students hired for the summer to be unofficial Fallon Clinic investigators. The Fallon Clinic Human Resources department enacted a system known as GES100 - an acronym that stands for Greet, Eye Contact and Smile, one-hundred percent of the time. This applies to Medical Assistants and Patient Service Specialists (the people who check you in and bring you into the exam rooms) and how they should be interacting with patients at all times. This is to guarantee Fallon Clinic's policy of providing patients with the best quality of care possible during their visit, of which The Shadow Team played an imperative role. Spending my days on such missions awarded me valuable insight into the ins and outs of a multi-specialty medical group practice with many locations. In addition to the education I received from observing how a medical group practice works, I also felt I was able to contribute as my opinion was crucial towards Fallon Clinic's goal of achieving GES100. Aside from the fun I had working at such a unique summer job, I learned a lot from the experience of dealing with business professionals. From an advertising and customer service perspective, being involved in this project gave me a unique understanding that will help me achieve my future goals in the field of marketing. |
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Dan R. Vreeland |
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Richard is a retired carpenter. After chatting with him a while, I learned of a construction project for an authentic Japanese Tea Hut on his neighbor's property. Richard is getting older and just didn't have the energy, or time, to build the tea hut on his own. So, after offering to help, I got a job building the first Japanese Tea Hut that will have to go through a Northeastern winter! It was a wonderful experience. |
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Candice B. Ellis |
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It was difficult to find work this past summer, but I finally found a position as a boating specialist (aka: lifeguard and boating teacher) at Camp Menorah. I was brought up Catholic, so it was interesting to be exposed to Jewish traditions. I met two counselors who had just gotten out of the Israeli Army, which is mandatory for Israeli citizens. It wasn't just the kosher food and cultural traditions that made it an exciting experience; it was also the kids. I discovered different ways to better connect with kids aged 3-14. Several of them came from broken homes and this made me more determined to help them adjust. A lot of the kids just wanted someone to give them attention. The children I really became close to had either lost a mother, or a father. Whether it was rowing around in a rowboat, lifeguarding, teaching Natanyah her times tables, or talking to the older kids about how important education is, I really enjoyed laughing through the eight weeks of camp. It was a wake-up call to see how simple things, such as talking and listening to kids, can really make a difference. |
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Ji-Young Kim |
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I am an international student from Korea. Since I have to stay and study in the U.S. during the school year, the summer is only time that I can go back to my home country and spend time with my family and friends. When I first arrived in Korea for the summer, I found a part-time job at a bakery near my house. After I started working there, my uncle, a government official, called and asked me to work temporarily at the National Tax Service (NTS) in Korea-- as I'm an accounting major and good with numbers. So, I worked there from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and then went to the bakery right after it, working two jobs. As soon as I finished working a few weeks at NTS, my four Nichols College on-line classes started. I also gave a 4th grade girl English lessons for two months. Lastly, I volunteered to teach two summer English classes everyday at a local church for three weeks. I taught eight kids who are in 3rd and 4th grades and six kids who were 7th and 8th grades. I had to be very creative to keep these kids focused on learning English. During this summer, I had three totally different roles: I was a student who was taking four on-line classes; a teacher who was teaching kids English; a part-time worker who sold bread and worked at a tax office. It was the busiest summer ever for me! |
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Michael Hill |
| I worked for the summer in the Security Department of Raytheon. I helped make sure that people's actions were in compliance with the National Industrial Security Program Operating Manuel. I provided day to day security administrative support, aided with the development and administration of security procedures assuring the proper Identification of personnel, administered briefings and debriefings, and maintained security records. I also spent the summer as the deputy campaign manager for Chad Riley, who is running for State Representative. I helped out with sign drops, information distribution, and am currently creating a 15-30 minute video about Mr. Riley, which will air on Stoneham Public Access. |
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Gregory John Salvatore Jr. |
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I went to China earlier this summer with Nichols College Associate Dean of Business Libba Moore and other students, and it was a chance in a lifetime. I spent the rest of the summer working at a real estate brokerage firm in Braintree, Mass. I learned a lot pertaining to the real estate market, as well as to business operations as a whole. In addition to my in-office work and travel to sites to evaluate properties, I had the chance to attend the ICSC (International Council of Shopping Centers) in Boston this summer. This was a two-day trade convention with endless opportunity to network with professionals in the global retail real estate industry. It was a great summer! |
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Melissa Mansfield |
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I interned with the New York Islanders NHL team in Plainview, New York and had to commute an hour and a half to get to its corporate office. The "draft party" I worked this summer was one of my favorite experiences because I was able to meet players and get some insight into the business. I also surveyed fans and fielded questions from season ticket holders. It was a wonderful experience and taught me how important it is to network for future career positions. |
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Nicholas J. Papadakos |
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This summer I worked as a lifeguard at Ocean Beach Park in New London, Conn. It has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life because as a lifeguard, you are in position to help people on a daily basis. Ocean Beach Park is one of the largest beaches in New England and emergencies are common occurrences. In addition to saving lives and treating a myriad of beach-related injuries, this work gave me a great opportunity to meet new people. My co-workers were a very diverse group of people, hailing from many different walks of life, and I learned something from each. One incident that sticks out in my mind is helping save one young girl who inhaled water. When we pulled her out of the pool, she was very pale and her eyes were rolling back into her head. She was having a very difficult time breathing and walking, so we had her sit down. Suddenly she went unconscious and we had to administer rescue breathing. We called 911 and she came to only after a few of the scariest moments of my life. The girl was taken to the hospital and later made a full recovery. The incident made me appreciate the delicate balance between life and death and just how easily someone can endanger his or her life. But, I have plenty of stories from this summer's work, more light-hearted than the aforementioned story of life and death. |
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Mark Hyduk |
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This summer I completed my Sport Management internship The most interesting event this summer was working at the Adidas 7-on-7 Flag Football Tournament. It was held at University of Notre Dame, and I got to talk with Charlie Weis, Notre Dame's head football coach, other coaches, and some Adidas representatives. There were over 600 football players in the tournament, and the championship game was held in Notre Dame's stadium. I was able to work on the sidelines on the stadium field and talked to some of the Notre Dame's football coaches. |
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Meaghan O'Neil |
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I had a job at the McCurdy Group in Sturbridge, MA. I started working there as a part-time receptionist in the spring of my junior year in high school. This summer I worked full-time in the personal lines department doing auto insurance. It certainly has been a learning experience and quite the opportunity for someone my age. |
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Tristyn Desrosiers |
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After that, I interned for one week with the National Hockey League in New York City. I was surprised at how many departments there were in the NHL organization and found the experience very worthwhile. |
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Mallory A. Scafidi |
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I just ended my summer camp job, and I worked with 18, five-year-old boys. It was a real eye-opening experience, and hectic, too! This is my second year working at the camp, and it taught me a lot about children since I hope to be a school psychologist one day. I love watching children grow right in front of me, and teaching them lessons along the way is very rewarding. |
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Ashley McGreevy |
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I was able to network and get some "hands-on" training of basic HR processes, including scheduling interviews, making travel arrangements, and posting jobs online. I also helped coordinate a Walk for Fitness Program with the benefits department and was responsible for tracking all the participants' steps for the six weeks of the program. Other responsibilities were posting requisitions into our database system and assisting in creating a new HR internal website. |
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Andrew Shieh |
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I am currently working at an internship in Vancouver, British Columbia with a sport marketing and event management company called TrojanOne. My title as assistant coordinator, Consumer Engagement, and I'm working with Tennis Canada and the Dairy Farmers of Canada with the "Everyday Champions Campaign (www.tenniseveryday.com)." I take care of the travel logistics for three Vancouver teams, make monthly reports for Tennis Canada, am the media contact person for local newspapers, and work with a creative studio to run local ads. We have advertised "Everyday Champions" with the Family Channel, Chatelaine, TSN, Yahoo! Canada, local radio stations, as well as at different local tennis events across the country including the Stanley Park Open and The Rogers Cup. In addition, I also help out with Nos Energy drink, HSBC Run for Canada, and The Nike+ Human Race. |
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Amy Kent |
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I spent my summer interning at Akamai Technologies in Cambridge, MA. I worked in the corporate service department doing a variety of tasks. I worked with excel spreadsheets of building locations, responded to facilities helpdesk tickets, and frequently filled in for the receptionist. The most gratifying part of my job was helping a longtime employee of the company get home from work. She had recently suffered from a stroke and is partially blind and therefore, unable to drive. I would bring her home from the office 2 or 3 times a week. She's been with the company for 10 years and is very knowledgeable. She gave me amazing advice, and I consider her a wonderful contact for future career opportunities. |
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Ashley Adams |
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My summer has been very productive. One of my closest friends decided to start her own business, a dance competition. In the dance world, dance competitions are prestigious, very competitive, and stressful for the organizers who have to make sure all the event details fall into place. I helped her write a business plan, create a mission statement, and develop a logo. For me, it is an experience of a lifetime. |
working for Gatorade Summer Sports Camp program at the University of Notre Dame. I was the asst. manager in charge of providing free Gatorade to all the sports camps at Notre Dame.
camp sponsored by Usher, which combined sports, acting, dance, music, and video production. Those were the five components of the camp symbolized by the star logo on our shirts on the right.
I had the chance to spend my summer working as an intern at APC by Schneider Electric's corporate headquarters in West Kingston, Rhode Island, and gained more insight into my major area of study. APC by Schneider Electric is a critical power and cooling business that has worldwide facilities (U.S., France, Philippines, Japan, Russia, etc.).
