Outstanding Intern of the Year

The UC Denver Experiential Learning Center (ELC) facilitates hundreds of internships each year. To recognize student accomplishments as interns, one student intern is named as “outstanding.” The 2010-11 Outstanding Intern of the Year recipient is Anne Mailhot, undergraduate biology.

Mailhot participated in a summer 2010 undergraduate research internship with Virginia Winn, MD, a researcher in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University Of Colorado School Of Medicine. Throughout the internship, Mailhot was teamed with professional research staff and contributed in experiments related to placental biopsies.

Mailhot’s commitment to excellence impressed her faculty sponsor Aimee Bernard, PhD. In her nomination, Bernard wrote, “Anne was a very hard-working, dedicated and consistently exemplary student . . . [who] serves as a role model for future internship students.” It was Mailhot’s dedication and great work ethic that helped her exceed in the challenging biology internship.

Mailhot went above and beyond basic intern requirements by utilizing her public speaking skills to showcase her part in Winn’s research at the April 15 Research and Creative Activities Symposium, resulting in a nomination for the Outstanding Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities award. For that endeavor, Mailhot was awarded the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research.

According to Winn, the department profited from Mailhot’s hard work, particularly due to a new database system she created to better organize departmental information.

Mailhot said the work benefitted her, too. “This experience helped to reaffirm my goals to pursue a career as a physician and, unexpectedly, had profound impacts on my individuality, perseverance and confidence.”

Since graduating, Mailhot is utilizing her expertise as a Clinical Research Coordinator at the Anschutz Medical Campus. She also will be a keynote speaker for the Experiential Learning Showcase and Celebration occurring spring 2012.

She credits her internship for developing skills needed to further her career in the biological field. “I will continue to use the skills that I developed from the guidance of my mentors and the experiences I gained from research as I continue on my path as a professional and as an aspiring physician.”

Why Volunteer?

Volunteering is an important branch of the Experiential Learning Center (ELC).  The ELC facilitates a wide-range of volunteer opportunities for students.  We maintain VolunteerLink, containing a vast database of service opportunities.  You can navigate VolunteerLink with ease to find the perfect service outlet, matching your personality and interests.  If you only have limited time to give, the convenient pit stop you may be for is the Stop and Serve Program, where you can literally stop in and volunteer as much, or as little, time as you like.

Want to get scholarship money for volunteering?  The UCAN Serve program offers a monetary scholarship for volunteering that helps pay for school expenses.  The ELC also hosts a volunteer fair, connecting students, faculty and staff to local organizations who offer volunteer opportunities.  The ELC partners with Habitat for Humanity, enabling students to participate in monthly volunteer opportunities.  Spring and winter alternative breaks allow students to spend a week doing direct service for various organizations.   

Why volunteer?  Volunteering helps you gain experience outside the classroom, expands your networking of connections, sculpts skills in your field of study and perpetuates your future goals.   Volunteering is the travel mug of experience—serving you on the go and providing experience that works around what’s convenient for you!  Come talk to our Service Learning Coordinator, Kyra Tarbell.  She will guide you towards a volunteer program based on your interests, your location and the amount of time you’re willing to commit.  She’ll match you with the type of populations that interest you.  Whatever route you choose, volunteering is an asset to your resume!   

If you want to help make the world a better place, while helping yourself gain professional experience, come to the Experiential Learning Center and open the door to the vast opportunities volunteering can provide.  UCD students, plug your interests, talent and hard work into the outlet of volunteering and see the rewards you could gain.      

Burnt Bridges and Busywork: 10 Ways to Fail any Internship

By: Casey Prey

Are you jealous of your jobless friends?  Tired of dragging yourself to that internship week after week?  Do you need more personal time to go shopping or play video games?  Then follow these ten easy tips to FAIL your internship (works 100% of the time)! 

10.  Step one’s easy.  Show up late and leave early!  This gives you more time to do the things you’d rather be doing.  If you’re really keen, you could show up late, leave early, and still mark a full day’s work.  After all, it’s just a little white lie, and may help you fail that internship even faster!  Hit the snooze, read the paper and miss your bus.  Showing up early will make companies want to keep you employed, and who wants that?   

9.       Do not, I repeat, do not set goals with both yourself and your boss.  That’s a surefire way to find success and learn. 

8.       Turn the company’s time into your time.  That way, you can get paid for it.  The logic is flawless.  Anytime you can surf the internet, listen to some tunes, or flirt with your coworkers while still getting paid, do it!  You’ll be “let go” in no time and have a few extra unearned dollars in your pocket. 

7.       Don’t ask questions and don’t pay attention.  Interns should already know it all, but if you don’t — fake it!      

6.       Don’t just make excuses . . . blame everyone else.  If the boss asks you why you left your dirty dish in the break room sink, don’t settle by saying you were in a hurry; go the extra mile and blame it on Tim the research assistant!  Making enemies is an easy way to get out of the workplace and into some comfy sweatpants. 

5.       Lie about your qualifications.  Businesses hate dishonest employees.  Naturally, lying about qualifications is the quickest way to get out of any internship.  In fact, lie every chance you get, because lying equals lying . . . unemployed and on a cozy couch. 

4.       This one should be instinct for any slacker.  Get out of work every chance you can.  A great way to do this is to utilize the “excessive break procedure.”  For instance, use the restroom frequently (even if you don’t need to go to the restroom), take coffee breaks (even if you don’t drink coffee), and, my favorite, exploit “personal problem” breaks (i.e. pretend there’s a crisis that you just have to attend to).  If you must actually do some work, be sure to cut corners, cheat, and con your way to the bare minimum. 

3         Be negative about everything.  Complain about the work.  Complain about the boss. Complain about the company.  Nobody likes a whiner, so make sure to grumble, carp, and nag your way to unemployment victory.

2.       Never take initiative.  Don’t live up to your potential.  If initiative shows anything, it’s that you want to be there, and you definitely don’t want to be there.  Proudly display this attitude.  Step into the background, be a fly on the wall and show that you’re not up to the task.  Kiss pesky recommendation letters goodbye (along with that dreaded word “success”) and you’ll be passed over in a heartbeat.    

1.       This last step is the ultimate foolproof way to fail any internship.  Never, under any circumstance, communicate clearly!  Keep your faculty advisor in the dark, ignore the help of your internship advisor, and do not address any problems with your employer.  Effective communication is the one tool that advisors, employers, and faculty utilize to keep you in those wasteful, so called “career-building” internships.  Falling into this trap will only serve to help you have a successful internship experience and be a great stepping stone for your future career.  Who wants that?  There are simply too many great television shows you simply cannot afford to miss.

So there you have it.  Casey Prey’s proven effective, “Internship Failure Method.”  See the results instantly!  100% failure guarantee.  *Not recommended for the hard-working, success-chasing, future-of-tomorrow type people.  If you’re one of those, simply do the opposite.  As for the rest of you . . . I’ll catch you on the couch! 

Bessie's Hope: Helping us Listen

I didn’t know what to expect when I volunteered at the Health Center at Franklin Park (a nursing home) with the UCDenver Experiential Learning Center staff.  It seemed as if only seconds passed before I found myself kneeling in front of an elderly man sitting silently in a wheelchair.  Though he was nonverbal, I could see his mind was active.  He was sporting a Bronco’s hat and deliberating which plant would best adorn his windowsill.  He didn’t seem to notice that the plants had begun to wither; they were tinged with neglect and lacked the attention needed to bloom.  However, a bit of sunlight and water would encourage these plants to blossom.  Like these plants, just a little attention and care would encourage the people in this nursing home to flourish.

When I looked around the room littered with wheelchairs, walkers and canes, I saw people who refused to be defined by the metal that confined them.   Each individual took his or her own path to assisted living—but that was not the end of their lives.  Each remained full of life, rich with personality and brimming with valuable history to share.  The lady in the corner was wearing a Captain Morgan sweatshirt.  The man next to her couldn’t speak, but a smile clung to his face as his fingers signed with dancing determination.  The stark contrast between the long haired man decorated with tattoos—and the clean-shaven, neatly dressed man next to him emphasized the diversity and culture of acceptance within this facility.  A World War II vet sat next to a lover of hymns.  It was wonderful to see all these people from different walks of life brought together in the winter of their lives.  They had an endless vault of stories to offer the world—if the world would only listen.

             Many residents in assisted living receive few to no visits from loved ones each year.  Their lives are strictly regimented, whether it’s waiting for the next meal or the next round of Bingo.  Some might believe this is the destiny we all must face as we age.  It doesn’t have to be.  Especially when compassionate organizations like Bessie’s Hope exist to bring generations together. 

            The mission of Bessie’s Hope is to enhance the quality of life for nursing home/assisted living elders.  Bessie’s Hope achieves its purpose by bringing together generations in mutually rewarding relationships, by honoring the human spirit and by providing life-enriching volunteer opportunities for youths, families, individuals, community organizations and businesses.    

To brighten their day, Bessie’s Hope facilitates visits between people in the community and nursing home residents.  The surprise happens when volunteers realize that, they too, feel the day brighten and their hearts swell. 

              After a brief introduction between the volunteers and residents, we engaged in activities, sang songs, talked, hugged, and cheered each other up.  One particular lady, solemn and quiet, pointed a crooked finger at my facial hair and asked, “why do you have all that stuff all over your face?”  She proceeded to ask if I was married (she, herself, was not).  Her frankness was refreshing. 

I was grateful to Bessie’s Hope for providing us with such an excellent opportunity to connect with the community, learn about ourselves and others, and make a difference to a small corner of the world.   Bessie’s Hope brings out the gems in each human’s life.  These gems are not to be forgotten, but to be shared for generations to come.  Though all the residents differed in one way or another, all held one thing in common; they wanted someone to listen.  Thanks to Bessie’s Hope, we were enabled to listen.       

The Imaginarium of Dr. ELC

                In today’s ever-changing and highly-competitive job market, experience is becoming more and more important.  How many people, with a hot-off-the-press degree, complain about the hardships of finding a job without experience?  What if I told you there is a way you can get that experience, while still in school, so you can graduate with a hot-off-the-press degree and a pocketful of valuable experience?