Livonia Career Intern Program motivates students
Professionals mentor seniors in careers ranging from physician to homeland security
Livonia senior Erica Brown and Dr. R. B. Kolachalam suit up in medical scrubs just minutes before a gall bladder surgery at Providence Hospital in Southfield in December. During her internship in surgery, Brown observed many surgeries and visited patients with Dr. Kolachalam.
Just minutes before scrubbing in on a routine gall bladder surgery at Southfield’s Providence Hospital, Erica Brown is giving a tour of the hospital’s research laboratory.
Along with Priyanka Joshi and Sara Cottrill, Brown doesn’t flinch as she approaches a room holding three human cadavers covered in pastel sheets. A visitor is caught off-guard by the bodies, especially by the fact that a large cardboard box is resting atop one.
“You get used to it,” Brown says.
“Working here, you’re desensitized to it,” offers Cottrill.
Chalk it up to another unique senior year experience.
Along with senior pictures, prom and
graduation, some students in Livonia
Public Schools look forward to participating
in the district’s model Career Intern
Program.
About 50 students participate each year. The program matches college-bound students with “sponsors,” or professionals willing to mentor high school students for an entire semester.
Livonia
senior Michael
Horgan (right) interned with
the Plymouth Whalers, an
Ontario Hockey League
team. He worked with Jason
Varlesi, who coordinates the
teams sales and marketing
efforts.
Hundreds of students
have participated
since the program
started 30 years ago.
Since then, students have interned in scores of careers, including physician,
teacher, journalist,
homeland security and consumer psychologist.
Students spend 12 to 16 hours“on the job” each week and participate
in
a weekly seminar class where they learn
about portfolios, effective communication,
teambuilding and other skills that
will help them in college—and life.
Students who meet certain academic requirements (minimum 3.0 grade point average), submit three letters of recommendation, and survive an interview process are eligible. They also must have an idea of a career that they’re interested in, and usually have taken some classes to hone the idea.
“I do not want to set them up for failure,” says Mary Couillard, who coordinates the program for the school district. “I want every student to be successful.”
At Providence Hospital, the students’ experience is a powerful one. Brown, Joshi and Cottrill all participated in research studies, using state-of-the-art equipment to perform complicated experiments.
“The equipment here is nothing like what we have at school,” Brown says.
Livonia seniors (from left): Erica Brown, Priyanka
Joshi and Sara Cottrill served
internships at Southfield’s Providence Hospital to explore careers in medical
research and surgery..
Cottrill explains that she’s learned about research protocols, the high costs of research, and even how hard it can be to get into medical school.
The students were surprised to learn
that, even with excellent grades and references,
it can take 20 to 40 applications
before a student is accepted into medical
school—and the fees for sending in all
those applications can exceed $1,000.
“That’s valuable to know,” says Couillard. “I can tell them all those things, but to hear it from college students trying to get in to medical school makes it that much more real.”
During her internship, Brown joined Dr. R.B. Kolachalam on patient rounds, observed surgeries and decided that medical school was in her future.
“The gap between these high school kids and college kids is very narrow,” says Kolachalam, who introduces Brown to patients as “my student.” “I’m amazed by how independent and motivated the students are.”
In the quest to make high school a meaningful experience, Livonia’s program does just that.
For Michael Horgan, the program has provided a glimpse into the world of marketing. Horgan spent the fall semester interning with the Plymouth Whalers, an Ontario Hockey League team.
“If I weren’t here, I’d be sitting in marketing class,” says Horgan, who was interested in a marketing job. “This gives me a leg up on everyone in that class. I’m actually doing the work.”
Horgan’s mentor, Jason Varlesi, is the team’s sales and marketing
coordinator. It
took Varlesi two years
to find a job in his careerfield despite having
two internships while
in college. Having an
internship during high
school will make a
prospective employee
stand out, he said.
Back at the hospital,
another mentor, David
Svinarich, praises
Livonia’s program—
and encourages other
professionals to participate.
“It’s a bit of an
investment on our part and it can be an
intimidating environment for high school
students,” says Svinarich, who directs patient
care research at Providence. “But we
all have an obligation to mentor. All of us
have gotten here because of someone who
mentored us—and that’s why we need to
mentor the next generation.”