While some Hamilton students did their internships in business offices this summer, it was all hands-on for senior Megan Brousseau who returned to her home in Heidelberg, Germany, to work in a U.S. Army hospital. During her summer at the hospital, Brousseau worked in the emergency room and the orthopedic clinic, at everything from data entry to surgery.
Brousseau was one of more than 20 Hamiltonians who received college funding to participate in a summer internship. Work experience is becoming more and more necessary for college students but many opportunities are unpaid and require students to fund their own housing and living expenses as well as working for free.
Thanks to alumni and parent donations, Hamilton students can apply for funding to support them while they work in a field of interest with an organization that cannot pay them. Though Brousseau worked in an unpaid internship, she received a stipend from Hamilton's Joseph F. Anderson Internship Fund, given in honor of a 1944 Hamilton graduate who served the college for 18 years as vice president for communications and development. The fund in his name provides individual stipends to support full-time internships for students wishing to expand their educational horizons in preparation for potential careers after graduation.
Brousseau, a fully-qualified emergency medical technician (EMT), knew she wanted to work at the Heidelberg Army hospital, and contacted the administration about the possibility of her applying for one of the intern positions usually reserved for German medical students. The Staff Department, she explained, "essentially built the internship for me."
Although emergency room work was not completely new to Brousseau, the speed at which she was expected to learn new skills was. She had homework every night and was expected to be competent in a skill the third time she did it. "It's totally unlike any learning I've ever had to do," Brousseau reflected. "When I do it myself, I have to be confident in front of the patient. I can't look confused and run to ask another medic."
Also new for Brousseau was the orthopedic work: "I went into orthopedics thinking I was going to hate it, and now I am determined to be an orthopedic surgeon." Sharing her time between the emergency room, the operating room, which she "loved," and the orthopedic clinic, Brousseau enjoyed the fast pace of the hospital, interacting with patients, and the barrage of responsibilities and new skills. "Although I jokingly get called 'the intern,' I am treated just like any other medic," she said.
Asked for advice to students applying for internships, Brousseau emphasized the importance of experimenting by taking different jobs. "There are only a few years for you to find what you love, and something that you want to do for the rest of your life," she said.
During the year Brousseau is a campus EMT and a member of the varsity women's soccer team. She is also co-president of Hamilton's chapter of the Association of Women in Science, an oral communication tutor, and a Teach for America campus campaign coordinator. After she graduates in May, Brousseau hopes to work with Teach for America, with eventual plans to enter medical school and pursue a career as an orthopedic surgeon.
-- by Lisbeth Redfield
Brousseau was one of more than 20 Hamiltonians who received college funding to participate in a summer internship. Work experience is becoming more and more necessary for college students but many opportunities are unpaid and require students to fund their own housing and living expenses as well as working for free.
Thanks to alumni and parent donations, Hamilton students can apply for funding to support them while they work in a field of interest with an organization that cannot pay them. Though Brousseau worked in an unpaid internship, she received a stipend from Hamilton's Joseph F. Anderson Internship Fund, given in honor of a 1944 Hamilton graduate who served the college for 18 years as vice president for communications and development. The fund in his name provides individual stipends to support full-time internships for students wishing to expand their educational horizons in preparation for potential careers after graduation.
Brousseau, a fully-qualified emergency medical technician (EMT), knew she wanted to work at the Heidelberg Army hospital, and contacted the administration about the possibility of her applying for one of the intern positions usually reserved for German medical students. The Staff Department, she explained, "essentially built the internship for me."
Although emergency room work was not completely new to Brousseau, the speed at which she was expected to learn new skills was. She had homework every night and was expected to be competent in a skill the third time she did it. "It's totally unlike any learning I've ever had to do," Brousseau reflected. "When I do it myself, I have to be confident in front of the patient. I can't look confused and run to ask another medic."
Also new for Brousseau was the orthopedic work: "I went into orthopedics thinking I was going to hate it, and now I am determined to be an orthopedic surgeon." Sharing her time between the emergency room, the operating room, which she "loved," and the orthopedic clinic, Brousseau enjoyed the fast pace of the hospital, interacting with patients, and the barrage of responsibilities and new skills. "Although I jokingly get called 'the intern,' I am treated just like any other medic," she said.
Asked for advice to students applying for internships, Brousseau emphasized the importance of experimenting by taking different jobs. "There are only a few years for you to find what you love, and something that you want to do for the rest of your life," she said.
During the year Brousseau is a campus EMT and a member of the varsity women's soccer team. She is also co-president of Hamilton's chapter of the Association of Women in Science, an oral communication tutor, and a Teach for America campus campaign coordinator. After she graduates in May, Brousseau hopes to work with Teach for America, with eventual plans to enter medical school and pursue a career as an orthopedic surgeon.
-- by Lisbeth Redfield
