This summer, I was pleased to design an internship to enable a college student the chance to gain valuable skills outside of the classroom. Catarina has been studying at Columbia University and came to us with a positive “can-do” attitude. We were also fortunate to have a very receptive client who welcomed Catarina with open arms.
Communication and collaboration were key factors to our success. Because our work was virtual, we organized standing meetings to answer questions and explore new ideas that could help the client succeed.
Internships offer many benefits. In just a few months, I watched Caterina grow into her role by taking on complex tasks and presenting her findings to the client. And my mentoring skills grew too, as I learned to communicate in a wider variety of ways. And last but not least, our client benefited from her ideas, hard work, and fresh perspective.
I look forward to mentoring future interns at Highlands!