By Freshman Josie Baroski

What if an internship does not reflect the exact job you want in the future?  Sometimes, an internship is just a great way to inherit skills related to your future career, as well as develop the professionalism that is desired in a work setting. This is the case for graduate Trenton Koren. Koren, who wants to be a special FBI agent in the future, interned at the Christina Rivenbark Law Firm, specifically the Leland office.

There he studied the law as well as sat in on several different types of cases. He observed occurrences of traffic, civil and criminal court hearings. Koren believes that the skills he’s learned during this internship will 100% help him in his future career. For example, he described a DWI case he attended where the accused was swaying on her feet upon being stopped. Turns out, this motion was because of a medical condition, not intoxication.

 Getting to the bottom of things, having an eye to detail, will help him be thorough in his FBI work in the future.
Koren became first interested in the Christina Rivenbark Law Firm when he decided that he wanted to get a deeper understanding of the law and government. He believes that this internship most definitely helped him accomplish this. 

At Koren’s internship, he worked most closely with Lisa Korotcova. He described her as very professional as well as helpful. His connection with her will help him in the future for recommendations. “She told me to contact her specifically if I ever needed any help with anything,” says Koren

In Koren’s experience, the work environment at the Christina Rivenbark Law Firm was awesome. Everyone there was friendly to him, and always willing to help out.

Koren, who is starting college at UNCW in the fall, reminds you to keep an open mind when looking for an internship. “You can correlate the skills you develop at your internship into your career, even if the two aren’t the exact same occupation.

By Freshman Josie Baroski

Students are so much more than the grades they get in school. Many high school students participate in extracurricular activities,as well as have jobs within our community. Doing all of these things at once can be a lot of fun, but also a lot of hard work. This is why it is important to highlight the exceptional young people that live within our community.

The individual above is Hayden Fisher. He is a graduate at Brunswick County Early College High School. This is a five year program that ends with not only a high school diploma, but also an Associate’s degree. Students earn their Associate’s degree two weeks before they earn their high school diploma. Hayden is called a graduate because he will graduate this year. Once he graduates, he hopes to go to college at NC State University

Hayden is one of the many high school students that works at an internship. Internships are a requirement for graduate students. He works an internship at the Brunswick County IT Department. Here, Hayden tests out new software developed by some of our software engineers in Brunswick County. He makes sure that the software runs smoothly, operates well, and does not experience any bugs or issues. This helps ensure that the software this organization is putting out there is as effective as it can be. At Hayden’s internship, he works most closely with Jonah and Aric, two software engineers. They teach him about what qualities good software possesses and how to create it.

You might be wondering what got Hayden interested in doing this internship? Well, he has always been interested in technology, and wanted to discover if he would be interested in pursuing a career in this subject area as well. This internship helped solidify his desire to work in technology.

          Hayden would like to have a career  in software development or perhaps a video game developer once he graduates. Luckily, Hayden feels that he is getting skills from his internship that will aid him in his future career. One of the skills Hayden is learning at his internship is the process of how to develop software, which will definitely help him in either of the careers he wants to pursue.

Overall, Hayden feels that there is a good work environment where he interns. He said that the staff in his department did a good job at helping him warm up to his job, as well as the people he interacts with at his internship. He feels that he is building good relationships at his internship as well as obtaining good advice about pursuing a career in this field.

To close everything up, a word of advice from Hayden for those looking to find an internship that have the same interests as him: “ The Brunswick County Government Complex is very eager to take interns, however computer repair shops probably won’t answer your emails, I know from experience.”

By Freshman Josie Baroski

Trever Smith is another graduate student at Early College.At the start of next school year, he will be attending NC State for college. He plans on going into the field of computer science/programming for his future career.

So what is he doing right now to prepare for that prospective career? Trevor is working an internship similar to what he hopes to pursue in his life. He believes that there he is developing valuable skills for his career. He feels that the skills he is learning are giving him a good sense of what the  work is like in this field of computer science.

Trevor interns at the Brunswick County Government Complex IT Department. He was interested in interning there because he knew they had a place he could explore the subject area of computer science. Also, his dad working at an IT department in Myrtle Beach contributed to his desire to intern in a similar environment.

At his internship, Trevor works at recreating/digitizing forms for public use. For example, if you are building property, you might be required to fill out a form describing what you plan to build, what materials you plan to use etc. Trevor works to make this paperwork digital, think like a more sophisticated google form. This makes it easier to preserve the information in the system rather than keeping track of tons of paperwork. Within his internship, Trevor works most closely with the Forms Department Administrator. He is there to help Trevor learn about what he is doing, as well as answer any questions Trevor may have along the way.

Trevor thinks that the work environment at his internship is great! He feels that they have good collaboration when working on projects. Trevor agrees that he is making connections that will help in the future career-wise.

Not only is he getting to do something he enjoys at his internship, he is also learning things that will help him be successful in his future career!  

 Lastly, a word of advice from Trevor regarding students interested in finding an internship: “It is a good idea to get involved in an internship. It gives you a sample of the field you are interested in. An internship provides a good opportunity to get hands-on experience in a specific field.

By Freshman Josie Baroski

When Eryn Greeno graduates, she hopes to become a pediatric registered nurse. Her internship is at Supply Elementary School, working with a mentor, who is the school nurse there. This internship is helping her get into this field, as it is directly related to pediatric nursing. Once she graduates, Eryn is completing the nursing program right here on the Brunswick County Community College campus.

What got her interested in pediatric nursing was the time she spent in the children’s hospital when she was younger. While she had no major medical issues, she was aware of the environment around her when she did visit the children’s hospital. This internship sparked her curiosity because she knew it related to this sound interest in pediatrics.

At Eryn’s internship, she observes the school nurse. Here she observes visits from children. She learns about the way school children communicate discomfort. This gives her valuable insight as to how to help kids in need of medical attention. She also has the option to partake in visits with students. This can help her get further adapted to interacting with small children. Lastly, Eryn is allowed to administer simple medications, such as daily prescriptions to students who take them, while she is under the supervision of the school nurse. 

At her internship she works most closely with the school nurse. She is providing Eryn with tips on working with kids and medical needs. Eryn feels that this relationship will help provide her with a possible letter of recommendation, or reference in the future.

The skills that Eryn is developing in her internship include getting to the bottom of issues children provide her with. She is learning how to talk with them to help them figure out what is wrong. This skill will definitely help her in her future career as she hopes to always be working with kids.

Eryn is of the opinion that her internship provides an accepting, positive environment. She described how eager the school nurse is at the prospect of accepting new interns. Tips from Eryn: School environments can be accommodating to one’s school schedule when looking for an internship. She also suggests that you look around at various medical facilities in order to determine which one will work best for you when deciding where to intern.