Internship

Workplace

• What are your current strengths as a team member?

I am very good with computers and problem-solving. Since I am researching articles, this is very useful. I can search for articles, and if I run into an issue, I can troubleshoot very quickly. I have become my supervisor's go-to person if she needs any tech or surveys for the multiple projects she is a part of.

• Where do you want to grow as a professional and teammate this year?

I want to improve my professional communication. I am continuing to gain more experience with professional communication with a boss/supervisor, but I have more growing to do. I have had many meetings with my boss to practice professional communication, and she is giving me opportunities to be a part of projects with a bigger team where I am able to practice more.

• How did your contributions impact the larger project, goals, or mission of your internship team? Why did your efforts, no matter how small or routine, matter to getting the bigger job done?

My main tasks involve making surveys for studies. The research team can only get the desired results if the survey is completed. They have deadlines and goals that need to be met, and it depends on when I complete surveys.

• Teams benefit from diverse perspectives to solve problems and innovate. What have you learned from working with people who have perspectives, experiences, and backgrounds that are different from your own? How did these perspectives contribute to the success of the team?

People with diverse perspectives and backgrounds contribute new ideas or can find an issue with something. In a recent meeting with a NICU team, a member raised a concern about whether we should track which families have completed a survey. One member said no, while another member who has been in the NICU as a mother said yes because she wouldn't have wanted to be bothered multiple times to complete a survey.

Successes and Challenges

• What successes you have had this year?

I have done very well at time management. I have been able to complete all of my assigned tasks and still have time for school assignments and studying. This will help me in my future career to be able to get all of my assigned tasks completed in an appropriate time frame.

• What challenges you have had this year?

The most challenging part has been waiting. There was a very slow start, and now we are waiting for people to do their parts and email us back. I will stay on top of getting responses and helping things move along as needed. In my future career, I have to be comfortable with gaps of time where I am waiting because I will be collaborating with many others.