Category Archives: Winter Term Student Reports (2009)

Craig Capital Corporation

Linzhi Shao, 2010

I had a private equity internship at Craig Capital Corporation in Burlington during the J-term. This internship was offered by Dan Bryan, alum of Middlebury College. It was a great opportunity for me because I had always enjoyed conducting research and analysis of industries and companies. Since private equity firms usually do not offer internships to undergraduates, I treasured this great opportunity and made the best use of it to learn about the deal process of private equity.

Craig Capital Corporation differs from many other private equity firms in the way that it adopts a “contrarian investment philosophy.” Private equity firms that invest in growth companies usually prefer industries that are experiencing fast growth. However, Craig Capital invests in companies that are underappreciated probably because they are in out-of-favor industries or missing a crucial member of senior management. As current economic recession forces a lot of good companies to experience great difficulties in running business and to put themselves on sale at low price, there are more targets in the market that Craig Capital can buy at reasonable purchase price multiples.

On the first day of my internship, I was given a book to read – Pat Dorsey’s “That Builds Wealth”, since it is the strategy of searching for “economic moats” described in this book that has been guiding Craig Capital in making profitable investments in the past. Economic moats refer to a company’s ability to maintain competitive advantages in order to prevent its competitors from taking its profits and market share in the long run. This is a very important concept and the first factor to consider when deciding whether a company is a good buy. I finished the book within two days and used what I learned from the book in my industry and company analysis. I first looked at the company’s historical performance of return on invested capital. If the company has historically generated high EBITDA margin, return on assets, return on equity and return on invested capital, then there is a possibility that the company in question has some economic moats. The next step is to dig into the company’s business model and the industry dynamics to find out whether the company has economic moats and how sustainable these moats are in the long run. Some examples of economics moats are intellectual properties and patents, high switching costs, large network effect, and cost advantages. These steps gave me a very clear and organized framework whenever I was asked to analyze the attractiveness of a company.

After I found a company with economic moats and future growth potential, the next important step is to create a LBO model, from which we can find the internal rate of return (IRR) to see whether investing in this company can generate decent returns. The process of learning how to build a LBO model is one of the greatest lessons learned from my internship, as my financial modeling skills were largely enhanced. Although I took Corporate Finance and Accounting at Middlebury in the first semester of my sophomore year, I did not have many chances of practicing my accounting skills and learning financial modeling before I interned at Craig Capital Corporation. As financial modeling skills are crucial to any finance jobs, I spared no effort in learning LBO models from scratch. When I first played with the models that Dan created for a previous portfolio company, I was amazed by the complexity of the model and unsure whether I could create a similar one for a new company. With Dan’s guidance, I first built the three financial statements by copying the actual data from the offering memorandum to Excel sheets, i.e., income statement, balance sheet, and then cash flow. Then based on current economic situation and my forecast of industry trend, I created assumptions for the company’s future earnings / costs structure and operating efficiency, and then made forecast for the company’s financial statements in the next five years. Then I built in debt repayment schedules, sources and uses of funds and pro forma balance sheets. Initially my balance sheet was always not balanced and I couldn’t find out the reason. Then Dan taught me a method of comparing the items in balance sheet with those in cash flow statement in a particular year to find out the reason of imbalance. Under Dan’s guidance, I finally created a complete LBO model, which was then used by Craig Capital to bid for the company. It gave me tremendous satisfaction when my hard work made a very important contribution to the deal.

In the last week of my internship, I learned how to find a deal that suits the firm’s investment criteria. I was given numerous websites where companies for sale were listed. If the company has at least $4 billion EBITDA, then I looked at its description to see whether it has any competitive advantages, a strong market position, products and services with relatively stable demand, moderate capital expenditure requirement and a reasonable purchase price multiple. I collected a list of twenty companies which satisfied at least two of the abovementioned acquisition criteria and gave the list to Dan. We then had a discussion about the companies on my list. We eventually decided to pursue further interest in only three companies in my list. I realized that it is indeed not an easy process of finding a suitable deal.

This internship provides me with wonderful opportunities to understand a wide range of industries and further enhances my interest in private equity. I have done my best to learn and contribute. I firmly believe that the market research and financial modeling skills obtained from this internship provide a great platform for me to pursue my career in the finance industry.

Contact the Career Services Office for more information on this internship.

SmartMonsters, Inc.

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SmartMonsters, Inc.

Zachary Schuetz, 2011

My experience as an intern at SmartMonsters was even more instructive overall than I had hoped. I learned a great deal about not only the computer science industry, but also myself. A key part of this success was the excellent relationship I developed with my supervisor, but in the end the most important factor in my success turned out to be my ability to be flexible and apply creative problem-solving to each challenge I faced.

My objective for this internship was to aid in quality assurance of SmartMonsters’ primary product, the multi-user online textual role-playing game TriadCity. To this end, I was tasked with developing an automated software “bot” that would enter the game world through the player interface and automatically perform a series of tests such as spell-checking room descriptions, ensuring that doors opened and closed on command, etc. Using the Eclipse development environment and “Extreme Programming” methodologies including iterative development and “test-first” program design, my supervisor and I wrote Java code and integrated it with the existing SmartMonsters code base, taking advantage of tools and methods already in place as well as writing many new ones. I also ensured that the way the bot performed tests and outputted the results was customizable at runtime using any of several command-line arguments. Additionally, I was solely responsible for integrating third-party libraries into the project in order to perform the common but complex tasks of spell-checking and part-of-speech tagging. All code had to be thoroughly documented using the JavaDoc specification, which allows for automatic generation of HTML documentation for the program using a specialized compiler.

Overall, I would categorize my performance during this internship as excellent. Having never worked on a project of this scale before, I was initially overwhelmed, especially since I was still struggling with the syntax at first. In the future, I would attempt to practice more in advance in order to make the first few days a smoother experience. However, I quickly settled into a comfortable rhythm. I was surprised at the degree of control over the project that my supervisor, Mark, gave me – although he set the initial objectives, and offered crucial advice and suggestions at each step, by and large it was I who decided what to do next on a day-to-day basis.

Over the course of the month, I learned when to research technical questions on my own in textbooks and official documentation, and when it was more appropriate to ask for Mark’s help as an experienced programmer. The degree to which he made himself available to answer questions helped me to feel at ease, but since we were telecommuting, I was working for hours at a time with no one hovering over my shoulder. I am particularly proud of the degree to which I was able to separate work from leisure time. Unless we were working closely together on some particular problem, Mark often had little direct evidence of what I had done all day besides my brief daily reports, but he trusted, correctly, that except for designated breaks I was working steadily until I signed off at the end of the day. Partly as a result of this work ethic, we were able to implement our first crucial round of objectives for the project within approximately two weeks, leaving time to work on more complex optional features.

Another interesting aspect of this project was that, for technical and security reasons, Mark was the only one with access to certain data. This ended up meaning that he had to write several classes with an extremely simple structure but many lines of code, leaving me in charge of the majority of the more interesting and challenging work. The creative problem-solving I had to do in order to make the bot perform as it should was thoroughly engaging. Although there were moments of frustration, that made it all the more rewarding when I did find workable solutions.

Besides figuring out that I enjoy exercising the parts of my brain necessary for programming, I learned that I do have the capacity to work steadily in a full-time position of 8 or more hours a day. I also learned the importance in such a situation of taking short breaks to rest my eyes and hands and restore circulation, lest I become too stiff to get out of my chair. Although it may not sound like a serious problem, Mark stressed that many novice programmers become so engrossed in their work that they become dehydrated or even ill through carelessness.

Another fact about myself that significantly increased my productivity once I figured it out is that, when I need to leave something and come back to it, it is best to make myself do so when not at a “stopping point.” Generally, if I stop in the middle of something, whether it be a paragraph of text or a single line of code, it is obvious what needs to be done when I come back to it. This saves me from forgetting what my immediate plans were, and allows me to gradually regain my concentration.

Also important throughout this process has been follow-through. In casual situations, I sometimes have the habit of examining a puzzle only long enough to determine that I could find a solution, without determining what the solution is. Having to not only conceive of ideas and solutions but actually implement them myself has, in many cases, led to a re-adjustment of my thinking, and I have learned to recognize the importance of balancing the efficiency of my work with the effectiveness of what I produce.

In addition to the valuable insights into myself that I gained through this internship, my conversations with Mark yielded many stories about how things work in the computer science industry. Our discussions of dress code, hiring practices, and the difference between Silicon Valley and traditional corporate culture allowed me to get an insider’s view of the different aspects of working with computers. As a programmer with many years of experience, Mark was also able to explain programming style conventions that are sometimes well-justified, and sometimes arbitrary but time-honored.

All things considered, I would have to say that this internship is one of the best experiences I have had at Middlebury. Although I had less free time than most students during J-term, the amount I was able to learn both in terms of Java programming and in terms of how I work best made it an unquestionably valuable process. I still may not pursue computer programming as my main field of study, but I am now confident in my ability to work from home, which is a distinct possibility in today’s world. Also, some of the work I did sparked an interest in the field of computational linguistics, with which I was previously wholly unfamiliar. Since I enjoy linguistics as well as mathematics and computer science, this is an area I certainly plan to investigate further.

When I first conceived of the idea of doing an internship at SmartMonsters, it was an idle daydream borne of the desire to contribute in some way to a game that I enjoyed. The fact that I took the initiative to contact the company, secure the position, fill out the necessary paperwork, and realize the situation is one of the achievements I am most proud of in my life to date. Through this process, I have gained both technical knowledge and confidence that will be essential for securing a paying position in the future.

Contact the Career Services Office for more information on this internship.

Coyote REP Theater Company

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Coyote REP Theater Company

Ben Schiffer 2010.5

I feel my performance, as sound designer for COYOTE REP was exceptionally good. From my first week in New York City I was proactive as a member of the theatre company. Because the company is a small, not for profit theatre company, and the members of the company hold other jobs I had to send out a couple of emails before hearing back from the director. Before hearing back from her, I began doing basic research for my design based on the few details I knew about the show from conversations to set up the internship. By taking the steps to have some research completed prior to our first meeting, and making the email connections to push for the meetings and finalization of a script I could use to design, I feel I played a key role as the sound designer for this production.

Living in New York and working in theatre there is an amazing learning experience. One would think that New York is fast paced and flashy and fun and amazing. While it is all those things, living there alone leaves a lot of time for personal reflection. I learned that I can do just fine in a big city, but having a network of friends would have made the experience much better. I spent the majority of my free time exploring the city on my own. I would walk new neighborhoods, take the subway to where I needed to go, and go out at night in hopes of meeting new people and making friends. I think I learned a lot more about the city by being there on my own. I got to go to the places and museums that I wanted, and the times I did go out with others who knew the city, I got to learn the places my few friends there liked too.

When it comes to working in theatre in New York, it couldn’t be more different than Middlebury. At Middlebury there is almost an endless resource of music and sound to be found at the libraries that are available to the students. Designing in New York posed a more difficult task to find the music I was looking for. The other crucial learning point of working for Coyote REP was not for profit theatre companies move slowly. Though there was plenty of work to do on the project, making initial contact with the director was a bit difficult. Once the ball was rolling on the project it was easier to get in touch, but things still moved at a fairly slow pace. At the end of my time in the city I candidly asked the director if the project would have made this much progress in three weeks had I not come to the city. She told me that it would have moved much slower, and that it was great having me come down because it pushed the company to further the project.

All in all, my experience designing sound in New York was great. I was working with a company that was new to me, with new people, and a new type of theatre project. The project was a recorded sound play, which can be compared in a way to radio drama (which I have never designed for). I used my own personal sound and online resources to find my sounds and music. I also took advantage of the vast amount of theatre in New York. I saw shows and went to museums, including the Jewish Museum’s exhibit on Yiddish theatre. At times I feel as though it would have been nice to have a more concrete schedule, and work space. Because the theatre company did not have their own rehearsal space, I resorted to working at home. However, even with no theatre space, and not getting to be around for the recording process, I learned a lot from this project, and enjoyed myself. It was also an honor to be asked to stay on as sound designer through the culmination of the project, which will most likely be around the end of April.

Contact the Career Services Office for more information on this internship.

Camfed USA

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Camfed USA

Stephanie Rademeyer, 2011

I performed well during my internship. I regularly consulted with my superiors to make sure that they were satisfied with the work I was producing, and I always received very positive feedback. I was at work on time, and left after a few of my co-workers had gone, but was never the last to leave, which I believe was proof that I was hard-working, but that I had other interests as well. I like to think I was always polite and respectful, but I was also approachable and friendly. I was delighted when my boss took me aside and asked for my opinion on how things could be improved, and then implemented my ideas! She regularly sent me thank you notes, so I hope I helped Camfed as much as I could.

I learned that if I believe in what I’m working towards, and enjoy my co-workers’ company (which was, indeed, the case), then I look forward to going to work and doing my very best for the organization. I learned that NPOs (if Camfed is a good example) are laid-back, overwhelmingly friendly, and enjoyable places to work in. Everyone in my office took me out for breakfast or lunch at least once, and I learned personal details about all of them after a few days working there. Becoming a team and maintaining a positive atmosphere seems to be the most important goal in the Camfed USA office. The work itself was at times very tedious, but I think that has more to do with my dislike towards staring at a computer all day than anything Kimberley made me do. Moreover, reading about what Camfed was doing, and how it was helping SO many girls, motivated me to be as productive as possible.
I learned that I need creative work. I loved designing the brochure, and I loved coming up with questions for the documentary. Anything that involved thinking outside of the box made me excited and I was extremely happy at my desk whenever I was given small, inventive jobs.

The work was not particularly intellectually stimulating, which was a shame, and I’m not sure if my superiors’ work was any better. There seems to be few challenges to overcome, at least in communications and fundraising. Camfed focuses mainly on getting the word out that the organization exists, as it is so new. Although that is a crucial and noble job to do, I’m not sure if I could dedicate my life to working in an office, trying to convince people to donate to my organization. If I were to work for Camfed, I would prefer being in the International office, as they are involved in revamping the organization, and improving its structure, which would seem more interesting.

And, of course, I learned a lot about Camfed, the importance of female education, the shockingly low percentages of female education, and why they still exist, and the political and economic conditions for women in Ghana, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Tanzania. I learned a lot about prostitution, HIV/AIDS, and orphans in Africa, and what pushes people to turn to dangerous jobs and lifestyles. I learned about the hygiene inconveniences about being a woman in school in Africa, the lack of role models, teachers’ sexism, the dangers one has to face when walking to school, the problems behind not having access to adequate shoes and uniforms… Camfed opened my eyes to effective development, and how organizations should be run to help as many locals as possible. The office consisted of four people, which is an indicator of how much Camfed believes in hiring locals on the ground, instead of Westerners. I truly believe that Camfed is the best NPO right now in existence, as they continue to produce outstanding results. This knowledge has helped me understand what problems the continent faces today, how to solve many of them, and how a Westerner can dramatically improve people’s lives. Camfed has given me hope that there is a positive future for Africans, as the CAMA members (the older generations who have already benefitted from Camfed’s financial aid) prove daily by becoming politicians, journalists, bankers, lawyers, and teachers, and funding the education of many other poverty-stricken girls.

I enjoyed my experience tremendously. Living in San Francisco was a dream, and working alongside such young, motivated, caring, interesting and interested individuals was wonderful. I was staying with a psychologist, who often spoke to me about her work, and invited her lawyer friends over, who also tried to persuade me to join their office. Thus living alongside three very different groups of professionals opened my eyes to the different lifestyles and everyday jobs that are potential career choices in my future. I took into account different stress levels (it would seem that NPO workers are definitely the most relaxed, followed by psychologists…) Moreover, working at Camfed gave me a good taste of what it would be like to work in an office every day, which will motivate me, I’m sure, to explore jobs in the future that do not involve sitting for extended periods of time. I learned so much, so thank you for offering such an experience!

Contact the Career Services Office for more information on this internship!

Parliament of Czech Republic

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Parliamentary Institute, Parliament of Czech Republic

Ashley Quisol, 2011

This J-Term I worked as an intern in the Parliamentary Institute of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic as well as for the CEVRO Institute. Parliamentary institute “performs scientific, research, and training tasks for both Chambers of Parliament, for Parliamentary Committees and other sub-bodies, Deputies, Senators as well as for the Chancelleries of the Chamber of Deputies and Senate” and the CEVRO Institute is a private college is focused on education and research in the area of social sciences with practical use in public life. Though when I applied, I only specified that I would be working in the Parliamentary Institute, the activities of both organizations greatly overlapped and so I found my self working at both locations- Mondays and Fridays in Parliament and Tuesdays-Thursdays in CEVRO.

In Parliament my main responsibility was to translate an exhibition for parliament titled “The Path to a Modern Parliament.” This was extremely time-consuming since it covered parliamentary history and procedure and ended up being about 40 pages worth of word documents. It was beneficial to me in two ways: firstly, I had the chance to learn more about the history of Czech politics, architecture, and important figures, and secondly I was able to enlarge my Czech vocabulary, especially in terms of vocabulary pertaining to politics. Both of these skills are very hard to acquire and will be invaluable in the future.

In addition to translating, the exhibition, I also helped to prepare materials for visiting delegates, edited information on their website, and fact checked a book in process. Working in parliament was rewarding not only because of the hard skills that I learned, but also because of the human interaction and insight that it provided me; I worked at all times with at least two other people and their political opinions and views on certain issues certainly provided me with new perspectives.

My responsibilities in CEVRO were slightly different. The institute was compiling a proposal for a grant to study the effects and benefits of online voting, especially at a national level and I researched and summarized specific data concerning this phenomenon. Additionally, I researched information about referenda in Europe, especially relating to the EU constitution, and I compiled the overwhelming large amount of information into a manageable package for the institute. I also translated at CEVRO changing the class descriptions and syllabi from Czech to English so that the institute can better cooperate with its partner school in England.

All in all, this internship was a unique experience. Though at some times extremely challenging, it was always enjoyable and worthwhile. I feel that I am not only more educated about Czech history, but I am also a better converser than I had been previously. I am so grateful that I had to opportunity to pursue this internship and I thank Middlebury College Career Center for allowing me to do so.

Contact the Career Services Office for more information on this internship!

Welcome Books

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Welcome Books

Alexandra Peterson, 2008.5

During my Winter Term internship at Welcome Books I was thoroughly introduced to the workings of a publishing company, a three-decade-old company, which is connected to the historic publishing house, Random Books.

Welcome Books, Inc. has multiple divisions, but it is renowned for its coffee table books: The Constitution and The Farmer, for instance. These books have large photos, but what I like in particular is the informative nature of each book. I wanted to intern for the company because of its small size and good values. Everyone was very thoughtful to explain the company’s inner workings, as I was hoping they would be. I took it slow, as I have not walked into a situation with so little background in a very long time. I think it is great that I’m ending my college career with an opportunity to experience something different – a liberal arts education at its best.

I had no experience in the book business nor in a small company so I requested to be sent around and help as many different people and projects as possible. I was able to sit down during brainstorm meetings: meetings for book ideas, illustration ideas, cover ideas, pitching ideas, etc. I looked a many mocks to see what issues there were with text, image and layout. I had to double check finances of the company, help go through bills and projected income and also go through financial possibilities with the economic crisis. I took notes at meetings regarding negotiations of contracts and staff assignments. I assisted with events to help promote upcoming and existing books.

I learned that it is all about ideas. Good, unique ideas. What is the book that no one else is going to think of? What coffee table book does not exist yet? What is a children’s book that will be of interest for generations to come? What children’s adventure has someone NOT written about yet? What type of photos or illustrations have not been on the market that should be? It is an inventive industry, to say the least. It is about pitching an idea to an author to have them agree to do business with you. You’re a sales person who must have unique ideas. This was not something I’m used to. I’m not a creative person. I am a person of logic. I think analytically and therefore am better at working with an existing problem, rather than coming up with one. This is what Winter Term is all about – experiencing something, you otherwise might not ever experience.

The competition between publishing houses is worse than ever with this failing economy and I learned about how a publishing company works, but more so, how a publishing company works when there is no money. So one of the challenges is not finding the people and books, but to get them under contract as soon as possible. I understood the negotiation process, but not the lingo. There are standard fees and times for new writers, a certain amount of money for a year’s work. The corresponding time spans and prices I still can’t remember. I like the negotiation side of it – the chase, the challenge. It seems that is what I have found most enticing throughout learning about the industry. Even though I think it is important to exercise my very little creative side, I find that I gravitate towards the business end of publishing.

Last J-term I worked for Diane Sawyer at ABC News, an enormous corporation. Working at a small company has shown me that what a successful small company needs is a group of hard workers and self-motivators. This business is full of very well educated, thorough workers. Everyone has his or her own specific expertise, but at the same time, everyone checks everyone else’s work. This has been my first experience in a small office. I’m not sure if my work style is best for this environment, but it is without a doubt interesting.

At the end of this internship I realized that I’m more of the independent type, and therefore not one to work in a company that is “family style.” I did without a doubt need this experience. I needed to know what it is like to depend on members of the team and to have to have many people check your work and to have many voices on a topic rather than a single boss.

I knew before I entered that the publishing world was not for me, but it was important for me to see it as a student of international relations. I read books – all the time – and these books go through a business to before their final product. I wanted to know the capitalist tweaks (or something along those lines) it goes through during the publishing process to make it to the public eye. It was all fascinating, but professionally, not for me.

Wanting to know the process of what I consume was the same with ABC News. I watch the news all the time; I depend on it for my professional and personal life. I wanted to know what the filters were, the economical benefits for certain frames, the relationships between news corporations and other businesses. I think it is very important to understand the business of a product that one consumes on a regular basis. It could even be like reading, Fast Food Nation, for meat-eaters (I’m a vegetarian). I like to know the details of an organization or company, what are the pressing issues, what are the small issues that the public does not know. It all gets complicated and I think the only way to really get to know something is to throw yourself in the middle of it. And that is what I did.

I now have greater knowledge of the book industry. I also have greater knowledge of a small business. The two combined were so informative because I was basically starting at ground zero. I took in as much information as I could get and at the end of my internship I made an assessment of what I learned and compared and contrasted that to who I am. Neither of the two, the publishing industry, nor the small business, seemed to work well with me, but I would not have known that had I not been able to do an internship during Winter Term.

This was an accomplishment. What I believe, J-term is all about. Experiencing. My final college experience, a new one, a never done before, what a great way to lead into the real world.

Contact the Career Services Office for more information on this internship!

Centre de Santé de Hann/Mer

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Centre de Santé de Hann/Mer

Marietou Faye Paye, 2010

My internship, which debuted from the fifth of January of 2009 and ended at the end of the month, was done in the capital of Senegal, Dakar, in the health field. During my internship, I witnessed both the positive and negative sides of the healthcare. I worked in the field of pharmacy but I was also given the opportunity to work in the laboratories of the health center in Hann/Mer, Dakar and in the biggest hospital of Dakar, which is Hopital Principal de Dakar.

At the Centre de Sante de Hann/Mer, I worked in the pharmacy and laboratory area. Because my interest was in both pharmacy and laboratory work, though my internship was to be on pharmacy only, my supervisor gave me the opportunity to work in the laboratory of the centre de santé. As a pharmacy intern, my job was to know what medications were available and what was sold. I was responsible for overlooking the daily flow of the pharmacy. The pharmacy was strict about its budget because the country has shown the corruption that resulted in the hospitals because of money. The hospital, with the daily diary of the pharmacy, had a monthly meeting where the situation of the pharmacy was discussed. Because of the time of the year, the pharmacy was not as busy and therefore, did not operate as much. However, the laboratory I co-interned in had a many patient to view daily.

On my first day at the laboratory, I observed the labor that was to be done. After the first few days, I was responsible for analyzing blood and urine of patients. I had a microscope, chemicals reagents, a centrifuge and a machine to analyze bloods and urines. Determining the blood group of a patient required four reagents and manual labor. I was to determine whether the patient had blood type A, B or AB (+ or -) and if the result showed it to be none of the above, I was to have the patient be sent to an institutions with more advanced materials to determine whether or not the patient had blood type O (+ or -). Our center did not have enough materials to positively declare such blood type for a patient. For the urine and blood, I was to analyze them in slides. My job with the urine was to prepare two fresh slides and color one of them. For the uncolored slides, I was to look for epithelial cells, red blood cells and white blood cells, which were bound to show up if infection existed. For the colored slide, my job was to look for white blood cells, bacilli, cocci and trophazoites. I was also responsible for counting trophazoites and white blood cells in the slide of blood I colored, which is a method I had already learned in my Cell biology class. The blood was also used to count the patient white blood cells, red blood cells and hemoglobin. I was responsible for determining all of these, which in turn gave me an insight in the medical world.

With the amount of information I learned from school, I was able to work better in the pharmacy and laboratory. This allowed me to show my interests and also to be able to work in the lab. I was able to put into lots efforts in the lessons I was given because I had an understanding of the subjects. Overall, I would say that I have put in lots of efforts and thoughts into this internship. The subjects were vastly interesting and this allowed me to keep continuous interests in what I was doing throughout the internship.

With an understanding of the issues that are involved with the healthcare systems of Senegal, I was able to have a better understanding of what I need to do in order to successfully operate as a pharmacist and a scientific researcher in Senegal. My ultimate goal is to settle in Senegal where I can participate in the betterment of the country especially in the health field. I have witnessed that access to materials that enable the health centers to operate efficiently is one of the major issue. This gave me the idea of researching current organizations that are working on providing materials for free to the hospitals in Senegal. I was able to find organizations called ActionTeranga and CDC, whom I plan on working with. I also understood that I need to work more in the hospitals in the country in order to have a greater experience in these fields and better understanding of the people. Therefore, I was able to speak to the chief of the laboratories of Hopital Principal de Dakar, who explained to me that they are organizing programs with other nearby countries and that I would be able to participate in their programs in the future. There are so much more that can be done. However, this internship has given me the opportunity to reshape my future plan in order to attain my goal of improving my natal country.

Overall, I learned an extreme amount of information, especially because this was my first experience working with patients. It was interesting to know the manual labor that had to be put in when technology is thought to be advanced and ample. I felt very good about my internship because it reinforced the lessons I had learned in my Cellular Biology class. Some of the skills that I had already learned were put into use, which allowed me to show to my supervisors that I had some knowledge of the fields. In the pharmacy, the lessons that I learned in my organic chemistry class came into use when my supervisor gave me papers from the medicines to read and understand. Overall, it is an experience I would like to relive as it had reinforced my desire to enter the field. And with the amount of difficulties faced by the workers of this centre de santé, I was able to see what it would take to become a pharmacist and a scientific researcher in Senegal.

Contact the Career Services Office for more information on this internship!

Rogers and Cowan

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Rogers and Cowan

Jamie Park, 2011

During my time at Rogers and Cowan, I essentially worked for the 5 publicists in my music-sports department, who all gave me different projects consisting of: clipping newspaper articles about our clients, calling up and booking shows for clients, asking for invitations to Grammy parties for our clients, creating a celebrity hit list for our department’s Miles Davis exhibition opening night, creating a media hit list for that exhibition, calling everyone on the hit list to attend the party, putting together press kits for clients, writing press releases, scanning and cropping magazine/newspaper articles about our clients, mailing out client demos, researching celebrity contacts, and even escorting celebrities at the Grammys. Of course, I did do some of the tasks that are expected of interns too, such as ordering the publicists’ lunches, making copies, preparing the meeting rooms, and even getting them coffee from time to time.

On my last day, I really felt that I was walking away with one of the most valuable experiences of my life. I can honestly say that this was one of the most active internships I’ve ever had out of my pretty long list of past internships. I really got into it and did what publicists actually did. My supervisor(s) really wanted to expose me to their world, and so basically, they gave me portions of the jobs they actually had to do. I feel I did really well because I was really passionate about my job. I was really efficient with, fast in performing, and willing/wanting to do many of the tasks given out to me

From this internship, one of the most interesting things I learned was that we have to take advantage of all the resources we have. In the middle of my internship, a new spring intern started working in our department on Tuesdays and Thursdays, who would take my place after I left in February. He became very valuable because of one thing: his British accent. The week before our exhibition event, I had to call all the celebs and media on the hit list I compiled. However, I saw that I really wasn’t getting anywhere and really detested calling the grouchy publicist assistants. It wasn’t a pleasant experience. When I shared this with one of my supervisors, she told me to split the list with the other intern. I was to only call the males, while he called the females. This small tactic worked amazingly. Not only did we both get really good responses from the people we called (sometimes we were on the phone with these people for up to 10 minutes, which was pretty significant), but the people we called actually showed up to our event and came looking for us to put a face to the name.

I learned was that remembering a name and giving people, who aren’t necessarily celebrities, a level of respect, go a really long way. Because I was the one who actually created the guest list for our Miles Davis exhibition, I was able to remember most of the guest’s names. So, when I let people in without even looking down at the check-in list and talked in such a way that seemed like I actually really knew who they were, the guests (more so the ones who aren’t actual celebs, but those who are usually the ones backstage) really appreciated it and would later come back to ask what my name was. In this way, I was able to boost my networking skills and mingle with more people in the music industry.

Rogers and Cowan helped me realize that I actually do belong at a PR firm. I felt really comfortable in that scene and felt that I really did contribute to the firm. Through this experience, I was able to think on my feet quicker and became more creative in my approaches to different projects.

Overall, this is an experience I would recommend to anyone. The firm was awesome because of how they really integrated me into their work instead of pushing me aside. The events were a lot of a fun too because I got to directly interact with the people who were usually behind-the-scenes. Through them I learned a lot about the industry. And besides experiencing the life at a PR firm, it was terrific to be able to work the red carpet at the Grammys.

Contact the Career Services Office for more information on this internship!

Biblioteca David Kitson

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Biblioteca David Kitson, Costa Rica

Megan Nesbeth, 2011

The fact that I was able to have the experience of teaching English in Costa Rica as part of my college experience is singularly enough to convince me that choosing to attend Middlebury was the right choice. If you had asked me, when I graduated from high school, what I forecasted my future college career looking like I would never have expected teaching in Costa Rica to be a part of my journey, yet this experience has affected me so greatly that I am sure that it will play a large part in shaping my remaining time at Middlebury and my general outlook on life.

For a month I walked the tightrope between being a gringo (American ex-pat) and a Tico (native Costa Rican) as I lived in Nosara, a small town where everyone knew me as one of the Middlebury English teachers. In the most concise terms my responsibilities were simply to teach two English classes – one to children and one to adults each day. As simple as that sounds the preparations necessary to accomplish my duties and the stamina to carry out my plans were far from easy. Don’t get me wrong, eventually I got the hang of teaching, we all did, but as someone who has never taken a teacher’s ed course, had never had formal teaching experience before or even the desire to be a teacher this internship was a lot of work. Just teaching on the board is never enough, especially since the director of the program insists that no Spanish be spoken in the classroom. There is always something more that not should, but must be prepared. In addition to requiring hours of planning teaching is a constant performance for the duration of your class. Teaching is also a job that comes with a large amount of accountability because not only do you answer to a boss, and in our case receive constructive criticism from two mentors who would observe our classes, you are accountable to the parents who pay for their children to attend these classes and the adult learners who pay their own way, and accountable to the students who are giving you their time. All in all, it is very easy to see when a class is working or not because the students can either use what you are teaching them or they stare back at you with blank and overwhelmed expressions written on their faces.

Each morning I would wake up, have some personal time, get ready for work, review the lesson plan for my morning class with my co-teacher, Evan, and then go teach an hour and a half class to twelve high-schoolers. Due to the number of students who signed up for the Colegiales (High-schoolers) course and the group dynamic between those students we decided with our on-site mentors that it would be best to teach a larger class together than splitting the students into two smaller groups to teach smaller classes. The main challenges of teaching the Colegiales class was keeping the students engaged and having fun during what was essentially voluntary summer school and always remembering to account for the differences in cognition levels between our youngest students aged thirteen and fourteen and the oldest who was twenty-two years old. Team-teaching is wonderful because it gives you another person to lean on when you encounter difficulty explaining a concept, another person’s energy to build off of, and even just someone to keep the class moving if you need a bathroom break during the class. Yet like any form of collaborative work, team-teaching presents its own set of challenges. You have to learn how to transition seamlessly from a section that you are teaching to that which your co-teacher is teaching and vice versa. You have to learn how to respect each other’s time in terms of deciding when to plan your lessons for the next day. You have to learn how to adapt your own teaching style, which is itself constantly evolving, to work with that of your partner and you have to learn how to see what your partner is seeing so as to help each other successfully execute the activities that you propose.

For both the children’s and adults’ class we prepared a daily lesson plan for the class. In the case of the children’s class we made many posters and visual aids to teach our lessons, we prepared flashcards, bingo boards, pictures for concentration, and the materials for a variety of other activities depending on the day. For the adult class in addition to preparing my lesson plans I spent a lot of time using the resources available at the library to teach various grammar points and finding the best activities, references, and worksheets that I could to photocopy for my class. With them I made posters as well. In both classes, but more so with the kids, we played a lot of physical games to keep them moving and energized.

Whereas the children in the morning were divided by age into the class that Evan and I taught and two other classes that Kelly and Pat taught the adults were divided based on their skill level in English. As the Midd student with the least amount of Spanish I took the most advanced group of adult learners. Ironically enough the biggest challenge that I ended up facing with my adult class was their high skill level. Once you get past the point where all of your students are functionally proficient in a language each person has unique things that need to be fixed so you run into the problem of trying to teach to those specific needs and in the process forcing the other students to sit through review. Eventually I got into a rhythm where I learned how to plan multi-level activities so that all of my students could practice the same skill at the same time, but each at the level that is right for them.

Now that I am back at Middlebury I can see how far reaching the effects of my time spent in Costa Rica are on my life. My time in Costa Rica wasn’t only about teaching. It was the whole experience of living on my own in another country and taking in Costa Rica. Really this wasn’t just an internship experience, but a mini-semester abroad. New senses of confidence, self-assuredness, and calmness have all entered my life since returning from Costa Rica. For the first time in a long time I am trusting myself and doing what I want to do instead of what I think that I should want to. My month in Costa Rica will easily rank as one of the best experiences of my life for years to come. It taught me that I can live on my own, that maybe one day I will teach adults again, and that life doesn’t have to move at a New York pace at all times. Sleep has value as does waking and it is a beautiful thing to allow your body and life to once again be dictated by the rhythm of the sun.

Contact the Career Services Office for more information on this internship!

Counseling Service of Addison County

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Counseling Service of Addison County

Louisa Michl, 2009

This January I served as an intern at the Counseling Services of Addison County here in Middlebury, Vermont. In my time spent at CSAC I participated in various activities in which I interacted with children and adolescents with a number of different neurodevelopmental disorders. These activities were offered to me by several organizations throughout the community, so while I officially worked as an intern for CSAC, I also had the opportunity to work alongside staff from the Middlebury Union High School’s Alternative Education Center, the Hannaford Career Center/D.O. program, as well as Champlain Valley Academy.

Personally, I feel I performed quite well as an intern over the Winter Term. Over the past month I was able to create a great dynamic with the other Middlebury student intern in the work we did together. While I learned a great deal through observing the professionals I was with, I feel I achieved a great deal and became somewhat of an asset through all the work I performed during such a short period of time. As the month went on, I was given progressively more responsibility, culminating in the opportunity for me to work one on one with a select few clients. The fact that my supervisor allowed me this opportunity leads me to believe that I certainly gained his trust and approval. He believed I was capable of taking on the work, and I believe I lived up to his and my own personal expectations.

Additionally, I think I did an excellent job with the children I worked with through this internship. Although I have had experience working with children in the past, it was quite a different experience working with children living with varying neurodevelopmental issues. The way my supervisor arranged my schedule provided me the opportunity to work with different groups of children and adolescents with carrying disorders within a number of programs in the community. One day I would work with adolescents with behavioral or emotional disorders and the next I might work with learning impaired high school students. While I appreciated the chance to observe the range of programs offered in the community and to get to know a number of different children, I also found it frustrating that, given so little time, I was not able to become involved in depth with any particular program or group of students. I can imagine that this is a common complaint with Winter Term internships due to the time constraint. Moreover, I often felt frustrated by the limitations of being an intern. Due to numerous privacy reasons along with state mandated restraints, I was just barely able to scratch the surface of all that constitutes this type of career in the field of psychology. Again, I am sure I share this feeling with a number of interns.

One of the most significant things that I learned over the course of my internship with CSAC was the therapeutic value of silence. I myself have never been comfortable with silence in most situations. In class, for instance, I used to feel awkward and uneasy when there was utter silence after a professor’s question or a fellow student’s remark. I often would try and break that silence by offering anything, whether or not I found that it added much to the discussion. Likewise, in simple, day to day conversations with friends I often found myself becoming so involved in the conversation that I would finish others’ sentences or put words into their mouths. Some might say that this is simply a quality of being an active listener. Yet, I have come to be more comfortable allowing that silence to remain once I realized, through my experience at CSAC, the benefits of that silence.

One example from my internship this month which may better clarify this idea of silence was my work with a group of high school girls at the Middlebury Union High School’s Alternative Education Center. Once a week I would lead a small group of girls from the program in an open discussion about topics ranging from friendships and conformity to anger management and panic attacks. Initially I was quite nervous and did all that I could to keep the conversation going. If there was a brief pause or silence in the conversation I would jump in with a new suggestion or an entirely new topic of conversation. As a result, the discussion was choppy and in no way cohesive. However, once I allowed myself to allow the conversation to pause or rest in silence I found that the girls kept the discussion going without my forced guidance. The silence allowed them time to absorb and contemplate things already said and to take the conversation in a more natural progression to the issues that affected them and those which they wished to share with the group. Furthermore, if an individual is given time to think of what he or she wants to say without being interrupted by my effort to finish their sentence it helps them to express what they truly feel. It is to some degree therapeutic allowing an individual to express himself in his own words. My newfound comfort with silence will certainly help me with any future work in the world of therapy, not to mention my own personal, social and classroom experiences.

Overall, my internship at CSAC was a great experience. Despite my occasional frustrations, I was able to get a small look inside the world of Child and Family Therapy in a small community clinic setting as well as in the educational setting. Although I did enjoy working with children of varying ages, I most enjoyed working with adolescents in high school as opposed to children of elementary school age. I’ve realized that, while I do work well with younger children, I am much more passionate about working with older individuals. As I begin to take my first big step into the career field, I understand the importance of following a passion instead of a particular skill. Recognizing this preference of age group will help me to narrow my focus in my current job search and later job selection.

Courtney Tabor, 2009

I spent this past J-term as an intern at the Counseling Service of Addison County (CSAC) in Middlebury, VT. I was one of two Middlebury students participating in this internship at the time. The internship lived up to and far surpassed my expectations of it, and I had an incredible experience.

As an intern at CSAC, I participated in several activities: I observed classes at the Alternative Education center and collaborated with the other Middlebury student intern to lead a girls’ therapy group there; I worked in a small therapy group with a counselor and two middle school aged boys in attempts to use music for therapeutic purposes; I worked with a family to help the two sons establish healthy physical boundaries with one another; I observed and helped in teaching and guiding students in a Diversified Occupations program; I accompanied 3 elementary and middle school aged boys along with two counselors on snowshoeing trips as part of an adventure therapy program; I counseled a visually impaired elementary school aged child and her family; I worked with and assisted students at the Champlain Valley Academy during both recreational and learning activities.

I believe that I performed well during this internship. I felt very comfortable in most of the situations in which I found myself throughout the month. Watching, experiencing, and participating in some of the work that counseling involves felt both natural and exciting to me. When I wasn’t physically at work, I spent a lot of time thinking about the individuals I had been working with-brainstorming about ideas of how to help them, trying to figure out why they did what they did and felt what they felt. I believe that I was able to be both enthusiastic and insightful, and to adapt well to the dynamic nature of the activities in which I participated. This is not to say that this month was not a challenge for me. I struggled at times to know what the right thing was to talk about with young adolescent boys whose main interests were video games, and just how to connect and communicate with girls who had gone through so much difficulty in their lives that I truly knew nothing about and had never experienced. I sometimes felt very insecure, worrying that the children would have no desire to let me in because in many situations I had no idea what it was really like to be them. However, although this was a struggle for me, I truly appreciated the perspective it gave me.

I am extremely grateful to have had this opportunity to intern at the Counseling Service over J-term. I learned a great deal about the field of counseling that no classroom experience would be able to teach me. Although it was difficult to dig deeply into one particular area, I got a small taste of many different types of counseling. This taught me how far the counseling field goes beyond simply sitting in an office. It can take so many different forms, and often it is more helpful to be active than to force antsy children and adolescents to sit in one place for an hour. Furthermore, I learned that in counseling, work goes far beyond the time actually spent “working.” You are constantly preparing and thinking about what to try next, why something you tried worked and something else didn’t. It is actually quite mentally exhausting. When I got home at the end of the day I felt completely drained, even after only five hours of work. But at the same time, it was always an exciting challenge, and though I was tired, I was always enthusiastic for what was to come the next day.

I also learned a great deal about myself during this internship. I was faced with a few different situations that forced me to step outside of my comfort zone for a while. For example, before the internship started I had never gone snowshoeing before, but found out that I would be going snowshoeing once a week with some children in an adventure therapy group. Although snowshoeing is not very difficult to learn, I was nervous since I can’t see and had no idea what the process would involve. However, I felt that in order to fully jump into the internship and its opportunities, I needed to try it out. I ended up loving it. As we snowshoed along the trails, each of the boys I was working with took turns guiding me along. It was a little difficult at times to put my trust in the boys, who sometimes forgot to tell me if there was a snow bank coming up or if there was a tree in our way, but it was fun too. It helped the boys to be patient and learn how to guide and help someone else, and it helped me to be trusting, flexible, and to have fun despite little fears that I might run into a tree along the way. Although this is just one experience, it is an example of how I learned the importance of stepping outside of my comfort zone once in a while. I think counseling is a lot about this. Kids being counseled are constantly stepping out of their comfort zone to open up and talk about what may be bothering them. Counselors also must be doing this all the time. As I learned this month, it is extremely uncomfortable to try and help a child who sits in complete silence for the entire session, or who is completely opposed to being there. But stepping out of your comfort zone is often a good thing, despite how difficult it may be. It is often very worthwhile.

Overall, I think that this was an amazing experience. I felt quite at home in this field, and it reinforced my desire to work as a counselor of some sort in the future. I’m still not sure exactly what direction I want to take-this internship gave me a taste of many different aspects I can look into-but the many options I was exposed to expanded my range of interests. I am starting graduate school in the fall at the University Of New England School Of Social Work, and this internship at CSAC was a great way for me to try out the counseling field before I start school in a few months. My only regret is that it did not last longer. It is difficult to get a taste of something you love and then have to stop. But I am extremely glad that I had the opportunity to participate in this internship. It has made me confident that I am moving along the right career path, introduced me to wonderful children and staff members, and taught me about the kind of counselor I want to someday become.

Contact the Career Services Office for more information on this internship.