Tag Archives: Middlebury

College For Every Student

Ashley Bairos, 2010

This J-Term I completed an internship with College For Every Student (CFES), an educational organization just down the road in Cornwall, VT. In the spring of 2008 I proposed a type of e-mentoring program with the hope of connecting more college students with more high school students in urban areas. By utilizing the Internet, my hope was to foster a greater desire within high school students to take hold of their own education. I shared this idea with Rick Dalton of CFES and an internship was born.

Over the course of January I was charged with the task of arranging and initiating an e-mentoring program in two schools: a middle school in Harlem, NY and a high school in Moriah, NY. 15 students were chosen from the school in Harlem and partnered with a Middlebury student mentor. Each pairs corresponded via the Internet and on various checks throughout the term, all contact was reported as going well. With the Moriah school, 5 students were paired with Middlebury mentors to correspond via the Internet as well as face-to-face meetings. Unfortunately, as things ended up, the Moriah group was only able to meet once with their mentors, but Internet correspondence continued on a repeated basis. Each week I would talk with my contacts at each school to make sure things were running smoothly on their end and check in with the Middlebury mentors as to the progress of email contact. Occasionally, the Middlebury students would ask my advice on acceptable conversation topics, especially with the middle schoolers from NYC.

This internship was an extremely rewarding experience, but also posed many challenges. In dealing with people from afar there was often an issue with getting in touch with my contacts at each school. We also encountered technical difficulties with email accounts from the children at each school, which set the start date back a couple weeks. Emails could not be received because of IT restrictions, but once the problem was eradicated, emails were begun immediately and continued on a regular basis. Despite the late start, things improved as the children learned about their mentors and engaged in conversations from sports to career aspirations. I have read some of the emails sent from the students at MS45 in Harlem and can see first hand how appreciative these 7^th and 8^th graders are to know that people far away care enough to contact them [some letters have been included]. It’s letters like these that make this project and everyone’s hard work worth all the struggles.

I have always been intrigued by America’s education system. I had a tremendous high school experience that dramatically changed the way I felt about my own education. This is the type of reaction I hope to help foster in others; to take command of their education for the pursuit of self-improvement. In addition to general interest, I wanted to use this J-Term assignment as a way to challenge myself and do something that I have never done before. I was thrown into this project, not really what was going to happen or how I was to achieve success. Perhaps discovering the project along the way was one of the most rewarding aspects of the project because it felt good to finally get it right. In addition, not having a regular schedule was difficult for me because it forced me to regulate myself and stay on top of my responsibilities. The internship was a nice preview into the real world and what the working environment will feel like after graduation from Middlebury. I felt depended on and I enjoyed having a different set of responsibilities if even just for a month.

My internship experience was wonderful and I have no regrets about accepting the challenge to try something completely different. Despite several hardships along the way, the experience has enriched my education and taught me much about my own work ethic and creativity. I had a great time working with Rick and his staff and would do it again in a heartbeat. The achievements of CFES are so amazing and innovative and I feel blessed to have worked with them and learned so much during my J-Term experience.

Please contact the Career Services Office for more information on this internship.

Brandon Rescue Squad/ EMT Training

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Brandon Rescue Squad

EMT Training

Abhishek Sripad, 2011

A toddler is hurt and down. He is lying on the sidewalk, with his femur clearly protruding from the skin and into the crisp autumn air. Also he has suffered was has appeared to be a devastating injury to his face. He is screaming in pain as his blood begins to aggressively march its way off the sidewalk and onto the street. Over a month ago, I would not have been able to be of any assistance to the child other than calling for help. Thanks to the EMT-B course offered by the Brandon Area Rescue Squad, I now have the knowledge, skills and mindset to be able to deal with such distressing situations. Along the way, my classmates and I learned of the practical knowledge and skills, but also something that cannot necessarily be taught in the classroom. In the final week of the course, we grew together as a group in a way that was exemplary of the camaraderie in the EMS field.

Our primary instructor for the class, Scott Supernaw (Emergency Medical Services Coordinator at Rutland Regional Medical Center), was aided by practical instructors Ed Sullivan, Howie McCaslin and Jeff Stern. Mr. Supernaw is extremely knowledgeable and is backed with a wealth of experience dating back to his days as a paramedic in New York City. His personal anecdotes complimented the material very well, as it provided a realistic-touch to already pertinent information. The structure of the course was such that we mostly alternated between lecture-based and practical days. This layout of the class was extremely effective in that we were able to apply what we learned almost immediately. At a liberal arts institution like Middlebury, we spend much of our time contemplating abstract concepts with intellectual curiosity. While students here can certainly attest to the importance of such academic dialogue, I felt that the skill-based knowledge stressed in the course was a welcome change of pace. It was particularly humbling to engage in learning that will save lives in the future. In a GPA-driven community in which we study to perform well on examinations, it was refreshing to see the empowerment of responsibility to the community overcome all of us. This atmosphere motivated students to study not for the grade that they might receive, but rather out of respect the injured toddler we would be called upon to treat. The material that Mr. Supernaw taught us was received an eager curiosity and an eye on the future.

The class began with housekeeping topics such as documentation and communication-essential, yet at times seemingly mundane topics. However it was not long until we dove into the Medical portion of EMT care. For nearly two weeks we were engrossed in cardiac, respiratory, abdominal and neurological emergencies, among other topics. Perhaps the most exciting, and paradoxically frustrating at times, aspect of medical scenarios was the feature of uncertainty in nearly every case. Since there is no obvious mechanism of injury, it is up to the EMT to narrow down the possibilities of the medical issue(s) that are at hand. This sensation of the unknown can be extremely exciting when you are able to aggressively treat the patient’s symptoms but can be equally as frustrating when the signs point in opposite directions. Immediately after our medical unit, we studied the Trauma half of EMT care. Both assessment and care in trauma greatly differed from that of medical cases. Trauma cases were fulfilling in their own way in that there was a certain finality to our treatment and care. For instance, splinting and swathing a fractured arm in scenarios felt much more comforting than simply ventilating an elderly patient on the brink of cardiac arrest.

Throughout the entire course, and it become more apparent as we progressed further into the month, I felt on sort of short-coming in the EMS field. While the role of emergency medical services cannot be understated in the well-being of an individual patient and society at large, I felt a sense of impending incompleteness in a field so complete with social service and good will. As EMTs, we treat. We do not diagnose or cure. As a (hopefully) future-EMT, I can see that I will have a difficult time parting with a patient by handing them off to doctors in the hospital’s emergency department. I can tell that handing a human life off to another person, no matter how qualified, will be a learning process for me. Regardless of medical or trauma scenarios, I would ideally like to see a patient through until he or she is fully cured. But this is the nature of EMS-the thankless and in many times faceless job in servitude to society.

As we moved into our fourth week, I had learned so much about Emergency Medical treatment and care as well as the field’s strengths and limitations. However I felt among our group that many of us were simply going through the actions with the image of ourselves serving as the first response team. It was during the last week in which our group finally developed a sense of community and that we were truly a team. Throughout the course, Ed Sullivan spoke about the camaraderie that exists among EMTs. It must be something that accompanies the nature of a job that directly influences the lives of others. While our group has not yet been in such trying circumstances, as the month came to end, we began seeing ourselves as part of a greater EMT squad. As we got more comfortable with each other on professional and personal levels, we began engaging in practicals with more confidence. It was in this time that I felt as a group we were truly ready for the positions we are about to fill. I’ve realized that this course not only gave me the knowledge and skills I wanted and expected to learn, but it taught me much more. The course, and the EMS field as whole, has already taught me a great deal about overwhelming feeling of responsibility that comes with that knowledge. But perhaps above all, the course and the students showed me that the power of heart-felt teamwork improves the performance of individuals and as a result the entire team.

Abigail Leathe, 2011

For my winter term internship, I participated in the EMT class offered through Brandon Area Rescue Squad. The class met 4 times per week for 8 hours per day, and as part of the class I also did an 8-hour shift at Rutland Emergency Department. I learned a great deal from the class, which focused on both a medical background of various ailments, illnesses, and injuries, explaining how and why these are caused, and also on the presentation of such problems and how to identify the correct issue and provide emergency medical care.

The most important job of the Emergency Medical Technician is to respond quickly to a scene and provide the necessary emergency care procedures to keep the person in need alive and as stable as possible en route to the hospital. There are many different ways to do this, and many different scenarios that the EMT must be prepared for. The two main branches of situation are medical and trauma, although these can overlap. Medical calls come from patients who are experiencing an illness or any number of medical symptoms. A trauma call deals with a patient who has experienced an impact of some sort, which can cause a variety of problems, both those that will be visible and also those that are more difficult to see. The responses to these calls vary greatly, so there is a lot that an EMT must know.

EMTs are not doctors. They do not diagnose, and can not determine exactly the reason for any problem, but a foundation of knowledge is important, because EMTs have to make very quick decisions and the consequences can literally be life or death. This is why it is crucial to get the whole story from the patient: a SAMPLE history to know their allergies, medications, etc., an accurate size up from their visible symptoms, a precise and thorough description of pain or discomfort, and any valuable information from friends, family, or bystanders. All of this comes together in order to determine what is the correct method of emergency care for this person.

It’s important to remember that being an EMT is about teamwork. No EMT ever responds to a call alone. The tasks are divided with a partner, so being an EMT is not just about responding to calls and providing care, but about learning to work alongside others, when to take the lead and when to take a backseat. EMTs learn from their teammates, share stories of success and stories of runs where there is room for improvement. The learning doesn’t stop when the class ends.

The best way that I learned in this course was through practicing. Lectures were of course necessary, but in the afternoons we had the opportunity to run through medical and trauma scenarios, learn how to apply oxygen, when and how to give various medications such as Epinephrine or Nitroglycerin, how to splint, how to backboard, and how to load and transport patients. For me, the most difficult part of any scenario is not how to perform the emergency care, but what type of care to give, which is why the scenarios were helpful because they provided an opportunity to arrive on scene and quickly determine the problem and how best to provide pre-hospital care.

Another part of the internship that I really enjoyed and found useful was the hospital shadowing. The Rutland Emergency Department is well equipped and sees a wide variety of patients and circumstances. When I was in the hospital, only one patient arrived via ambulance. The man had sustained a knife injury to the wrist, down to the bone. While in the Emergency Department, the EMTs that had arrived on scene at the man’s house were in communication with the hospital, and it was helpful for me to hear a real radio call-in from the ambulance, describing the circumstances. It was also helpful to see how the EMTs responded to the man’s injury. In this case, the EMTs had loaded up the man’s wrist with bandages and a splint. One doctor in the Emergency Department told me that it would have been better to apply direct pressure to stop the bleeding. It was useful to get this advice.

I feel that this was a very useful internship, because I am coming out of it with a skill. After taking and, if all goes well, passing the National Registry Exam, I will be a certified EMT and will be able to work on a rescue squad in Vermont. This is also a skill that can be taken anywhere, as ambulances and EMTs are needed in every area of America. It is also useful to be an EMT to know more about the human body and the way that it works. Being aware of surroundings is a crucial aspect of gaining an understanding of the world, and becoming an EMT is one step of this process.

The following students participated in the 2009 Winter Term EMT Training; Benjamin Brown,2011; Spencer Church, 2010; Ruby Bolster, 2009; Zach DeVore, 2010; Kevin Glatt, 2011; Stephanie Joyce, 2010; Danielle Kruse, 2011; Christina Kunycky, 2011; James McNinen, 2011; Tiernan Meyer, 2011; Nicholas Palmer, 2009; Adam Schaffer, 2012, and Jeffrey M. Stern, 2008.5

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

The Addison Independent

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The Addison Independent

Brian Fung, 2010

My internship began as a very sudden idea. As someone who is interested in journalism as a potential career, I knew I needed experience with a local newspaper and that my work with The Middlebury Campus was insufficient if I wanted to find a job with a large daily like the Wall Street Journal.

When Winter Term registration rolled around, something reminded me that January wasn’t just for skiing and classes about Bob Dylan. I remembered that writing could be fun, and might help me get a job to boot. So instead of registering for classes, I chose to take advantage of a great local resource-The Addison Independent.

The Independent‘s reputation as a strong newspaper with a small staff meant that I would be working alongside veteran community reporters with years of expertise under their belts. What’s more, I’d be writing stories of my own, learning more about working on deadline and conducting interviews beyond the comfort of Middlebury’s secluded campus. It would be the perfect balance of work and observation.

My first few meetings with Angelo Lynn, the newspaper’s top editor, were less nerve-wracking than I’d anticipated. He went about outlining his expectations of me, and I had a chance to ask him questions. In effect, I would serve as an additional reporter, submitting two stories weekly. My first two stories, I had already written while in London. The first was about British perspectives regarding the recent U.S. presidential election. The second was a more personal piece, filled with my reflections on studying abroad.

Both stories ran several days after my return to Middlebury. My work was teased on the front page with my headshot and a catchy blurb. Though my writing was buried deep in the back of the paper (just above a large ad), I had had my first experience getting published in a professional newspaper.

As I kept working, Angelo’s confidence in my abilities grew (and so did mine). I wrote about Middlebury’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Day events. I wrote about Sophie Shao, the cellist who performed at the college last month. I wrote about the three new police officers joining the MPD, and attended their swearing-in ceremony. I wrote about all these and more.

The journey wasn’t by any means easy. To be sure, I was only writing two articles a week, whereas the newspaper’s veterans routinely work five or six leads at a time, and churn out two to three stories an issue. But working full-time for a news organization (and actually producing the news, rather than standing by and helping to produce the news) was new and difficult in its own style.

I felt a great sense of freedom. I could set my own schedule, as long as I came out with a finished product on deadline. My life wasn’t being defined by my classes; instead, the internship allowed me to exercise more control. The disappointment was that while I could decide when to work, my life became defined by that work in other, unexpected ways. After a while, it felt as though I was doing little except writing, doing an interview, or setting one up. Each story could be reduced to a routine formula: receive the assignment, conduct interviews for background research and colorful quotes, then summarize in 600 words.

Rather than being proud of every piece of work, I was often compelled by my deadline to submit stories that I considered less than ideal. Angelo was pleased with my writing, nonetheless, but I felt as though I could have done better with more time.

By the end of January, things started to pick up. I began working in earnest on a sort of final project, a longer article that involved original research and investigation. I chose to write about Middlebury Money, the area’s gift certificate exchange program. Pursuing this project, I learned a great deal about Middlebury and about the local living movement. I enjoyed it immensely. I felt as though I was breaking fresh ground, that my culminating report would educate people about something different and interesting. This is why I love journalism.

I’m more than glad that I chose to work for the Addison Independent this January. I’m thankful for it. Not only did I gain valuable experience that will surely prove useful in the years to come; I also became better acquainted with the community surrounding the college and discovered an appreciation for the dedication of five area residents who make The Addison Independent possible, week after week.

Read on of Brian’s articles here: http://www.addisonindependent.com/node/1809

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

Otter Creek Brewery

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Otter Creek Brewery Intern

Andrew Peters, 2008.5

I felt my performance during my internship was exceptional as my enthusiasm for learning the craft of brewing fueled my desire to learn as much as I could. The opportunity to get a free brewing education is not an easy thing to come by and I knew I had to take as much away from the experience as I could if I wanted it to take the place of official brewing school experience, which most breweries require in order to gain employment. I think the enthusiasm and energy I brought to the brewery everyday was quite a boost to everyone I was working with and having me there, willing to learn and constantly asking questions, was just as exciting for them. The brewers that I worked with, Mike, Ron, Simon and Zach were unbelievably knowledgeable and all had incredible tricks of the trade to share, in addition to the basics of their craft. Their little tidbits of information were really what they were excited to share and as a result I couldn’t help but take it all in.

My good performance wasn’t just a gauge of my enthusiasm but most importantly, how quickly I learned all the skills I was taught and how I executed them independently. Overall I think learning everything at the start seemed very overwhelming but after reflecting each night it all seemed manageable. On my second day of learning how to brew, I was honored when I asked Simon how long it normally took to teach someone how to brew on Otter Creek’s system and he said it normally takes two weeks and the shortest was 3 days. The next day he thought I was ready to take the helm and I had my go at matching the record of learning to brew in 3 days. Unfortunately I had to ask for assistance near the end as that part of the process wasn’t clear to me because I wasn’t shown yet.

Given my attention to detail and my ability to think things through I think all the brewers were much more willing to let me loose because they thought it would be the best way for me to learn. They essentially awarded me independence for learning so quickly and they were able to trust what I was doing was correct and they did not always have to look over my shoulder. I appreciate that trust as it allowed me to figure systems and techniques out for myself and because of that I am now a better brewer.

The easiest thing that I learned about myself from my brewing internship was that I am a morning person. In order to learn the brewing process from start to finish, I needed to see the beginning, which began for the morning brewer at 6am. Getting up before the dinning hall employees had even arrived to work was definitely something new while at Middlebury College, but I have to say, it was very refreshing. From hearing my alarm clock at roughly 5:30am and being able to jump out of bed and hop in the shower I learned that when I’m passionate about something, I’m willing to do anything for it.

As a result of having extreme passion for brewing, I was able to withstand long grueling days of hard work that sometimes included an extreme manual task. On one particular occasion I learned how far I could push my body and still have a positive attitude about something I love. On this day I had just returned to the brewery after having a fever for a couple of days and manual labor was the last thing on my body’s mind. However, that day there wasn’t much happening and Mike asked me to take inventory on some random pallets of grain. Of course I enthusiastically agreed to do it having no idea what I was getting into and by the end, after I made a spreadsheet tallying the grain, I learned that I had moved over 2,500lbs of grain, by hand.

Interning at Otter Creek at that specific time was a great learning experience about the industry and managing a business. I’m not too sure how much I can divulge about Otter Creek’s business situation as that would be unfair to them, but I can say that a management change halfway through the month was a total surprise to everyone in the brewery except for the owner. I will basically say that going through that experience, having known the people who were let go and understanding how and why the remaining employees felt the way they did, was very valuable. I was able to look more from the outside on the situation and how people were dealing with change with less attachment than them so I was able to reflect and see both sides of what was happening. The new management has definitely proven themselves in other industries, owning and officiating very successful businesses. They are great people and seemed to be good leaders. The enthusiasm they brought to the company was received by the employees very similarly to the boost I brought at the beginning of January and everything seems to be going well.

Overall, the surprise management change really added a beneficial twist to my internship. I signed up to learn how to brew and essentially manage a brewery but in the end I received so much more. I now understand what it is like for a business you know and love to undergo significant change and how that affects the people within. The most valuable lesson from that is how to manage people’s different reactions in a respectful manor but to try to glean the positives from the current situation. Currently, I’m now living in Boulder, CO and I have to say I would not have a job if it wasn’t for this internship. The relationships I made and the relationships I was able to continue while at the brewery still exist and I have still been in close contact with most people there. Everyone there was very enthusiastic about helping me get a job out here at a brewery because I think they know and appreciate the positive change I make when I’m around. In the end it was very sad to let go and say goodbye as I have known many of the Otter Creek employees for a couple of years now. At my new job at Mountain Sun Pub and Brewery I still get to work along side a very passionate, open and enthusiastic staff and I continue to use what I’ve learned at Otter Creek to produce even better beer for one of the best brewpubs in the country.

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

Alliance for Appalachia/ PowerPastCoal.org

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Alliance for Appalachia/ PowerPastCoal.org

Michaela O’Connor, 2011.5

During this past January, I worked with a group of Middlebury students on campus to launch a nationwide push against the use of coal as an electricity source. Currently, coal produces about one half of our nation’s electricity. Coal is dirty and dangerous. It needs to be removed from our nation’s energy plan. We launched a project called “Power Past Coal” (visit www.powerpastcoal.org.) The purpose of this movement was to unite dozens of organizations around the country who have spent years or decades fighting the adverse effects of coal mining, processing, and burning. This movement is different from most environmental/climate change movements because we really expressed the importance of stories. The project was a group effort, put forth by Native Americans in the southwest, Ex-miners in Appalachia, and afflicted families all over the country, including in urban communities. Our role was to work “behind the curtain” to get the ball rolling; we did not want to look like a bunch of Vermont activists. The problem with coal will gain notice if we can draw attention to its widespread health and cultural detriments. The website boasts the geographical and social diversity of the project.

My work on the team involved a lot of outreach work, making phone calls, sending informative and enthusiastic e-mails, and doing some blogging on the site. I also made some short videos that were put on the site, also to inform and get people interested and excited about the project. It was quite a challenge to create these shorts using only visual material from the internet (we didn’t get the chance to travel and interview people face to face.) I think I did the best I could with the material we had (some scattered you-tube clips and photographs found on flickr and facebook,) but I look forward to making short videos over which I have more control. Someday, I hope to make films that spread valuable knowledge in a creative way. These mini-videos were my first chance to put my developing skills into action.

To show how many people care about this topic, the group’s members chose to have “100 Days of Action.” For the first 100 days of Obama’s term, anti-coal actions are taking place all around the country. The goal was to have one event each day. As time passed, however, we discovered that this would be more difficult than we had anticipated. The groups that had been excited about 100 Days were less active than expected, and we at Middlebury ended up doing a ton of media and outreach work. We made phone calls to more than 100 organizations around the country, explaining the project and urging them to register an event on the site.

Our goals heading into the semester were extremely ambitious. We had plans to research a lot about energy, about coal, and perhaps write a policy statement to send to the White House. We underestimated the time and energy required to build a movement. I think it’s really valuable to understand the effort required to spread a message, even in a society that uses the internet so widely. I can’t imagine building a movement before the rise of the internet! I am more impressed than ever by the works of revolutionaries like Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. I think that we, as activists, should use this tool to its highest potential to spread our messages. I was not expecting to spend so much time on the computer in January, but it did teach me a lot. I learned what a valuable tool it can be. I also learned that although there is an insane wealth of knowledge in cyberspace, an old-fashioned phone call can still be the most effective way to connect with someone. I think it is important to keep this in mind.

I have never been particularly interested in the logistical components of movement-building, but I see now that these actions are extremely important to make change. If there are thousands of people who care about something, but they are scattered and disconnected, change is difficult. I learned a lot over J-term, but what has stuck with me the most is the importance and value of movement building, of spreading a message and bringing people together.

The following students also participated with Alliance for Appalachia:

Eleanor Horowitz, 2011; Sierra Crane Murdoch, 2009; Lois Parshley, 2011; Peter Spyrou, 2010.5; Mathew Vaughn, 2009; and Ben Wessel, 2011

Please contact the Career Services Office or visit www.powerpastcoal.org for more information.

Porter Hospital Internships

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Dr. Fuller, General Surgeon

Avery Clark, 2009

Throughout the winter term internship at Porter Hospital I was able to observe a vast array of medical specialties. I learned what it means to be a part of the medical field, and the responsibilities that go along with that. I spent the majority of my time at the hospital shadowing doctors and surgeons as they went about their daily practices: seeing patients, performing procedures, analyzing test results, collaborating with other doctors, etc. This internship was incredibly valuable as it opened my eyes to time, dedication, and care it takes to become a good doctor.

My mentor for the month was Dr. Fuller, a general surgeon at Porter. Most of my days were spent observing his surgeries in the mornings, and meeting with patients in the office in the afternoon. The thing that struck me most about the surgical field was how essential it was to establish trust with the patient. They basically put their lives in the hands of the surgeon and must trust that he/she will take the best care of them possible. With Dr. Fuller I learned how important it is to form a relationship with the patient first, to explain and clarify exactly what they will be experiencing, and to try and allay the fears and anxiety the patient is feeling.

Watching the surgeries was an eye-opening experience for me. Honestly I was not sure how I would handle seeing an actual operation at first, but after getting over the initial queasiness I found it fascinating to actually view all the parts of the body and how they are interconnected. Dr. Fuller was so helpful in taking the time prior to each surgery to explain to me what he would be doing, and then continuing to talk to me about what I was seeing throughout the actual surgery. I learned just how precise and systematic you must be as a surgeon in order to ensure you perform each step correctly, as well as how important it is to have a strong team behind you. Over this period I was able to observe a broad range of procedures including laparoscopic gallbladder removals, colon resection, emergency spleen removal, thyroid lobectomy, and hernia repairs to name a few. No two surgeries were ever the same, and each one continued to teach me something new.

Although surgery is a fascinating field, my goal for this internship was to gain as many different experiences as possible, and to take advantage of the tact that we could participate in rotations in a wide range of specialties. Beyond figuring out if I do want to attend medical school, I also need to decide what field of medicine I would like to go into myself, and this was the perfect opportunity to explore these options further. Over the month I had experiences in the emergency room, orthopedics, ophthalmology, pathology, obstetrics and radiology. I noticed how much variation there is within a hospital and how each doctor’s day to day routine was completely different. All of the doctors were incredibly open to sharing their experiences in becoming doctors with me. It became clear how passionate they were about their jobs and the responsibility of caring for other human beings. Not a single doctor I talked to said to me that they regretted their choices, to them, medicine was incredibly exciting and worthwhile.

Across all the fields, it became clear that in interacting with patients, a doctor must exhibit genuine interest and compassion for the patient’s well-being. No patient is ever completely comfortable going into a doctor’s office, and they want/need to believe that the doctor truly cares about them and their problems. In order for a patient to trust in a doctor enough to fully and openly disclose information about their health they need to have established a strong relationship with that person. This takes an incredible amount of time and patience on the doctor’s part, but I could see how worthwhile it is in the end when you actually help someone improve their life. It is clear that this is the most rewarding part for the doctor’s I interacted with, the fact that, at the end of the day, they know that they made a significant difference in multiple people’s lives.

Overall I found this internship to be an incredibly rewarding experience. Prior to this j-term, my only real experience in the medical field was a volunteer position in the emergency room of Greenwich Hospital. Although it was interesting to observe the daily activities in this department, I was not really given the opportunity to interact with many of the doctors and nurses on staff. At Porter all of the doctors I interacted with, especially Dr. Fuller, were willing to answer any questions I had, and took significant time out of their month to provide me with an inside view of the workings of a hospital. The amount of exposure I was given was invaluable, and I now have a much better idea as to what it takes to be a medical professional. I greatly appreciate the generosity of the doctors at Porter Hospital, and would recommend that anyone possibly interested in a career in medicine take advantage of this excellent opportunity Middlebury offers us.

Dr. Carl Petri, General Surgeon

Natalie Dupre, 2010

As a Pre-med student at Middlebury College, I have been struggling with a life/career decision on whether or not to attend med-school. To help me with this life altering decision, I looked to the Porter Hospital Winter Internship. Over the month on January, I was fortunate enough to shadow Dr. Petri, a general surgeon at the hospital. I’m so appreciative for the time and effort he took out of his day to answer my questions and to tell me things about life and medicine. He, and the rest of the doctors and nurses, did a great job at teaching me fundamental and practical things dealing with medicine. While, of course, I did not help on any of the procedures besides turning on and off the lights, my responsibilities entailed: observing surgical procedures and office visits, asking questions, organizing times to meet with other doctors, not getting in the way of the nurses, being on time, dressing appropriately, and not touching anything in blue that indicated sterility. While the internship does require a lot of hours and waking up very early on some days, it was well worth it; not to mention, that outside of being in the hospital there was little stress or written work, making it perfect for a J-term experience.

After a month of observing physicians in the hospital, I cannot give justice to how much I learned not only about medicine, but also about life and work within a hospital. While it’s not as dramatic as Grey’s Anatomy, I did encounter a fair share of ethical and moral issues, intriguing surgeries, and unfortunate and depressing problems that both patients and doctors have to deal with. While this is over generalized, I observed that certain types of doctors have stereotypical quirks about their personalities. For example, the main focus of primary care physicians has less to do with practicing medicine but rather, most of their time is spent on talking about life and building a relationship with the patient. Primary care doctors want to know about the patient’s life and they want to make sure that he or she is living a fine and healthy lifestyle. They are the popular doctors who are good with babies, kids, teens, and adults. They like to spend time outside of the office doing things with their family, taking classes, and learning about life and people. Surgeons on the other hand like to avoid excessive conversation with the patient and are more focused on the medical aspect. They know exactly what they are doing and they are very good at it. It may seem like they don’t have a life outside of the office and OR, but it’s not that they don’t have a life outside of surgery but rather they do the things that they know they like. There are even subspecialty personalities like the orthopedic surgeons who are like the rock star surgeons. They work with crazy tools and drills and they listen to AC/DC while they repair the mechanics of the body. Some doctors don’t even see patients. The pathologists and radiologists are these doctors who get to choose how much patient contact they want. It’s not necessary for them to talk to the patient. Instead, they work in their lab or office and look under a microscope or analyze images to help come up with an appropriate diagnosis.

After comparing these different fields of medicine, I’m no longer torn about whether or not I want to go to med school. Now, I’m torn as to what field of medicine I prefer. I like the fact that a surgeon is not set on a daily and weekly routine that primary care doctors are confined to. In many cases, surgeons help to restore the life of the patient. This is what I like about surgery. You get to do things and really fix things, whereas a doctor who works in an office all of the time does more counseling, which may or may not help the patient. There are more risks associated with being a surgeon than a primary care physician, but knowing what you do really makes a difference in someone’s life may be worth the risks of being a surgeon. However, I really like the relationships that a primary care physician builds with his or her patients that are sometimes compromised with being a surgeon. Either way, all of these doctors do a great and thorough job of taking care of their patients and that is what makes me want to be a doctor.

From this internship, I was also introduced to the troubles of a rural hospital that range from small town issues to government intervention within the hospital. Being from a larger city than Middlebury, I am used to hearing about violence issues, etc. But I was shocked to encounter situations of domestic violence in rural Vermont where there is little to no awareness of such topics. It also shocked me that the government-which has so much involvement in medicine and hospitals-has not addressed these community issues. This made me realize that there is a fundamental problem with how the government gets involved with medicine. Maybe the money that is spent on patients to have surgery is only taking care of the symptoms but not the underlying problem. Maybe more money should be invested into making sure that sexual predators aren’t roaming the streets, or that people have easy and non-bureaucratic access to family counseling so that less money has to be devoted to covering up the problem with surgery. Until preventative care gets better, these band-aid issues are going to keep rising.

On the whole, I would definitely not pass up this awesome opportunity for any possible med-school student. Shadowing a doctor is an opportunity that not many get to have and it’s great for those who are toying with the idea of med-school. I am so grateful for this internship program, because it really elucidated my decision process and taught me a lot about life. I found out through this experience, that as a woman, I can be a hard-working doctor and still live a balanced life. I also learned a lot of anatomy and physiology that I never really appreciated until I actually saw it in the OR. Even though I only learned a small fraction of what med-school must learn, I am definitely better off after doing this internship and I completely recommend this to anyone who wants to go to med-school.

Dr. Linn Larson, MD

Susan Read, 2009

As one of the Porter winter term interns, my job was mostly to follow my mentor physician to get a sense for what a career as a physician might entail. The majority of the time, I simply sat in on patient visits and observed how the physician interviewed and interacted with the patient. Later on in the month, I was allowed to interview patients on my own, following a generalized problem list created by the office. I was also taught basic examination techniques, such as how to listen to a patient’s heart and lungs and look in their ears. After seeing a patient on my own, I would discuss my findings with my mentor and tell her what I believed the patient’s diagnosis to be. With any patient visit, we would go over the patient’s diagnoses and the plan of action for treatment, including any complications that might arise from other medical conditions or family problems. When I shadowed physicians from other specialties, I had similar discussions about treatment plans but less patient interaction, as I had less freedom while in other physicians’ offices.

Throughout the internship, I was encouraged to ask questions and pick physicians’ brains both about particular cases and about the process of medical school and residency. I’m sure there were hundreds of questions I had that were left unanswered, but it was difficult to organize my thoughts enough in the fast-paced environment to pinpoint what exactly it was that I needed to know. I felt as though much of what I wanted to know could be learned through observation, and that many of the specific questions I could think of pertained to the drugs being prescribed – information that I could look up on my own without needing to take the time to ask the physician. However, I believe that I could have been less tentative in several areas of the internship, questioning included. I was perhaps more reluctant than I should have been to see patients on my own – the office that I was in made it particularly easy with their pre-made forms for various categories of illness, which would go over the common symptoms. I did have the limiting factor of only being able to interview a limited number of cases, though – being in family practice meant that a great deal of the cases we saw were routine physicals, where my limited skills would not have been of much use.

This internship showed me that medicine, while certainly not an easy career path, does not require any sort of superhuman skills in order to have a successful career. The physicians that I spoke to were certainly all of the mind that medical school was difficult, though not unreasonably so. Residency, on the other hand, sounded like an exhausting process – the advice that my mentor passed on to me was, “If you see a bed, lie in it; if you see a chair, sit in it; if you see food, eat it.” Despite the hardships everyone had faced during the course of their education, they never spoke of reconsidering their career path or of anyone dropping out of the program because it was too much. I got the sense that everyone had discovered their passion while in the clinical rotation years of medical school, and that was what kept them motivated throughout all of the exhausting years. Sacrifices were necessary to maintain a semblance of a normal life, in some cases – my mentor, for example, had started out doing obstetrics earlier in her career, but had been forced to give it up in order to spend more time with her family. While she occasionally lamented the fact that it was not something she could do for her whole career, she recognized the importance of a good family life and took pleasure in that instead. From this, I became more aware that my career may not go exactly as I envision it now. I must be prepared to allow my interests and priorities to shift, but not to allow myself to be talked out of what I believe is best for me.

Being primarily in family practice emphasized to me the importance of the doctor-patient relationship in primary care, and the appeal of this relationship to me. I enjoyed watching my mentor’s interactions with patients that she had been seeing for years and the sense of trust that had built between them over time. In that situation, the physician becomes not only a healthcare provider, but also an educator, counselor, and friend. It is this type of interaction that makes medicine my career of choice and draws me to primary care. By getting to know patients so well, the difference that the physician can make in one’s life is much more obvious.

Shadowing in different specialties, including physical therapy, showed me that the fast pace of medicine, while exhausting, also functions to keep me motivated and on my toes. No two cases are ever alike, meaning that there will always be something new and interesting to see, even if the patient is only in for a routine physical. In that sense, medicine will never boring, thanks to the wide variety of issues that could present themselves. Finally, I discovered that I enjoy the excitement of the operating room, so that I would like to pursue a field that allows both time in the office to interact with patients and surgical privileges, such as orthopedics or OB/GYN. A month-long internship is obviously not enough to allow me to make a decision about what exactly I want to do for the rest of my life, but I think I can safely say that medicine is the right path for me, and I will eagerly await the opportunity to fully explore all of my options for what specialty I am truly best suited for.

In addition, the follow list of students also participated in a Winter Term Internship with Porter Hospital:

Sophie Clarke, 2011; Sean Denny, 2009; Lisa Gretebec, 2010; Ben Grimmnitz, 2008.5; Matt Labunka, 2010.5; William McConaughy, 2011; Mean O’Keefe, 2010; Ashley Panichelli; Roger Perreaullt, 2009; Richard Saunders, 2009.5; Anne Sullivan, 2010; Laurel Wickberg, 2009

Contact the Career Services Office for more information about internships with Porter Hospital.