After completing two internships during my time at Nazareth, I can confidently say they have helped me decide my career path once I graduate. Having two majors (legal studies and communication and media) means I completed an internship for each one, which is really what helped me decide what I want to do after completing my degree. My first internship was a marketing and communications position with Doyle Security Systems. They are a local, family owned and operated security company with offices here in Rochester as well as the rest of New York State and parts of Pennsylvania. I really loved my time at Doyle because I was able to be part of a team but also allowed to work independently often, which was a balance I enjoyed having. Jack and Joe, my supervisors, were great mentors to me and helped me expand my skills in an environment where I felt comfortable. I actually looked forward to going into my internship because I knew it was a place I was valued and accepted. Doyle is one of New York’s top companies to work for and there’s a reason why!
My second and current internship for my legal studies major is with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s office in downtown Rochester. Here I am also required to work as part of a team, but am given a lot of independence and responsibility. I chose this internship because of the combination of my two majors present in the intern duties, and because my personal interests aligned with the mission of the office. It was such a cool experience to get my badge and be an employee of the United States Senate. The Rochester office of Senator Gillibrand is a small, tightly-knit group of people who share the same values and goals which is something I realized I enjoyed about not only this internship, but my last one as well. Through the written reflections I did for the internship program, I discovered that having a small, friendly, community workplace is a professional value of mine and something I’d like to prioritize in my future job search.
From both of these internship experiences, I realized I prefer more communication-based positions rather than law-based ones. Actually getting to go out into these fields and see what jobs are like in each one helped me realize what direction I want to go in after I graduate and what kind of work I want to do. The internship program here at Naz also helped me determine what my professional values are and how my skills from my classes can be applied not just to my future profession, but my future connections and possible career changes as well. I’ve learned how to be an influential leader, tell stories digitally, speak more confidently in public situations, and how to incorporate my knowledge and skills into daily situations. I’m very thankful that I had the opportunity to experience these two internships and have had so much support from the Internship Program and Center for Life’s Work in securing them and succeeding during them (shoutout to Dale Leyburn and Alison Albright!).