Major: Economics
Minor: Business
Hometown: Irwin, PA

How did you learn about this opportunity?

I was fortunate to come across this opportunity through my network. The gentleman who set me up with this internship is a Penn State Alumnus who graduated with my sister. At the time, his department had never taken on an intern. After speaking with me, he posed the idea to upper management and luckily enough for me, I was approved for the internship.

Tell us a little bit about your experience.

I never once did a coffee run ... I was treated as a full-time employee working within different departments.

Upon arriving for my first week, I wasn't sure what to expect. I thought it might be the usual intern coffee runs. I never once did a coffee run or anything a stereotypical intern might do. I was treated as a full-time employee working within different departments. I started out with the billing department, helping them with billing preparation and filing claims for unpaid invoices. Each of these things was exactly what the other employees in the department were doing. This was incredibly beneficial to me with it being hands-on and providing me experience. After a few more weeks there, I was receiving more responsibilities and tasks furthering the amount of information I got from this opportunity. By the end of my summer, I had plenty of responsibilities and was working within two different departments. I currently am working for them remotely, and will continue to throughout my last year at Penn State.

How did this experience impact you academically?

As for academic benefits that came with this internship, I found myself managing my time a lot better. I worked on several projects at once during my internship and that's fairly similar to school work with different classes. Along with this, it improved my overall professional communication. In particular, through emails, I keep what I learned at my internship in mind when I'm writing an email to my professor asking a question about homework. I even keep it in mind when I speak with them during office hours or after class. My internship at Celtic Healthcare has been a huge boost to my academic lifestyle.

What are your career goals and plans?  How did this experience impact them?

Throughout college, I was never 100% sure on what I wanted to do post-graduation. The one thing I was certain of was that I wanted to find a job that was secure and one that had promise of being able to climb the "ladder". My family has some background working in the healthcare industry, but I never once considered it. Through this internship I found out that I could possibly see myself at least starting out in the industry. My time there showed me how the industry is continuing to grow. During my time there, the company underwent a merger. To me, mergers are a sign of that each company sees value in the other so they come together in a mutually beneficial relationship. Mergers are a much better sign about a company rather than the closing of several offices or downsizing in general. Seeing this showed me that this is a promising company and as they're growing there are more opportunities for myself and others to move up within the company and industry.

Would you recommend this experience to other Liberal Arts students?

Yes, I would recommend this experience to anyone in Liberal Arts, or anyone in general who has an interest in the healthcare industry. It was a very welcoming experience; each individual that works within Celtic is friendly and helpful. Then the internship as a whole was very beneficial to learning the processes within the healthcare industry and was by no means the stereotypical internship most people expect.

For more information on internships for Liberal Arts students, visit our website.