Recent News

Work and Learn Indiana Honors Excellence With 2024 Impact Awards

This press release was originally published on the Indiana Chamber web site.

February 22, 2024 (INDIANAPOLIS) ā€” Fearless. Creative. Original. These are among the qualities that helped define excellence at the 2024 Indiana Work-Based Learning Conference, featuring the 18th Annual Impact Awards.

The event, hosted by Work and Learn Indiana (WLI), honored Hoosier work-based learners, employers, innovative programs, work-based learning supervisors and career development professionals today. A crowd of nearly 500 gathered for the luncheon celebration.

The 2024 Impact Award winners represent excellence across 10 categories. Nominations were submitted by the public, with winners chosen by a group of impartial judges.

Honorees:

Work-Based Learner of the Year (College): Jenna Carter: Purdue University (West Lafayette), Endress+Hauser (Greenwood) Work-Based Learner of the Year (High School): Cristina Llamas-Gonzalez: Ben Davis High School (Indianapolis), Plastic Recycling, Inc. (Indianapolis) Work-Based Learner of the Year (Adult): Chelsea Ort: Engage Mentoring (Indianapolis) Career Development Professional of the …

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Celebrate Hoosier Interns on Indiana Intern Day!

Join Work and Learn Indiana and the Indiana Commission for Higher Education as we celebrate Indiana’s interns on social media for the fifth annual Indiana Intern Day on July 27, 2023!

Modeled after National Intern Day, the movement honors interns and the employers that provide meaningful internship opportunities.

Make sure your organization pledges to participate by filling out the online pledge form. After completing the form, you’ll receive a free digital content kit with graphics, sample social media posts and other ways to get involved.

Indiana Intern Day isnā€™t just for employers. Educational institutions and intermediaries can also pledge to participate and recognize their students with internships in their communities. They will also receive their own content kit with relevant materials to promote Indiana Intern Day. Make the pledge today!

Work and Learn Indiana’s 2023 IMPACT Awards Celebrate Internship Success Across State

For media information, contact:
Matt Ottinger at (317) 264-7541 / mottinger@indianachamber.comĀ 
Rebecca Patrick at (317) 264-6897 / rpatrick@indianachamber.com

Work and Learn Indianaā€™s 2023 IMPACT Awards Celebrate Internship Success Across State

Ā February 22, 2023 (INDIANAPOLIS) ā€” What happens when interns and mentors dedicate their talents and tenacity to enhancing the future of students and employers throughout Indiana?

A sold-out crowd of 350Ā gathered to hear these inspiring stories at the Work-Based Learning IMPACT Summit featuring the 17th Annual IMPACT Awards on February 21.

Presented by Work and Learn Indiana, the 2023 IMPACT Award winners were selected by an impartial judging panel from over 150 nominations. The honorees are:

Intern of the Year (College): Alex Lefever, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Center for Civic Innovation at the University of Notre Dame Intern of the Year (High School): Arda Kurama, Penn High School, Center for Civic Innovation at the University of Notre Dame …

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Celebrate Indiana’s Interns on Indiana Intern Day!

When Work and Learn Indiana and the Commission for Higher Education created Indiana Intern Day, we wanted to lead a social media movement celebrating the excellence of Indiana’s interns. Modeled after WayUp’s National Intern Day, the campaign occurs each July, starting with its inception in 2019. In today’s highly competitive labor market, it’s more important than ever to recognize talent. Interns make up a valuable part of Indiana’s talent pipeline!

2022 Indiana Intern Day will take place on July 28. Show you’re committed to recognizing Indiana’s interns! Participate by making the pledge to celebrate Hoosier interns and internship programs. After filling out the online pledge form, participants will immediately receive a digital content kit with sample social media posts, graphics, and more.

Both employers and educators can make the pledge! Educators, celebrate your students with internships and your employer partners offering internship programs. We know educators play a vital …

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2022 IMPACT Award Winners Announced Recognizing Excellence in Internships

For media information, contact:Ā  Ā 
Matt Ottinger at (317) 264-7541 / mottinger@indianachamber.comĀ 
Rebecca Patrick at (317) 264-6897 / rpatrick@indianachamber.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

2022 IMPACT Award Winners Announced Recognizing Excellence in Internships

February 22, 2022 (INDIANAPOLIS) ā€” Nine categories, 80-plus nominees and infinite potential. The 16th Annual IMPACT Awards, presented by Work and Learn Indiana, honored outstanding talent and contributions regarding Hoosier internships at a virtual celebration today.

The top winners ā€“ chosen by a panel of impartial judges ā€“ are:

College Intern of the Year: Jenna Burow, Purdue University (Fishers) High School Intern of the Year: Shelby Rosenberger, Franklin County High School (Brookville) Non-Traditional Intern of the Year: Dana Perez, The Children’s Museum (Indianapolis) College Career Development Professional of the Year: Kathy Kassissieh, Roseā€Hulman Institute of Technology (Terre Haute) High School Career Development Professional of the Year: Eric Feller, Oldenburg Academy (Oldenburg) Intern Supervisor of the Year: Kameron …

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Welcome Sally Saydshoev!

Indiana INTERNnet is pleased to welcome our new Assistant Director of Educator Engagement, Sally Saydshoev. She spent the past 7 years working in higher education and most recently as the director of career services at Indiana University East.

Sally is eager to meet the many educators across the state of Indiana including those in the K-12 school systems. She served with the Business Education Committee in Wayne County, Forward Wayne County Workforce Coalition, and currently serves on the Board of Directors for Career Development Professionals of Indiana (CDPI). Sally has enjoyed her time working with students and is now excited for this next adventure to assist educators, employers and students developing a relationship towards talent retention and workforce development across the state.

Background & Story

Sally grew up in Sharpsville, Indiana and spent most of her life living in the Hoosier state. After high school, Sally went on to …

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Welcome Ashley Williams!

Indiana INTERNnet is pleased to welcome Ashley Williams to our team as the assistant director of employer engagement. She is responsible for developing employer relationships across the state to help build high-quality work-and-learn programs. Furthermore, she plans to strengthen talent pipelines and skill up our Hoosier workforce.

Ashley was born and raised in Kokomo and currently resides in Mooresville (Go Pioneers)! She obtained her masterā€™s degree in leadership development with a focus in organizational leadership from Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College. Additionally, she earned a bachelorā€™s degree in communications from Ball State University and interned with Kelly Services.

Ashley brings 10-years of employer relations management to the department. Moreover, her professional experiences combine career and workforce services in the postsecondary and social services sectors. Her first job was detasseling corn in the fields of Tipton county at 14-years old.

In her spare time, Ashley coaches youth recreation volleyball, softball, and basketball. …

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What I’ve Learned So Far

I have officially hit week 10 of my internship with Indiana INTERNnet!

I feel it is the perfect time to update you on everything I have done thus far, and also talk through some things I have learned along the way.

First things firstĀ 

Internships are a great way to discover the types of things you want out of your career, while also “test driving” different paths you may want to look into. For myself I learned that I truly love social media marketing. Before Indiana INTERNnet, I had zero experience running social media accounts that weren’t my own. I found myself looking forward to creating posts and researching trends that would boost engagement on our site. Creating content feels like second nature at this point and I will most definitely be looking for careers that will allow me to have that creative freedom in the future!

The most rewarding …

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Common Challenges New Interns Face

We’ve all been there–the new kid, the freshman, first day of your first job.

No matter who you are, you experience being the bottom rung of the ladder at some point.

One of the most common stereotypes surrounding internships is that you are designated all the grunt work. We see evidence of this in popular tv shows, movies, and even books, so it has to be true, right? Well– yes it is kind of true, interns are given the jobs that other employees don’t care to do, but this is not necessarily a bad thing. We all have to start somewhere, and there’s no better way to learn than to start from the bottom.

The advice I would give to an intern who does not appreciate getting the grunt work is this: perspective is everything. You must always remember that scanning through documents and running errands are some of the …

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Intern Stories: Natasha Mecklenburg

“Providing internship opportunities…changes the whole equation”Ā  -Eduardo J. Padron

On June 14, 2021 I had the opportunity to interview Natasha Mecklenburg, a private client advisor at Gregory & Appel Insurance located in Indianapolis. I met Natasha at a Rotary Club meeting a week beforehand, and hearing how her intern experience changed the trajectory of her life truly inspired me.

Natasha’s story begins in Zimbabwe, Africa. She was born and raised in Zimbabwe, until she migrated to Switzerland to further her education. Natasha found her niche for hospitality and hotel management early on, which led to her attending an international hotel management university located in Switzerland. This university wasn’t your average college campus, but rather a mock hotel run by the students. During her first few years of school, Natasha had the opportunity to complete two internships. When the time came for her chance at a third, her campus hosted a …

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What I Wish I Knew Before My Internship

So, you landed your first internship this summer, congrats!

Internships are a great way to network and get your foot in the door in the world of the corporate job market, but were you aware of the things you should be doing now? You may be thinking to yourself, “I just started, what could I possibly need to do?” Well, I am here to tell you that by starting now, you set yourself up to have a plethora of key takeaways at the end of your internship experience.

First things first, keep track of your projects!Ā Big or small, doesn’t matter, what matters is having enough pieces to fill your portfolio and resume with, so that future employers can get the best idea for how your skills would fit with their team. The best advice I can give is to start healthy/helpful habits now. Create weekly lists of specific tasks you …

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Three Tips for Working a Hybrid Internship

In this new era of virtual jobs and remote learning, it’s crucial to find new ways to stay focused. I speak from experience when I say that having a hybrid internship comes with tons of perks, like wearing sweatpants or spending the day with your pet, but it’s key to stay on top of your work. The comfort of home quickly can distract you from your weekly tasks, but weā€™re sharing a few pointers that will help you to keep your momentum while working from home.

Have a dedicated workspace
This may seem arbitrary to some, but the truth is, where you do your work matters. An article by the American College of Healthcare Sciences indicates that if you do most of your work in bed, you will have trouble sleeping at night. Our bodies are trained to associate sleep with our beds. When you begin using your bed …

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Meet the Intern: Kennedy Eineman

Hello! My name is Kennedy Eineman, and I am delighted to join the Indiana INTERNnet team as its summer 2021 intern!

Iā€™m originally from Fairland, Indiana, a small town just southeast of Indianapolis. I attended Triton Central High School, graduating with fewer than 85 people in my class. My small town gave me some of the best memories, but I fell in love with Indianapolis and hoped that one day I would be a part of it.

This past May, I graduated from Ball State University with a major in public relations and a minor in communications. In my time as a college student, I was a part of Kappa Delta sorority, where I held and maintained strong leadership roles. My experience with Kappa Delta is what steered me towards my love for outreach and interpersonal communication: two integral elements to my position at Indiana INTERNnet.

I found Indiana …

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Celebrate Indiana Intern Day 2021!

Indiana INTERNnet and theĀ Indiana Commission for Higher Education will celebrate Hoosier interns on social media for the third annual Indiana Intern Day on July 29, 2021!

The occasion is modeled after National Intern Day ā€“ a movement to honor interns and the employers that provide meaningful internship opportunities.

Ensure your company or school makes the pledge to join us by filling out the online pledge form. You’ll immediately receive a digital content kit with sample social media posts, graphics and ways to celebrate interns.

Employers, we know that during the time of COVID-19, your internships may look a little different. But we believe that itā€™s more important than ever to highlight their impact. Whether you have a virtual intern, or had to take a break from hosting interns, you can still participate. Our digital content kit includes opportunities to recognize virtual interns too. If you donā€™t currently have an …

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Not All Internships Are Created Equal

More students are interning than ever before, and more employers are recognizing that internships help develop their talent pipelines. The logic seems simple: if employers want to hire and students want to be hired, then arenā€™t students who complete internships more likely to land a job than those who donā€™t?

Itā€™s actually quite a bit more complicated ā€“ with devastating results for some young people.

The reason: Not all internships are created equal. In addition to needing strong structure and supervision to achieve maximum learning and productivity, paid internships lead to better post-graduation results than unpaid internships. Why should getting paid matter? Isnā€™t it about the real-world experience?

Data from the National Association of Colleges and Employers student survey shows otherwise. While overall, students who intern are more likely to have a job after graduation than students who donā€™t, this difference is fully related to whether the internship is paid. …

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