More Than An Internship: Shriners
My name is Leslie Moore and I am a rising junior at Babson College. Before I start my 10 week internship at Shriners Hospital for children I want to provide some background as to why I chose to work in healthcare this summer.
Early in high school, I considered working in healthcare administration; I had family-friends in similar professions. However, when I first arrived at Babson I was simply a confused first-year student who wanted to experience all the aspects of business before deciding what industry I would focus on for the future. I did not know what I was good at, or even what careers would be good for me. Listening to students rant about their infatuations with finance, or goals of becoming investment bankers gave me anxiety and made me feel like I was behind. Though in reality, discovering my passion was just around the corner. As life distracted me from school and dwelling over my future, I figured something out about myself: I want to work for a cause and know that the work I am doing is benefitting those in need.
I once read a quote that said: every experience, no matter how bad it seems, holds within it a blessing of some kind. The goal is to find it.
After having lived with my grandmother for more than twelve years of my life, she contracted a mental and physical disease that forced us to put her in a nursing home this past summer. Her time in the nursing home was spent being treated poorly and missing her family, a feeling mutually shared by those closest to her. However, one occupational therapist really stood out for her patience and commitment to her job. I will never forget my mother turning to me with tears in her eyes and saying, “Now that’s someone who is clearly in the right profession.” Her words stuck with me, and that day I decided that I need to love what and know that the work I am doing is bettering someone’s life. When you love what you do it is easy to be good at it, just as this occupational therapist proved to me that day. So I decided to look for internships in the healthcare field.
This is why as a business student, I ended up working in healthcare. As a student from Babson, I am confident that I can use my entrepreneurial education anywhere. As a donor development intern at Shriners Hospital for Children located in Boston Massachusetts, I will be exposed to the healthcare industry and the different business objectives within a world-renowned hospital. I am excited to work under the director’s supervision and learn how hospitals develop and operate financially. One of my main goals of the summer is to figure out what specifically interests me within the healthcare industry, how healthcare data bases work and how I can use my Babson education in a unique way.