From analyzing data for a maternal child health home visiting program in Montana to doing education outreach and communications for the solid waste department in Sarasota County, USF College of Public Health students practiced their passion this summer at internships around the country. We asked them not only about what they did, but what they learned and what they loved. Here, their responses.

Victoria Salinas

Salinas is a COPH MPH student concentrating in epidemiology who spent the summer remotely working with the Montana Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) program, Healthy Montana Families.

Healthy Montana Families is a state program that supports pregnant people and parents with young children who live in communities that face greater barriers to achieving positive maternal and child health outcomes.

Salinas said it was the lived experiences of her family that led her to home visiting, eventually becoming a certified home visitor in Central Texas before arriving at USF and securing the 10-week summer internship she found through the Graduate Student Epidemiology Program. 

“Home visiting allowed me to partner with families and provide that supportive role I wish my parents had when they were raising young children.”

“My mom became pregnant with me in high school and was kicked out of her house,” said Salinas, who’s already secured a post-graduation job as an early childhood epidemiologist with Montana’s Early Childhood and Family Support Division. “Home visiting allowed me to partner with families and provide that supportive role I wish my parents had when they were raising young children.”

Salinas collaborated with both the state’s MIECHV program and its maternal and child health epidemiology team to analyze program and surveillance data, such as health indicators and risk factors, and develop an interface to visualize the data. 

“The most interesting aspect of this project was balancing the quantitative, qualitative and spatial data to develop an interactive, informative and actionable dashboard for stakeholders,” Salinas said. “I’m very proud of this project, and I hope it will be a helpful tool for the upcoming legislative session in Montana. I really do love this work and I’m so excited to continue elevating maternal and child health through home visiting.”

Karaminder (Kimi) Nijjar

Nijjar is a senior majoring in public health. She worked—mostly virtually—for 10 weeks this summer with Aetna, a CVS Health company, on cross-enterprise strategic innovation. Nijjar said she found the internship by scouring LinkedIn daily until she saw a health care administration internship she found interesting.

Her main responsibility was improving member experience during care management enrollment calls.

“I shadowed several engagement specialists to understand member outreach and learn what makes a successful enrollment call,” said Nijjar, who hopes to work for Aetna/CVS Health after graduation while pursuing her MHA part time. “And the biggest issue I found was that our engagement specialists didn’t know specific details on the programs offered. To help, I created an infographic on various care management programs Aetna offered so that the enrollment specialists could easily find information while actively on a call. Essentially, I was working on member experience this summer!”

“Once I found my support within the team and program and began to believe in myself, I felt like I belonged.”

Nijjar says the biggest thing she learned this summer was perseverance. “You can do anything you put your mind to,” she said. “Finding out I was interning at a Fortune Four company, well, I was nervous to say the least. Once I found my support within the team and program and began to believe in myself, I felt like I belonged.”

Ashley Williams

Ashley Williams, a senior majoring in public health, spent 12 weeks this summer working as the education outreach communications intern for the solid waste department of Sarasota County.

Some of her duties included developing and designing educational materials about waste and recycling for kids age 5-12, maintaining records for Keep Sarasota County Beautiful, shadowing county professionals in other departments, attending subcommittee and board meetings as well as professional development days and creating a roadmap of recycling cart rollouts for future use.

“The ability to shadow other departments allowed me to understand where I would best fit in the public sector.”

“What I enjoyed most about my internship was experiencing a glimpse of the public sector and what goes on,” said Williams, who found the internship on the job board Indeed. “I was fascinated by the collaboration of all departments to ensure county success. The ability to shadow other departments allowed me to understand where I would best fit in the public sector. The solid waste department really welcomed me and was willing to teach and explain all procedures and processes to me.”

Natalia Vázquez Plaza

Vázquez Plaza, an MPH student with a dual concentration in epidemiology and maternal and child health spent eight weeks this summer working virtually as a Title V maternal and child health (MCH) intern with the Arkansas Department of Human Services. Vázquez Plaza worked within the department’s Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDS), Children with Chronic Health Conditions (CHC) Program.

The CHC Program is a state-wide, comprehensive program in Arkansas that strives to facilitate the development of family-centered, community-based, coordinated systems of care to support families of eligible children with special health care needs. Vázquez Plaza was partnered with a student from the University of Iowa. Together they worked on a variety of projects, including transitioning children to adult health services and conducting presentations and outreach to school counselors, school nurses and others with the aim of increasing the knowledge of educational professionals to make referrals to the CHC Program.

“The Title V MCH Internship Program allowed me to be one step closer to my future goals of making a difference in my community.”

“The internship helped me develop MCH leadership through knowledge, skills and experiences,” Vázquez Plaza said. “I was able to help ensure the health and well-being of future mothers, children and families. Moreover, I had the opportunity to learn about present-day changes and technology advances in MCH, strengthen my professional network with other MCH leaders and further develop my understanding of MCH leadership in the workforce. The Title V MCH Internship Program allowed me to be one step closer to my future goals of making a difference in my community.”

Vázquez Plaza, who has hopes of pursuing a PhD degree concentrating in epidemiology, said what she liked most about the internship was its collaborative nature.

“The team aspect of the internship allowed me to engage and contribute to agency preceptors and to learn new knowledge and skills from my partner and other co-interns,” said Vázquez Plaza, who hopes to continue to a doctorate degree. “It was a unique experience that I will remember for the rest of my professional public health career.”

Story by Donna Campisano, USF College of Public Health