This summer, a few talented and passionate LHS students were chosen to participate in an internship at Lawrence Memorial Hospital, where they immersed themselves in the medical world and were introduced to new opportunities and perspectives.
The 24-hour-per-week program pays the interns to explore career opportunities through field trips, projects, shadowing, and even viewing surgeries in real time. Many LHS students were encouraged by Anitha Subramanian, Lawrence High’s pre-med teacher, to apply for the internship. After submitting a lengthy application, including everything from basic questions to short essays, students awaited a possible interview.
“You want to try to convey why this is interesting to you and why it’s something that you really want to be a part of,” senior Jack Bosh said, who participated in the internship over the summer.
If selected, the applicants begin to work eight-hour shifts three times a week. However, these shifts differ greatly from an average internship.
“We had a lot of public speaking sessions, and a lot of enrichment sessions in general,” senior Sylvia Oparaji said. “We were learning about different things related to healthcare; we learned about inequity and more social issues. We went on a lot of field trips to help connect healthcare to those social issues.”
Interns were surrounded by various talented doctors, administrators, and more. Each intern was assigned a fellow intern partner and two mentors for both of them.
“We had one who was more on the administrative side, and one who was more on the clinical side,” Oparaji said. “They helped us a lot and talked with us, and gave us a lot of advice, whether it was life advice or career-focused advice.”
Interns had an opportunity to conduct real research they were interested in through a program called The Capstone Project.
“We would research a topic that was related to what we were doing in the hospital,” Bosh said. “It was a topic that was personal to us, something that meant a lot to us.”
Interns were able to gather valuable research about a topic that interested them, while also receiving help from mentors. At the end of the program, they presented all of their information to their peers and mentors. Bosh, for example, covered the negative effects of radiology on the workforce.
“It’s a big problem in radiology that isn’t talked about very much,” Bosh said. “There’s a very high percentage of radiologists that suffer from these injuries because of their line of work, and that was something that I wanted to get addressed.”
For some, the connections and knowledge they gained paved the way to a career at LMH. Senior Juan Casimiro plans to get his license, work at LMH, and eventually become a traveling nurse.
“Once I have my license, I have a job ready for me . . . I’m planning to work as a CNA minimum for three years while also attending nursing school,” Casimiro said. “Then get another five to six years under my belt to fully gain experience and then transfer into a traveling nurse.”
The internship also provided valuable insights through hands-on initiatives that the interns wouldn’t get in daily life or from research. Oparaji, who went into the internship interested in being a surgeon, had a different view going out. After seeing several surgeries, she came to a realization.
“[Surgeons] kind of come in, they perform the surgery, and then they leave, which I feel like is not really my style,” Oparaji said. “I’m the kind of person who likes to talk with people and build connections and a community.”
Interns particularly enjoyed meeting Erica Hill, LMH’s equity, inclusion, and diversity director. She was the president of the school board from 2019 to 2022 and served as vice president in 2023. Hill interviewed the interns and was very involved in the summer internship. After seeing how involved Hill is, Oparaji expressed interest in a community-centered career like Hill’s.
“I realize now I don’t have to only go into the science part of it, because what I’m passionate about is connecting with people,” Oparaji said. “So whether that’s working as an actual doctor, having a more administrative position, or like what Erica does with her health equity work.”
The internship altered the interns’ views of the medical world as a whole, opening their eyes to a community that spans much farther than doctors and nurses.
“When you think about the hospital, you always think about the clinicians, the doctors, the surgeons, techs, etc,” Oparaji said. “You don’t really think about those who aren’t necessarily involved with the actual science aspect of it, but those who are more administrative, and I thought that was really eye-opening.”
Another way the interns’ perspectives were altered was through sitting in on meetings. Being able to experience decision-making and addressing issues in real time showed the interns how a professional medical environment operates.
“Something I’ve seen being in the hospital is that they receive a lot of backlash for the decisions they make,” Bosh said. “But looking at a lot of the executive meetings that we’ve been a part of, everybody in those positions really do consider all of the issues that are occurring in the hospital. They really do try to consider what is the best course of action.”
The former interns strongly encourage anyone interested to apply.
“There were so many different kinds of people there,” Oparaji said. “ ”
Overall, the one-of-a-kind internship requires a lot of attention and effort, but participants agree that the outcome is worth it.
“You want to really immerse yourself in it, really take pride in it, and have fun learning everything that comes with it,” Bosh said. “That’s not only going to make things easier and much more enjoyable for you but also going to provide a better learning experience.”
