Spanish & Illinois Internship Leads to Full-Time Job Offer




I just got off the phone with Kelley Sheehan, a student with whom I have worked for the past four years. We talked about her senior honors thesis, and she let me know that she had been offered a full-time position with the Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in downtown Chicago when she graduates in May.

Congratulations, Kelley!

I think her trajectory is a model for other students to follow. (I just wish she could have studied abroad for an entire academic year...) If I have forgotten anything, I'll trust Kelley to fill in the gaps for me.

FRESHMAN YEAR.
1. Took "Spanish & Entrepreneurship," the pilot course which I co-taught with Darcy Lear and worked in the community at Booker T. Washington Elementary School.
2. Did a short summer course in Barcelona.
3. Did a "Spanish & Illinois" Summer Internship at the Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

SOPHOMORE SUMMER.
The Chamber was so impressed with Kelley that they hired her out of pocket to return to work with them a second summer.

JUNIOR SUMMER.
Same as sophomore summer! Kelley worked on organizing the Chamber's Expo in Navy Pier in August.

SENIOR YEAR.
1. Kelley is writing a senior thesis with me about language and culture issues related to project management. She's basing her thesis on her own experiences in planning the Chamber's Expo.
2. She's taking good courses: Business & Technical Writing and an International Business course with Prof. Ruth Aguilera (from Barcelona).
3. She gets the job offer from the Chamber to come on board full-time after she graduates. She'll still be interviewing with other places, but she has this opportunity in hand thanks to her intelligence, diligence and style. :)

Students: Kelley is a model to follow!
Thanks to the Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce for working with our interns over the past three summers.

Thanks to the Academy for Entrepreneurial Leadership and the UI Extension for working with us on making the internships possible.



Comments

  1. G. A. October 3, 2008 at 5:56 PM

    I had her as a student: She was really outstanding! Congratulations Kelley!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Vocabulary for Parent-Teacher Conferences

Image
I'm very happy that so many students responded to our community partner's need for help. Our students' language skills will help Central High School's Latino parents better communicate with the teachers during the parent-teacher conferences next week. Central's secretary will contact the students directly to schedule times with them. Here is some vocabulary help for students. Materias. School subjects are "materias" NOT "sujetos." You should remember subjects from your intro Spanish courses, but here are some reminders: historia, matemáticas, inglés, física, química, biología, educación física, etc. General vocabulary. Notas = grades; aprobar = to pass; suspender = to fail; conducta, comportamiento = behavior. Topics. Ms. Citraro offers the following advice: "The topics and vocabulary that would come up are about the subjects at school. For example: no ha entregado las tareas tiene que tomar el examen otra vez habla mucho en clase falta muc
Read more

How to Correctly File Hispanic Names

Image
I know that community-based learning students don't like it when they are asked to file during their time in the community. However, their learning goals are to improve their Spanish and knowledge of Latino cultures. Filing information on clients with Hispanic names helps them with both. And imagine the impact of mis-filing for the organizations where our students work and and their clients. That's why I was unhappy to learn that many SPAN 232 students did not do well on their exam section asking them to put some Hispanic names in alphabetical order. I can imagine that some students feel that putting names into alphabetical order isn't important. It is! It is especially important in the organizations where they work because they are dealing with clients who may not have "accommodated" to the American system of using only one last name. And it is especially important for clients whose papers are so important for their legal status, medical information and oth
Read more

Interview with Jessica Horn of ACCIÓN Chicago

Image
By Carolyn Kloecker , Span 232 student This past week I completed an assignment for my Business Communications class (SPCM 211) which was to interview someone in a field that I am interested in working for in the future. I asked her many questions about the organization, and lots of information can be found on their website www.accionchicago.org . This organization is a Community Partner with Spanish & Illinois, and has an extensive connection with the Spanish-speaking community in the Chicagoland area. Here are a few of the questions and answers from Jessica: Is ACCIÓN a fairly new organization? How did it begin? ACCIÓN Chicago started in 1994, but the parent organization, ACCIÓN was started in 1961. It is the largest micro-lending organization, and it began in Venezuela, and took root in the U.S. in 1991. How do loan officers communicate with clients? Mostly by phone, as people call in to the office to get a loan for their small business. The website is also a main form o
Read more