CHS Blog

My name is Eli Coburn and I am a Junior here at CHS. This past summer I had the opportunity to have a summer internship set up through our CHS Academic and College Counseling office at Medtronic. Medtronic is a global healthcare technology company that develops, manufactures, and distributes medical devices and therapies that is located in North Haven, CT.

During my internship at Medtronic, there were several challenges that I faced and different moments that taught me different traits about myself. I gained valuable exposure to working in a corporate setting, working on a team within a larger company, and more specific insights into the biomedical field. 

Throughout my internship, because the safety training would have taken up a significant portion of my time, I was not able to do as much hands-on work as I was expecting and hoping for the various tests that were being conducted at Medtronic. I did a lot of observing and asking questions rather than active work. It was still very interesting and educational to see how the tests were conducted and to have my questions answered about the reason and function of the tests. 

I was able to find ways to be helpful during various tests, especially one where another intern was dissecting arteries from sets of kidneys. I helped with the measuring and storing of the arteries, and it felt good to be able to help. I found my desire to be of assistance and my willingness to be flexible and adjustable to different tasks very useful during this internship. I think that these traits will be useful for me during my career, as well as eventually taking charge and doing more myself.

Secondly, as silly as it sounds, going to several meetings across the two weeks was very helpful for me. It was good for me to get some exposure to corporate life, which I’ve learned involves many meetings! Wherever I end up in the future, it is likely that I will have to go to meetings, so getting some early experience with them was very rewarding for me. 

Throughout the internship, getting exposure to different aspects of having a job was one of the most rewarding parts of the summer seminar. In one of the team meetings that I attended, one of my colleagues was explaining to the team how she had been assigned to a project with very little prior information. There were several very expensive pieces of equipment with little records about them, no labels, and the person who had worked with this equipment previously had left the company. This showed me the importance of communication and documenting your research, as this project was lacking them and therefore very difficult to complete. It is very important to document what you do so that you or others can go back and look at your research at a later point. Good communication is crucial for a functioning company, as demonstrated here.

Although different from what I was expecting, the internship this past summer was a great experience for me. I am so grateful for the opportunity to be able to gain this experience and this exposure to work life. It has helped me a lot when thinking about my future and what type of job and field I may be interested in the future. I had a lot of fun and am very glad that I decided to do the summer seminar internship program offered through our Academic and College Counseling office this year.