The Royal Experience Summer Internship Program

Throughout my experience working with the Jafri Capital team and interns I have valued all that I have learned and witnessed over the summer. After creating the blogs I have been working on this summer I came across the most rewarding part of my internship. After writing various different blog posts, the team and I wanted to designate a more prominent section of their site and company to posting these blogs. We structured the website and updated all social media platforms to announce the coming of the new Jafri Journal. Seeing the great responses from individuals outside of the company was very rewarding and fulfilling to me. I am very grateful for having such a great intern team; they helped me create the name and visual for The Jafri Journal.

The most challenging part of my internship was the very start of writing a new blog topic. After having our team meeting, we would choose a new topic for me to create a post on. Since my background is not in real estate capital markets, I would have to research the topic as well as relating it to what I have learned from the team for instance, focusing on the asset classes. Starting from nothing and creating something knowledgeable and insightful is challenging in itself but also having to ask thought provoking questions to stir conversation and engagement was definitely the most challenging part of my internship.

Brianna Murawski
Marketing

As I reflect on my summer as a research assistant, I recognize that despite both personal and scientific challenges, these have been some of the most rewarding and enlightening months of my professional and academic life.

Initially, I felt overwhelmed by the literature and laboratory protocols. I jumped in on a project that has been going on for several years, so it was challenging to discern where what I was doing fit into the grand scheme of things. However, as the summer progressed and I’ve gained hands on experience, I’ve developed a deeper understanding of the research and I feel much more confident in performing various laboratory tasks. Throughout this time, I have grown more comfortable with reading scientific literature and have learned a wide variety of laboratory techniques, both of which will serve me well in my future endeavors.

Overall, this internship at Upstate Medical University was a priceless experience. Going into this position, one of my primary goals was to determine whether I was interested in research. As I realize how sad I am to leave, it has solidified my interest in pursuing lab research as part of my career as a physician. I am so grateful for this experience, and I am so excited to see where my academic and professional journey takes me!

Ellyn Prusinowski
Philosophy, Biochem Cell Molecular Biology

The most rewarding part of my summer internship is still being connected to the lab even when I’m not on campus. One of the hardest adjustments that the switch to remote learning brought me was the inability to work on experiments and be in lab. Through the Royal Summer Experience, I’ve been able to reserve time for research and learning new research techniques. I think the fact that I’m still able to pursue meaningful research even when I’m not on campus is one of the most exciting aspects of this internship. I’m excited to finish data analysis of my short-term high-fat diet study and see what my results yield!

The toughest part of this internship has definitely been teaching myself the basics of Python syntax, text/image/video content analysis, and different data science research techniques. Although I want to jump right into the experiment and analyze political ads for my second project this summer, I know that I need a solid grasp on the basics before I can complete this experiment elegantly.

Jithin V. George
Neuroscience, Biomathematics

The most rewarding part of this internship was being part of a team and making an impact. During my internship, my main responsibilities were researching and applying for grants as well as keeping track of and organizing records. It was rewarding to work with a team of other interns to submit a grant proposal, knowing that our work could potentially enable this organization to expand its programs and services, if it was to receive the grants we applied for. Additionally, it was very rewarding to work on grants because I proved to myself that I can adapt and learn as I go with projects, I have no prior experience with. I am very pleased that this internship gave me the opportunity to learn skillsets I may have never otherwise learned. The most challenging aspect of this internship was consistent and clear communication among team members due to working remotely. In my past employment and internship experiences, communication has never been a problem, so it was initially difficult to work on a team that struggled with communication. I feel that this was a good learning experience for me, because as a team we were able to overcome this obstacle by developing a structured system in which we could communicate more effectively. Ultimately working for a non-profit organization was very rewarding because I knew that at the end of the day my work was contributing to the services we provide to women in need.

Carly Dugan
Counseling and Human Services

I would say the most rewarding part of my internship is the people. This summer, I have had the opportunity to work with many amazing people, with all sorts of skills, talents, and backgrounds. Starting with my crew, we all knew each other from being around the squad for years, but we never really worked the same shift. Coincidentally, this summer, COVID-19 happened, and it sent my squad into a tailspin with staffing changes across the board. Luckily, as it turns out, I ended up working with two amazing people. Throughout the summer and our experiences working together, we all got closer together, to the point where we could run an emergency call on a critical patient without even saying a word to each other. We could take one look at each other and know exactly what needed to be done. It was that sense of closeness where we changed from just being a crew, but partners. Similar to the concept of police having a partner, EMS involves much of the same responsibilities (long hours, with the same people, in extraordinary circumstances), resulting in you getting to know one another. In addition to getting close with your partners in EMS, getting to know the staff at the emergency room is something that I did not expect to yield so many benefits. From making new friends to learning how patients progress, there has been a tremendous amount of knowledge that I have been working with and learning from. By learning about how patients progress, you can learn more advanced clinical knowledge, and use that knowledge in the field to better help your patients in the future.

In addition to my coworkers, it has been an amazing experience getting to know my patients. While most of our patients are a “one-and-done” deal, which is a good thing, some of our patients have complex medical and psychological issues to the effect that we see them more often. The result of this is interesting because we have the ability to treat them more than just a typical patient, we get to know them, and their family, and work with them as someone we are familiar with, rather than a blank slate. This blessing has resulted in several great experiences that remind me exactly why I do what I do.

The most challenging thing this summer has been adapting to a promotion that I recently earned. I was an EMT, a typical member of the EMS crew, but I have been since promoted to the role of Crew Chief. For years, I have been focused on one thing, and one thing only: the patient. Now, I must change that mentality, and take a step back. My role is still to be involved in patient care, as if anything wrong had happened, it would be my responsibility, but also to oversee operations. For most calls, with one patient, this is not too complex a responsibility. However, for complex emergencies such as multi-vehicle car accidents, I have to keep track of traffic, my partners, other agencies on scene, multiple patients, and coordinate with our dispatch center to get the right resources on scene as fast as we can. It is an exciting responsibility, a welcomed one, but it has been quite a transition to be the one who must make the tough decisions. Thankfully, I work with a team I trust, work well with, and they have been invaluable in helping me learn and grow.

Tommy Baran
Neuroscience

During my time working for the It Is A Keeper Blog, I have been able to learn a lot while exercising my creative abilities. Working for this Blog has been extremely rewarding because I have been combining my love for art with my passion for Digital Marketing. The tasks that I have been assigned and working on throughout the summer were Pinterest Research and Design as well as Instagram Story Design. With Social Media platforms being networks that are backed by algorithms, research involves me figuring out what posts do well and marketing new posts accordingly. This aspect of my internship has been extremely rewarding because I have never done Marketing through Pinterest and now see the importance of this major platform. The challenging aspect of this has been creating designs that look fresh and relevant. Searching for inspiration could often times be overwhelming when I looked through impressive designs. However, this challenge just encouraged me to go the extra mile and design multiple options for posts.

Kaitlyn Bentley
Marketing