By Alexis Williams
Hello everyone! My name is Alexis Williams, and I intern at Medtronic in the Global Communications IT. Throughout my internship, I have learned so much that I don’t think I would have ever had the chance to learn without this experience. I am very thankful that I got this opportunity of a lifetime and had the chance to learn so much.
On the first day I met my team, we had a lunch together. They asked me what I wanted to get out of this internship. I told them I wanted to get better at interacting with people. I wanted to get more comfortable talking with people because it wasn’t one of my strong suits, so my supervisor helped me with this. She set up numerous meetings with people from all over the company. I was thankful that I got that chance to break my boundaries because it helped prepare me for the biggest meeting I could ever think of.
My biggest moment, my breakthrough moment, was when I asked my supervisor if I could meet the CIO of Medtronic, Sean Lennon. My supervisor actually worked with him quite frequently, so I thought that I could get the chance to meet him and push myself to meet with more people. I figured that it would be the best way for me to get more comfortable talking with people if I got to meet with someone as highup as the CIO himself.
In all honesty, after asking, I thought I was insane. What was I thinking asking for a meeting with the CIO of Medtronic? I thought it was going to be just me and him in his office face to face with me being terrified out of my mind. I was terrified and ready to ask a friend of mine to join me so we could be terrified together.
To my surprise, though, that idea actually turned into an event for all the Medtronic interns to get the chance to talk with him and the leadership team. It was going to be a time where he would talk about Genesys Works and the opportunities it brought and then there would be some time for him to answer questions that were submitted. Then, all of the interns would be able to mingle and talk with all of the leaders and even the CIO. The original event was planned in January, but it had to be postponed due to some other meetings conflicting with it. Sadly, with all the virus stuff going on, the event (which was going to be called the CIO Meet and Greet) won’t happen this year. My ambitious idea, though, sparked an idea for interns next year, and I am hoping that interns at Medtronic next year will get that amazing opportunity. It is not everyday that people can meet the CIO of a company, let alone high school interns. That is why I am so proud of myself for breaking through and asking the simple question of, “Can I meet with the CIO?” because you never know what that simple question may do.
About the Writer
Hello everyone! I am Alexis Williams, and I intern in global communications IT at Medtronic. I am a senior at Mounds View High School. I will be going to the University of Wisconsin Stout to major in Computer Science with a specialization in video game programming. I am a passionate writer in my free time, and I love writing all sorts of fantasy stories.
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