Featured Intern: Esella Beison, Boston Scientific
Genesys Works Twin Cities has more than 300 amazing young professionals in our program – engaged and motivated interns working towards career success in their future. For our March Making Internships Meaningful feature, we are recognizing Esella Beison, a senior at Roseville Area High School and Boston Scientific intern. Esella’s supervisor, Kendra Davis, nominated Esella because of her incredible leadership skills and her mastery of the professional and technical skills of her role as a call center agent.
Despite facing hardship in her life, Esella brings her positive attitude and willingness to lead into her work as a call center agent at Boston Scientific. According to Kendra, “Esella always asks what more she can do and learn. She is an example to her peers in the GW program.” What motivates Esella to succeed and go above and beyond despite hardship? “I always try to remember that your past does not determine your future unless you let it. So with that being said I am always striving to be better in all areas of life whether that be in my internship or school or even in friendships,” Esella shared.
Esella’s approach to leadership and to confronting the challenges of being a Boston Scientific intern and Genesys Works Young Professional, is best described in her own words: “To be able to be brave when no one else can is so powerful. Being a leader is scary at times and takes a lot of work but in the end I have grown so much because of it. There are so many opportunities I might have never been given if I hadn’t been willing to step out of my comfort zone and lead. I see myself as a risk-taker, care-giver, and curious leader. I crave knowledge and am always seeking it out even when it means I have to take a risk. When I lead, I only hope that people will become inspired and try it themselves.”
Esella’s confidence, self-awareness, and leadership skills make her a role model for her siblings and other young professionals. And, importantly, they help her shine in her role and provide direct customer service to users. Esella has exceeded expectations, shares Kendra, and she “has taken on tasks and responsibilities that we didn’t intend or expect of our interns. Tackling full agent training is impressive and she’s excelling at it.”
Esella is showcasing an incredible mix of strong professional and technical skills in her internship, and we can’t wait to see where this takes her. Way to go, Esella!
Featured Supervisor: Brad Schlangen, Allina Health
Genesys Works Twin Cities is grateful to have more than 200 supervisors in our network of devoted IT and business professionals that support and mentor our young professionals. In our March installment of the Making Internships Meaningful series, we recognize Brad Schlangen, a supervisor at Allina Health, for personalizing his intern, Bontu Ambo’s, experience based on her career goals and for building a relationship based on trust.
Brad knows that Bontu aspires to be a surgeon. As he builds and supports Bontu’s internship experience, her dreams and goals are at the front of his mind. According to Brad, in addition to exposing Bontu to technologies and IT experiences directly related to her work, “I also wanted to provide opportunities for Bontu to validate her career aspirations. Allina Health has a great operating room observation program that we were able to get Bontu enrolled into and with the partnership of her great surgical sponsor, Bontu is spending time with the surgical staff while learning and observing in the OR.” It’s not every day that a high schooler is able to observe surgeries in the OR!
Bontu knows that the different experiences she has at her internship at Allina are invaluable to her future career goals. That knowledge positively impacts her day-to-day experience at Allina and helps her to feel like she’s providing value: “I love how I can be able to enter patient rooms and fix something with a computer or scanner and immediately see the positive effects it has in their care. Being able to know the difference I am making is an incredible feeling.” Thoughtfully demonstrating the connection between technology and healthcare is just one way Brad has made Bontu’s internship meaningful.
None of the above is possible without an intern-supervisor relationship built on trust and getting to know each other. Brad knows this, and from day one, he made it his priority to understand Bontu’s experiences and interests outside of her internship. He’s made an effort to learn about her PSEO college experience, her college application process, and her family and her personal interests. For Brad, the relationship goes both ways; “I want her to know about me and my family too. If you package all this information together, we both have a lot of great information to strengthen our relationship.”
Meaningful relationships don’t just happen, and when supervisors like Brad demonstrate interest and show their interns they can share their full selves, great things can happen. Thanks for all you do, Brad!
