Sometimes we take for granted all that is available to us as University of Maryland students. Our campus location is extremely advantageous for internship opportunities, as I discovered over the 2009 summer break. To give you a little background information, I worked as a statistical clerk/actuarial intern for the Office of Personnel Management, a department of the Federal government located in the heart of Washington, D.C. I obtained this position through the Math department at UMD, as a result of my minor in Actuarial Mathematics. Throughout the summer, I feel as if I did not fully appreciate all that was being offered to me. I learned early on in June that insurance plans were no longer my passion. From that point on, I viewed the internship as merely a job that needed to be done. Had I taken a step back to analyze my time spent in the Theodore Roosevelt building this summer, I would have realized the effect the internship could have on my future.
Welcome to the Real World
First of all, I saved myself from graduating an going into a career with which I would be unhappy for the rest of my life. It is still early enough for me to change my mind and pursue other interests. Second of all, I started living independently. I paid for my rent, my transportation, my food, my fun! And I learned the true meaning of responsibility. Work needed to get done, and the work that I did in reviewing premiums for health insurance affected millions of people across the nation. Falling behind was not an option. Missing several days of work the way people miss class was not acceptable. I can now say that I truly understand the meaning of working for a living. The best part of it all was that I am now so familiar with the Metro and with D.C. that I can go nearly anywhere I want and experience so much of the culture that is present in the monuments and memorials of the city. And, not that D.C. is at all the only place to obtain a valuable internship, but I strongly recommend using such a readily accessible area to gain real world experience doing what you love throughout the school year!
If anyone reading this also recently had an internship, as I know many of you did, and has something to add, feel free to comment on this article with your experience or write your own blog-like article to submit to The MUNCH.