Intern Profile: Tanya Simon

I have held four internships while at SNC.  The first was as a Burke Hall
ALIVE team member.  My job was to offer a safe place in which students in my residence hall could come discuss questions about faith and what we are supposed to be doing with our lives.  I also interned at the Green Bay Salvation Army Emergency Services.  I got to partake in case management and explore all areas of service within Brown County.  I learned a lot about diversity and cultural differences.  My third internship was at the Manitowoc HUD Housing Unit learning center where I ran programming for everyone who lived there.  I also did data entry, statistical analysis, networking with area resources, and much more.  My most recent internship was at Christian Counseling Ministries in Green Bay.  In this position, I was able to help out with office management - answering phones, filing, etc.  I also learned Christian counseling techniques and how they differ from other forms of counseling.

All of these experiences have helped me to develop into someone who is understanding, empathetic, sensitive to cultural differences, and extremely organized.  I feel that exploring these very different positions with my major helped me to determine which direction I would like to focus on for a career.  Sociology is a very broad major and one can do pretty much anything - work with children, elderly, homeless, etc.

My advice for those interested in doing an internship would be to approach the position with an open mind.  Be willing to do anything they are willing to let you.  I have learned so much from advisors 'forcing' me into situations.  I was asked to work in the senior center, the after-school centers, the health facilities, do housing checks, do intake forms, call insurance, work with diversity resources such as the Hmong Resource Center, observe suicidal and severely depressed individuals receiving counseling, and much more.  This was all because I was open to anything.