My Summer Internship in Review

This summer, I had the privilege of being a part of the inaugural class of interns at Baptist Health, Arkansas’ most comprehensive health care organization. Stationed in their marketing and communications department for nine weeks, I learned a plethora of things about the health care industry, others, and myself. Here are some highlights of my summer internship:

Entity Tours and Out-of-Office Adventures

A company's external marketing may be the first—or the only—thing a consumer sees of the brand, so to help the interns better understand the work being done in our office, our department advisors showed us around a few health care and marketing entities within Central Arkansas. We toured three Baptist Health hospitals, Baptist Health College Little Rock, Parkway Village Senior Living Community, Baptist Health's out-of-house advertising agency Stone Ward, and the UAMS Proton Center. Additionally, we got to observe out-of-office content creation, TV interviews, and commercial shoots. These experiences granted me industry exposure which is so beneficial!

Project Management

I was assigned to oversee Baptist Health’s Strategic Plan, a short book that highlights the goals of the company over the next few years. I wrote the copy, helped construct the layout, and assisted in designing the page formats. It was quite a daunting task, but with the help and encouragement of my incredible colleagues, I felt confident in the plan’s completion! This project management piece showed me that while some things may not be easy, they are important and rewarding.?

Press Releases and Articles

I got to write two press releases covering new Baptist Health physicians, assisted in writing a piece for the BHealthy Blog, and co-wrote an article highlighting Baptist Health’s inaugural intern class for the system’s newsletter, The Connection. Writing is one of my greatest passions, so being able to showcase my skills was very fulfilling.

Marketing Strategy Presentation

Our longest and largest task this summer was to create a marketing strategy for the Baptist Health College Alumni Association. After a month of preparation, which included distributing questionnaires to alumni, conducting research, and creating a presentation, we introduced our findings and ideas to Baptist Health College Little Rock President, Dr. Joel Hicks. It was an honor to play even a small role in bridging the gap between current students and alumni and I am excited to see what the Baptist Health College Alumni Association accomplishes soon.

These are just a fraction of the amazing things I got to see and experience at Baptist Health over the duration of my internship. The people truly do make the place and I am honored to have worked alongside industry professionals who care about the wellbeing of Arkansans, Baptist Health’s healing ministry, and me! My nine weeks in Little Rock flew by, but I am eager to go out into the world and utilize the lessons and skills I have learned to better myself and others.?

A huge thank you to Scott Allen for making this internship program possible, and Leslie Norris and Brandon Riddle-Sims for being the best department advisors a girl could ask for!