Along with the quintessential summer jobs at camps and ice cream stores, many students used their time off to experience the challenges of working in real hospitals and labs.

Last summer, various students learned about the daily work and obligations of doctors and scientists. Along with shadowing these specialists, students contributed their own work by executing lab tests, or interacting with patients. These in-depth internships helped open students’ minds to new opportunities, and increased their range of knowledge in a variety of fields.

Through family connections, Junior Isabel Lobon had the opportunity to intern at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, shadowing doctors and helping to check in patients. Lobon also spent a week observing pediatric oncologists at two hospitals in Seville, Spain. According to Lobon, these experiences strengthened her desire to pursue a career in the medical field.

“I really think that I want to go into a medical field, and I really like kids and oncology,” Lobon said. “I think it’s very interesting, getting to experience the kids and what they go through every day, and what the doctors have to go through too.”

Also working at a hospital, Junior Hope Wei interned at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute this summer. Wei, however, said she spent the majority of her time working in the labs, running very basic tests.

Senior Takuma Kobayashi spent part of his summer participating in the Young Scholar’s Program at Northeastern University. According to Kobayashi, he appreciates the real-world experience of working with graduate students in actual labs.

“I learned a lot about research and analyzing data,” Kobayashi said. “Also, but more in the future, I think the lab experience will help me if I want to go into a STEM field.”

Wei said that her experience especially fostered her love of biology, which has been beneficial for her this school year in her AP biology class.   

“I have already learned some of the material, so it’s a lot easier because I already have some background on the stuff we’re learning about now,” Wei said.

Even though she didn’t have a real position at the hospital, Lobon worked very closely with a variety of doctors and patients. Lobon said that this gave her a new sense of appreciation for the difficulties they both face every day.

“In the ER, the most challenging part was probably the patients with drug and alcohol addictions that came in, and how they had to deal with everything that was coming at them,” Lobon said.

According to Lobon, despite her initial hesitation over the internship, she is glad that she stepped out of her comfort zone.   

“I wasn’t really sure I was going to do it at the beginning of the summer, but I ended up loving it, and I’m probably going to do it next year too,” Lobon said.

Kobayashi said that he also benefited from his experience. In particular, he said contributing helpful and meaningful work to a real lab was really exciting for him.

“You’re doing something that’s actually worth something,” Kobayashi said.

Lobon says that being exposed to the challenges of both doctors and patients has given her a new mindset that she will take with her throughout the school year.

“A lot of the experiences I had were very vivid and in the moment, and a lot of them weren’t good experiences, just in terms of what I saw or what I did,” Lobon said. “But I’m really thankful that I did it because it made me grow as a person.”