As a second-year pre-law student at Case Western Reserve University, Meg Coyle is already helping secure justice for victims of sexual assault and homicide. She’s working as an intern with the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office’s Major Trial Unit where she listens to jail calls, watches body cam footage to create transcripts of audio and video recordings, and prepares trial binders.
It’s an experience made possible by the university’s Office of Post-Graduate Planning and Experiential Education, a resource countless students turn to as they forge their paths toward their career goals. By tapping into the office’s resources—such as career fairs, career coaching, workshops and more—students can fine-tune their resumes and pursue opportunities like Coyle’s that offer valuable insights.
The opportunities aren’t limited to undergraduate students, either—Linh Huynh, a first-year student in the Master of Nonprofit Organizations program, is just one of many graduate students to take advantage of them, and is now interning at Inbloom Consulting. In honor of National Career Development Month, celebrated annually in November, The Daily asked Coyle and Huynh to share their internship experiences with us. Read on to get a glimpse of a day in their lives as interns.
Meg Coyle
Major Trial Unit intern, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office
After previously interning with a criminal defense firm, Meg Coyle’s work this semester with the Major Trial Unit showed her the other side of the courtroom. Since September, Coyle, who is majoring in political science and environmental studies with a minor in social justice, has learned many lessons in criminal prosecution, especially as it relates to victim confidentiality. She also has been able to glean information from the attorneys, who share more than 200 combined years of experience in the field.
Among her favorite aspects of the internship is watching court proceedings in cases for which she has contributed, including one recent aggravated murder case.
“This put all the work I had done for this case into perspective as I understood the importance of the various materials coming together to ultimately convict the defendant,” said Coyle. “Not to mention I have certainly learned a lot immersed in actual courtroom proceedings!”
Coyle’s days vary, but look something like this.
7:30 a.m.
My alarm goes off.
8:15 a.m.
I am out the door on the way to take the RTA.
9 a.m.
I am in the office and head to my desk.
9:15 a.m.
I check my email and look for my assignment that day.
9:30 a.m.
I go upstairs to the courtrooms to watch a sentencing.
10:30 a.m.
I begin my work (most likely taking notes on a defendant’s jail calls or transcribing a police interview).
12:30 p.m.
I go to the fourth-floor cafe of the Justice Center to get some lunch.
1:15 p.m.
I’m back to work.
2:30 p.m.
I head down to the Police Homicide Unit to pick up some files.
3 p.m.
Time to get back to work.
4 p.m.
I finish up and share my work with the paralegals.
4:20 p.m.
I’m on the RTA back to campus.
5:30 p.m.
I go to my one class of the day, “Judicial Politics.”
6:45 p.m.
I grab some dinner with my friends after class.
Linh Huynh
Development and marketing analyst, Inbloom Consulting
Before officially starting classes in the Master of Nonprofit Management program at the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, Huynh saw an internship listing at Inbloom Consulting on Handshake, the university’s student job listing platform. With the help of Brian Matthews, assistant director of experiential learning post-graduate planning and experiential education, Huynh secured the internship.
At Inbloom, Huynh is tasked with assisting an average of four nonprofit organizations at a time reach their missions through fundraising, marketing and event-planning activities.
Building teamwork and effective communication skills in the nonprofit sector, Huynh considers her work with Inbloom to be “an important foundation for me to build a career path in nonprofit fundraising and development.”
And Huynh credits Matthews for ensuring the experience has been a successful part of her education: “He helps me navigate through the requirements and expectations of the practicum and makes sure that I align my learning objectives with my practicum experience.”
Huynh’s internship has since grown into a part-time position, and she hopes to continue working at the company for as long as possible. So what does a day look like for her? See her sample schedule below.
7:30 a.m.
My alarm goes off.
8:30 a.m.
I spend my morning working from home since our company is still operating in a hybrid model.
9 a.m.
I log into work and join my first virtual meeting for the day. I typically join two to three virtual meetings every day.
11 a.m.
I sift through emails and perform project management tasks independently.
Noon
Lunch time!
1 p.m.
I’m on the road heading to the office. On the way I grab coffee for my team members.
2 p.m.
Continue work calls with clients in the office.
3 p.m.
The team and I get together for an internal working meeting to debrief on project updates, progress, and upcoming to-dos for the team.
4 p.m.
I shift through email one more time, finish up other to-do tasks for the day and line up the next set of to-do tasks for the next work day.
5 p.m.
I log out and finish my work day.
5:30 p.m.
I grab a quick bite and skim through class readings.
6 p.m.
I head to campus and get ready for my evening class at 6:30 p.m.
Ready to start planning for your next internship? Check out the Post-Graduate Planning and Experiential Education website to find resources.