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Internship Opportunities

Boone County Teaching Health Department (BCTHD) Student Mentorship Initiative

We accommodate the dreams of others.
 
Introduction
 The BCTHD Student Mentorship Initiative is seeking applicants for the student intern positions within our department.  BCTHD provides an unparalleled opportunity for professional growth and development as a public health practitioner.  This program will prepare the student to become an ambassador for the mission of local public health in his/her professional discipline, work setting, education, or community.  The student will have daily contact with departmental staff working in a wide-range of programmatic disciplines within the office including Environmental Health, Communicable Disease and Outbreak Investigation, Maternal Child Health, Media and Marketing, Policy and Advocacy, Healthcare Administration and Health Education and Outreach.  While many in health departments are siloed, we have created a culture of shared information, shared solutions, shared creativity, shared resources, and shared passion.  And we have fun while doing it.
 
At Boone County Health Department, teamwork is truly our framework.  We are operating at a time when we have to reinvent the way we do public health through collaboration and shared resources.  The student will experience firsthand that our greatest resources are our many partnerships with agencies and community organizations along with the unprecedented partnerships we have with the County Government.  The tremendous support of these partnerships, along with the support of our Board of Health and the enthusiastic hard work of our staff allow us to continue the programs we have in place.  Our student interns are a respected and valued part of that team and as such have an opportunity to develop many skills including leadership.
 
Interns will complete a one-semester rotation which may include a part time 16-week fall or spring internship or a condensed summer internship.  Schedules may vary depending on the requirements of the student's academic institution, the number of hours needed, and/or the interest and availability of the student.  Our teaching health department internship program offers unpaid experience for current graduate and undergraduate students in good standing at academic programs.  Remote internship opportunities are also available for students.  Each student mentee will be placed with an experienced local public health mentor who will help guide the student through his/her projects as needed and coach the student to reach his/her level of excellence.
 
The student will have an opportunity to participate in training and development activities at BCTHD that may include:

  • Orientation to BCTHD and local government
  • Attendance at seminars/webinars available to all BCTHD staff
  • Exposure to BCTHD program analysis and evaluation methodologies
  • Shadowing BCTHD staff across a wide range of public health disciplines

Program Objectives
The BCTHD Student Mentorship Initiative aligns with the department's strategic plan and supports the individual student's progress toward a career in public health, a related field, or just the ability to look at their unfolding career through a public health lens.  To this end, the program will:

  1. Develop the public health workforce
  2. Strengthen BCTHD's partnership with local and regional academic institutions and the pipeline of public health professionals
  3. Orient the future public health workforce to local public health's mission, programs, and leadership

Description of duties
Although specific projects will depend on initiatives within the department during the student mentorship placement period, the following list provides an indication of the scope and breadth of the student mentee's work at BCTHD.

  • Support the management of grants and programs at BCTHD
  • Plan and coordinate meetings of public health experts, community stakeholders, local government officials, and community members
  • Shadow and conduct informational interviews with key BCTHD staff
  • Apply skills to goal-based projects in the range of competency areas specified by the student's school curriculum

How to Apply
Students who are interested in participating in the BCTHD Student Mentorship Program may contact our office at info@boonehealth.org.

The subject line of your message should read "BCTHD Mentorship Initiative."

Attach the following items to your message:  BCTHD application form, resume, & writing sample.  Documents in pdf format are preferred.

This was adapted from HRSA's Public Health Intern Program website:  https://www.hrsa.gov/hr/intern-program.html.