Dear Diary, This summer I...

I have been interning as a landscape architect at The Reaves Firm, Inc. in Memphis,Tn. I suppose my official title would be Landscape Architect Intern. My responsibilities include landscape and irrigation plans, site planning, construction details, and graphic production.

Jordan Jones

Over the summer I worked at Oxford Floral in Oxford, where I was a floral designer working with everyday arrangements, weddings, and sympathy work. It's an amazing place!

Marianne Cassisa

I spent my summer doing my Floral Management internship. I worked at the Tulip Tree florist in Nashville, TN where I got to work with some of the most high end events in the city. We worked on weddings, balls, an annual horse race, parties and of course everyday work. I designed, answered the phones, was a part of consultations with clients, and got to go on location for all of the events we worked on. I had a ton of fun, and learned a lot about the floral business.

Mariah Baird

I participated in the Physician Shadowing Program at North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo. For 3 weeks, a group of pre-meds were allowed to shadow doctors around the hospital and the hospital campus. I shadowed specialties such as emergency medicine, oncology, surgery, plastics, pediatrics, radiology, pathology...I can't even think of all of them. The program really gives you insight into the medical world. For example, I got to stand right by the patient during their triple bypass open heart surgery. To be pre-med and actually see a cracked chest and beating heart was pretty amazing. The emergency medicine was amazing, too. I did a part of a night shift (5 pm- 1 am). I saw everything from a teenager trying to commit suicide and having to be tackled by the doctors to a patient who died from car crash injuries. The doctors for the most part were extremely helpful. If you do end up with an unfriendly doctor, you can talk to the director, Rosalyn Campbell, and she does her best to fix it. Because of this program, I'm seriously considering emergency medicine for my specialty.

You also get paid minimum wage and free meals while you're at the hospital (and a lab coat!). Students should join AMSA (American Medical Student Association). Interviews for this program are offered through AMSA sometime in the Spring. Mrs. Rosalyn really likes State students, and I don't know of anyone who has ever tried out and not gotten it.

Meagan Mahoney