Randy Smith didn’t want the typical high school summer job working in retail or slinging hamburgers.
The Step-Up Omaha program — and its partnership with UNMC — offered the perfect solution.
Smith, now 18, is completing his third year with the program at UNMC. He’s one of seven summer interns participating this year in Step-Up at UNMC.
The program is an initiative of the Empowerment Network and the City of Omaha to give youth ages 16 to 21 valuable job experience through the summer. More than 100 employers around Omaha have participated.
UNMC joined the list of participating employers in 2016. Interns in this year’s seven-week program will work in departments across campus.
The program gives students a chance to experience UNMC through the eyes of an employee, said Sarah Gloden Carlson, JD, assistant vice chancellor and director for human resources.
“They can test drive careers and opportunities here,” Gloden Carlson said. “It’s equally rewarding for the campus, because the interns really do add value to what we do. There are tremendous relationships formed through this process.”
During a welcome session, Gloden Carlson encouraged the interns to find their passion and to take advantage of every opportunity provided along the way.
Sharlon Rodgers, Step-Up worksite coordinator, echoed that advice. The program, she said, is designed to help students get an early glimpse into potential career fields.
“If we give faith and opportunity to our young people, they can flourish,” Rodgers said.
Evelyn Grixby, who helps to facilitate the program at UNMC, said: “Having the opportunity to mentor the interns and expose them to work related to their major and/or skill set, that is challenging and recognized, is rewarding.
“It’s important that our interns are provided with real work experiences to ensure the continued success of our program at UNMC,” she said. “It will set them up for success later in life. We want them to be successful. We want it to carry over into the community, school and into future careers.”
Smith said his experience at UNMC will give a leg up in starting a career. He recently graduated from Omaha North High School and plans to study business and psychology at Metropolitan Community College.
He spent his first summer on campus working in the Center for Healthy Living. Last summer and this summer, he’s working on photography, social media and other tasks within the UNMC Department of Dermatology
“With this type of knowledge, I can apply these skills wherever I go next,” he said.
In addition to Smith, this year’s interns and their assignments include:
- Valeri Medrano Najera — Human resources and the chancellor’s office
- Niara Berry Bowie — Munroe-Meyer Institute community engagement office
- Marcus Sherrod — Global Center for Health Security
- Justice Odia — Hospital medicine
- Curtis Somado — Orthopedic surgery
- Emanuel Paul — Academic affairs
Evelyn and Sarah, Woot! Woot! It’s a good looking group! Thank you for all you do. 🙂
Talked to Marcus during our US Public Health Service course in the Global Center. Very excited about college next year at UNO. Thanks for making this possible. Anything that inspires young people is good stuff.
Thanks for making this program amazing! We enjoy having Randy as part of our Derm family!
Got to meet Emanuel last week!! Hope we see you back with us in the future!!!
Step-Up is a great program for UNMC and Omaha interns. Not only do the young adults learn from us, we learn from them! Hosp Med is honored to be able to participate in this program (for the third year). I thank you, Evelyn, and members of HR for providing such an amazing opportunity for current and future interns! 🙂
We have an amazing group of interns – and Evelyn does an incredible job coordinating and supporting all of the students. The summer is flying by and this group is racking up many successes. 🙂
Kudos the Step Up Students and Evelyn Grixby! Thanks to Emmanuel for spending a day with the E-Learning team.
Thank you so much everyone. The success of the program would not be possible without the support of our leadership and the coordination by our HR Employee Relations Team and other areas such as Staffing, Records, HRIS/HRIT, IT Helpdesk, ID Office and Compliance. This is a reflection of our Team Work Value, “….that there’s no limit to what we can achieve when we work together.” This truly reflects who we are and why we’re here! KUDO’s to all who make this program what it is year after year, and for that I’m truly grateful.