Lauren Campbell
Equinox Staff
Internships are a valuable part of a student’s success at Keene State College. For one KSC senior, her internship at ESPN this past summer gave her the tools to succeed.
Gwenn Lanouette was selected along with a group of 13 other interns to complete a two-and-a-half month internship in Bristol, C.T.
She interned at South Lake Hospital ESPN Wide World of Sports as an athletic training intern, and got the opportunity to work with sports teams like the USA Gymnastics team, the USA Basketball team, the Atlanta Braves rookies, and the Amateur Athletic Union.
“It was a very interesting experience. It prepared you for the first few days, and then you sort of hit the ground running. You learn really fast, and you build confidence in yourself to use the skills that you’ve learned here at [KSC], which was pretty awesome,“ Lanouette said.
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Over 70 students applied for this internship. Out of the 70 who applied 14 were selected to have the opportunity to work with a variety of sports teams as athletic trainers.
However, the process for applying was not all that easy.
“I found out through the Program Director for Athletic Training that I got the internship,” Lanouette said. “She sent an e-mail out. You had to send in an application, which was a cover letter, a resume, three references, transcripts, a background check and a couple of other things. You had to complete specific courses. So we had to finish all of our evaluation courses or the body before we could participate. Once they reviewed the application, they went and set up a phone interview with you and kind of go from there.”
Among all of the sports teams, they gained experience and confidence that will set them apart from the competition.
“I definitely learned how to be confident in myself. I felt that was always a weakness of mine here at school because I wasn’t confident in what I learned. At the complex you’re kind of on your own, and you had to be able to use the knowledge that you got here [at Keene State] in the real world. It was a real world setting. It was like working in an athletic training job, only it was an internship.”
Lanouette was thankful for the opportunity she was given.
However, this opportunity almost didn’t happen.
“At first I had found out that I did not get the summer internship, so they put me on the waiting list and offered me an internship for the fall. Two weeks before the interns were scheduled to leave I got a call saying that they had an opening, and gladly accepted to fill the open space. It was a blessing,” Lanouette said. During her time there Lanouette had a variety of experiences.
“I worked as an athletic training intern, so we were pretty much the medical staff for the Wide World of Sports Complex. So anytime there were events, sporting, we covered a corporate event for a pharmaceutical company, and that was pretty interesting to watch,” Lanouette said.
She also had a lot of responsibility taking care of the teams, while learning for herself what a typical day as an athletic trainer was really like.
“We had to make sure they didn’t hurt themselves playing in events like the Homerun Derby. We were the medical staff. We were there to see if anyone got hurt. We decided whether or not people should be sent to the hospital, or if their parents decided they needed to go to the hospital. We were the ones that facilitated that.”
Having all of these experiences gave Lanouette the tools to succeed. “I would recommend the program to everyone,” Lanouette said.
When asked if she had any advice for future applicants Lanouette said, “Definitely work your hardest in all of your classes. You may not think that a class matters, but that doesn’t mean that someone’s not going to look into that later on.” She continued, “You need to just be confident in what you learn.”
Lauren Campbell can be contacted at lcampbell@ksc.mailcruiser.com
