Catherine Gold ’14 took advantage of the Career Center’s HamiltonExplore career shadowing program in January by spending a day with Meg Harrison ’91, patient services manager at the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in New York City. Now, six months later Gold is a Levitt Public Service Intern there, thanks in large part to the connection she made through HamiltonExplore.
HamiltonExplore is designed to assist sophomore students with career exploration and decision making by offering the opportunity to “shadow” (observe) a Hamilton alumnus/a or parent in the workplace for a day or part of a day.
After Gold did her shadowing she asked Harrison if she could send her a cover letter and resume to apply for a summer internship. “I spent five hours that night working on it and sent it to her the next day,” Gold recalled. “I was incredibly inspired by Meg and the work that the entire patient services team does, and craved more. That day really confirmed my desire to work in the health service field,” she noted, “and my internship is deepening my conviction to help patients one-on-one the way Meg does.”
The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) seeks to cure blood cancers and improve the quality of life of blood cancer patients. Gold is part of the Patient Services Department that coordinates advocacy activities, provides monetary and other forms of support to patients, facilitates support groups, and educates patients, doctors, healthcare workers, and the public about blood cancers, among many other services.
Gold said, “The department emphasizes one-on-one patient contact and a focus on emotional support paired with the material support. I ‘m passionate about helping others and eager to work with this organization,” she explained. “Raising money for breast cancer research, working as an EMT and my current coursework have fueled my passion for patient advocacy. I hope my work this summer in this organization will benefit patients and help me determine the type of work I would like to do upon graduating,” Gold remarked.
The Levitt Public Service Internship Fund was started with the generous support of the Norman and Rosita Winston Foundation, with the goal of supporting students interested in careers in public service. It is jointly administered by the Career Center and the Arthur Levitt Public Affairs Center. In order to receive funding students must procure a public service internship which may include internships in government, with non-profit organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), think tanks and other comparable organizations.
