Cool Conference Call

From beginning to end, the day could be described by the word productive. First thing Cameron and I met with a man named Lynn. Lynn specializes in LEDs, mostly working with variables like durability, color, brightness, construction, etc. HE even described a new technology innovating the light industry: phones. Now phones will be able to control lighting in a way never seen before. In cities with high crime rates it can be possible to install audio devices in outdoor light fixtures to detect gun shots and alert authorities. He also took the time to get to know Cameron and I and talk about the college process and a typical day in his position. After the meeting I got to meet Michelle, Cameron’s scientist, and she explained the devices they are working on to measure the amount of harmful particles created by cooking stoves in impoverished countries. After this, I spent a good part of the day cleaning the lab before the big conference call. During my awesome cleaning experience, Phil introduced me to polymers – a plastic with a low melting point which makes it easily melted and molded. When the plastic hardens, however, it becomes very durable and solid. We melted some of our own polymer in hot water and I scupted it into a ring . Next came the more serious part of the day! The “conference call” was really a high profile meeting explaining the outcomes of the testing (on the HIV project) to major donors. We watched the presentation on a projector and listened to the conversation (in case Phil had to be called on to explain a part of the research), while simultaneously running tests for the HIV project. At one point I observed plastic under a microscope to view the individual crystals. I also got to do much of the tests (yay pipetting!) on my own today. Nothing like science and a movie to end the day (or a conference call and some testing is good too)!

Polymer!

Day 4 – The Good Samaritan (WRAL)

I spent my day riding around the triangle with Amanda Lamb, a reporter at WRAL, and Chad Flowers, her photographer. We started off the day at the Justice Center in Downtown. Amanda said that she started everyday there looking at all the arrest & search WRAL - Justice Center
warrants from the last day or so. She does this to see if any interesting cases come up that they might want to cover, or to see if any new leads on cases they are already working on. Mostly they look for cases involving people who would be a danger to the general public. Around the Justice Center the topic of interest seemed to be the arrest of two women who broke out into a fight the day before. Most of the reporters we spoke to were annoyed by the story because TVZ, or ABC11, was making a big deal about it because they had someone on the scene yesterday who was able to get video of the incident. I also got a brief tour of the building, I was told that things were pretty slow today as not much was going on. The highlight of the trip seemed to be the spotting of two women dressed in a Super Girl outfit and carrying a Piglet backpack.

After our visit to the Justice Center, it was time to start working on the story for the news today. After some debate, it was decided that we would follow up on a lead about a Good Samaritan from a motorcycle accident that occurred last night. It sounded much more promising than the story the station originally wanted to cover about a gym closing. Chad was a little worried about the direction of the story due to the fact that the driver of the motorcycle who ended up dying was the one who was at fault during the accident. So instead of covering the crash itself, it was decided to frame the story around what our Good Samaritan’s experience was.

Once Amanda was able to contact her we decided on a meeting spot out in North Cary. After a quick spot of lunch we met up with the young woman for an interview. She was very cooperative and I am very moved by her WRAL - Interviewing Ashley story. She got to the scene of the accident, she thought, very soon after it happened. She pulled over to the side of the road and made her way to the driver of the motorcycle. She explained that he was in very bad shape, covered in blood, as well as not breathing and no pulse. She began to give him CPR. She didn’t stop until the police and EMTs arrived a few minutes later. She noted that she was the only one who was trying to help the young man. An older gentleman had come over to her but exclaimed that he didn’t know what to do, while all the other people either just watched from afar or didn’t stop at all. She was very vocal about her opinions on that matter.

Once the interview was over we headed back to the WRAL studio. There the footage from the accident the night before and the interview from today were going to be edited together. While Amanda was writing the script for her story I sat in a planning meeting for the news shows that evening. After that, I sat with the women at the news desk. They are the people who monitor all the police radios and other news sources to determine if anything news worthy is happening. If there is something interesting happening they will dispatch teams of reporter to the scene.

WRAL - In the Control Room
Once Amanda was done with the script, I went with her and Chad to film the bridge in the
control room and then to the recording studios to record the voice over for the package. Then I sat with Chad while he edited all the pieces of the puzzle together. Then the story was done and all ready to be aired on the 5 o’clock news. I left before they aired it on television but I got home in time to watch it.

Here is a link to the story on the WRAL website: http://www.wral.com/good-samaritan-stopped-to-help-man-after-crash-near-rolesville/15730542/

-CJ

Saying Goodbye (Last Day @AMM)

Today was my last day at Alliance Medical Ministry. Like yesterday, Dr. Lewis started seeing patients at 8:30 am. Today was a very busy day with some unexpected challenges .I can’t say anymore about the challenges because of doctor-patient confidentiality. However, I can mention that some of the things we discussed included glaucoma, celiac disease, anemia, hernias, and bariatric surgery. Dr. Lewis was extremely willing to answer my questions about these topics. At around 12 pm Dr. Lewis was still seeing patients back to back but she allowed me to go on my lunch break anyway. By the time I finished lunch Dr. Lewis had already finished up with her last patient of the day. So for the remainder of my time at Alliance I stayed with Dr. Lewis as she made phone calls and took notes on her patients. We even had a chance to chat a bit before I left the practice. Overall, I have had a fantastic time at AMM. Dr. Lewis was the perfect doctor to shadow as she truly cares about her patients and goes above and beyond to give them the best care possible. Both her patients and the nurses I’ve spoken to speak very highly of her. Not only has she been a great teacher, but she’s also encouraged me and given me advice. I’m confident that I will keep in touch with Dr. Lewis well after this work experience program. AMM pic 3

Pictured above are my parting gifts from Dr. Lewis ❤

-Biruk

Day 4 – Road to Recovery

Unfortunately, I woke up this morning with a bad migraine. I was sad that I wasn’t well enough to go to Raleigh Orthopedics for my internship today. After I rested up all day, I started to feel better, and began researching this evening. I researched more information about Raleigh Orthopedics. Since I am very intrigued with dry needling, I learned more information about it (click to read article/watch videos). I learned that the needle used is a thin filiform needle. The needle penetrates the trigger points a muscular tissue. I watched a few videos on how to dry needle, but I still don’t have the experience to try it on a patient :). In addition, I watched patient stories to see how much it helps them. I suggest that you check out the link above to see all of the interesting videos and articles about dry needling.

I also researched which colleges/universities in NC have physical therapy programs. Some of the schools that NC that have PT programs are Duke, UNC, Elon, Western Carolina and ECU. I was surprised that UNC has a 100% 1st try license exam pass rate, and Duke only has 93%. I thought UNC and Duke would have more similar rates, or Duke would have a higher rate.

I am getting excited to intern tomorrow! I wish I could’ve interned today!!

Definitely not as exciting as being at Raleigh Orthopdics…but here is a picture of me researching.

Evie Day 4- CAM Photoshoots > Parking Tickets

When I first heard I was interning for a marketing company I had absolutely zero expectation of having some of the opportunities I’ve had so far. Sure I assumed I would get to see some fascinating projects or meet many talented individuals, however I never assumed I’d get to have a day like today. For the first half of this lovely and shockingly hot thursday, I spent my time listening to a company presentation and then sat down with one of the graphic designers named Sarah. I saw much of her work and sat in on a meeting that she had with some of the other members of the creative team, the project managers, and the creative director. She was working on a website page for a company that I can’t disclose, however it was really interesting to see the details that go behind creating a website. We discussed the various requirements certain brands demand, such as specific color palettes and prints to include and also looked at what a typical finished project would look like. Following that I got to sit in on a pretty important meeting with Sam and some of the marketing individuals for a pitch they were giving their client. I really got to see first hand the process of pitching varies ideas, receiving client input, and then coming to a compromise and a clear consensus. The meeting went perfectly for the team, as their ideas seemed to have gone down extremely well with the client. The creativity involved in the marketing process was really wonderful and out of all the experiences so far I’d say it made me feel the most in my element. As I was listening I loved just thinking of my own solutions to the problems the clients proposed, and really seeing what sort of concepts I could come up with. The sheer amount of creativity, especially when transforming quite a flat product into something exciting and entertaining, was impressive to say the least. After the success of the meeting I headed over to CAM to visit a shoot for a video Centerline was making for one of their clients. Getting over the beauty of CAM and the building itself was one thing, but watching a shoot in the place was just a whole other experience. I got to see up close the tedious precision that goes into video shooting and some of the vast equipment used. For anyone who knows me well they know that there’s nothing I love more than a photo or a video shoot ( other than Beyonce, asian food and harry styles), so today was definitely a special one. It was so worth the $40 parking ticket!!

Evie

Building!

Today I was able to start using my hand more! We started off the day by reviewing many of the manuals and then we started building! The only problem was some of the manuals were not incredibly helpful so we had to be true engineers and try to problem solve. Eventually we were actually able to extend the legs of the tripod and from there everything went a lot more smoothly. We were able to get all of the sensors working and we even took 2 hours worth of data just to make sure all of the sensors and our program worked. One thing down many more to go…

Iain

FREE BOOKS and Other Adventures at UNC Press

Today I’ve been at UNC Press, learning what exactly goes into publishing works of academia and scholarly writing.

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Academia is very different from what goes on at Algonquin or other fiction presses: UNC Press publishes about 100 books a year, as opposed to Algonquin’s 20. It also spends less time on what they call “developmental editing”, which is where an author and an editor have a dialogue over what will go into the book. It’s much more a process of receiving the manuscript, approving it, copy editing, and then typesetting rather than the back-and-forth which happens with fiction.

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UNC Press is also undergoing renovations next week, which means that they have a lot of free books they’re trying to get rid of!!! I’m taking home quite a pile of academic summer reading. 🙂

Cameron Day 4 – “I love the smell of black carbon in the morning!”

– said no one ever.

Hello friends!

As you may have guessed (or not) from the title, today was mainly focused on testing the EMCs. We started after a quick job receiving and shipping a few items in Bay 3 (or section 3) of the building, and then returned to our normal station in bay 4 to meet with mr. J. Lynn Davis and Andrew Dart to discuss what they do at RTI. I also got to meet up with Emily and her guide, Phillip Durham, who seemed to be a pretty cool dude.

After lunch, we started working with the EMCs again. As the main person testing the filters (with my guide providing aid if needed), I got to light the kerosene lamp needed to produce the black carbon smoke, which was fun. The not so fun part ended up being blowing out the flame, because you get a big whiff of black carbon too. Do you know what that smells like? Imagine eating a box of chalk. It’s roughly the same feeling.

Being the main on that also means you get a lot of black carbon on you as well. Say goodbye to clean hands, folks. That’s a pipe dream.

Anyways, we got through a ton of tests today, and (despite screwing up several tests), we’re almost done with the work. I’ve think I may have gotten the nickname butterfingers at one point… Anyway, we expect to finish tomorrow, so wish us luck, please!

So, without further ado, Butterfingers signing off!

Day 4: Driving on the wrong side!

Today is our last day at SAS, and Khushi and I end our day with bittersweet emotions. We’re both really going to miss our new friends we’ve met along the way, but we had such a fun day! We started the day with a talk about SSOD, SAS Solutions on Demand, with Milinda, while we consumed donuts for Chris’s (another employee in GR&A) birthday. Afterwards, we got to listen to a weekly audio call with the financial directors from all over the world in the EMEA region (Europe, Middle East, Asia), hearing the top financial correspondents from Belgium, Czech Republic, UK, and Sweden as well as David, the vice president and Chief Accounting Officer at SAS discuss their weekly agenda. Afterwards we walked a 5k, complete with food trucks and Zumba for Employee Fitness Month, and finished the day by talking about legal reporting. We both loved our experience here, and would love to be back!

-Grace

donut

The delicious donuts. Happy Birthday, Chris!

goodnight

The view of Dr. Goodnight’s house from the walk.

meeting

The financial directors we listened to during the conference call. Previously a director had told Lisa to put a particular issue in the ‘parking lot’, and today asked if he could drive out the ‘car’. Lisa replied with a witty, “No, because you drive on the wrong side of the road!”

walk

The finish line of the 5k!

Day 4: Shake It Up- SAS Style

We started the last day of SAS off with donuts from Rise in honor of Chris’s birthday! After a yummy chocolate frosted donut, Grace and I had our first meeting of the day with Millinda, who explained the support system SAS has for its customers as well as the finance behind it. Then, we listened in on the weekly voice call Lisa has with the finance directors from EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Asia!). In only an hour, they were able to complete their 30-point agenda, and we got to hear from Sweden, Czech Republic, UK, and Belgium! After that, the fun began! It’s Employee Health and Fitness Month here at SAS, which means we got to participate in a 5k walk/run, and then eat yummy food from the food trucks at the finish line. In addition to food trucks, there were also Zumba classes happening and lots of other fun activities, like Ultimate Frisbee! Grace and I, along with Courtney and Adanna, ate fro-yo on the lawn as we watched other employees jamming out to Sia, Meghan Trainor, and more. After the fun afternoon, we grabbed a quick lunch at Building T. Finally, to wrap up the day, Grace and I met with Lisa, who discussed Legal and GAAP Reporting. Overall, we had a great week here at SAS, and learned so much about the various careers within the umbrella of “finance”. Hopefully, we’ll be back here in the future!

-Khushi

The signs pointing towards the awesome things to look forward to at the finish line of the 5k walk/run!

Grace and I about halfway through our walk!

After walking in the blazing heat, we finally made it to the finish line!

CA Work Experience Program 2016

DICE-ing in the Real World