NSU Horizons Spring 2016

45 NSU HORIZONS V alentina Ramirez was mesmer- ized and a little in shock watch- ing her first-ever live surgery, a spinal operation at Cleveland Clinic Florida in Weston. Then, halfway through the operation, the doctor invited her to take a closer look. “Look inside. Amazing, isn’t it?” he said to Ramirez as he pried open the patient’s back and pointed out the vertebrae, nerves, and spinal cord. “I will never forget that surgery,” Ramirez said. “It was the first of many; and hopefully, one day I’ll be the one doing the surgery.” While this sounds like the kind of experience one would expect for an NSU medical student, Ramirez, a biology major in NSU’s Halmos College of Natural Sciences and Oceanography, had just finished her freshman year when she started the internship. And this coming summer, after her sophomore year, Ramirez will be traveling to Graz, Austria, to participate in a surgical transplant internship program coordinated by Mark Jaffe, M.S., NSU associate professor. Ramirez witnessed more than 100 surgeries during her Cleveland Clinic Summer Scholar internship last year, shadowing three different doctors over six weeks. But her experience did not end there. “Not only was I able to see the life of a doctor I one day hope to become, but I have also formed connections with many of the nurses and doctors,” Ramirez said. She still visits the hospital regularly, and the orthopedic doctor she shadowed invited her to do research with him in the coming summer. Ramirez’s experience reflects a growing trend among students and employers to put more emphasis on hands-on career training. At NSU, students are taking advantage of internship opportunities earlier than ever, starting in their freshmen and sophomore years. They are traveling to places like Austria, Harvard University Medical School in Massachusetts, and Washington State University, as well as finding positions with companies of all sizes and industries throughout South Florida. It is a philosophy that George L. Hanbury II, Ph.D., NSU president and CEO, strongly supports. In a recent Opinion piece in the Sun Sentinel , Hanbury stated: “For a full and rich educational experience, students must blend high academic achievement with career preparation. To that end, leaders of higher education are obligated to ensure their students are well prepared to enter the global economy.” NSU is doing its part to fulfill that obligation by offering career development services, one-on-one career counseling, Real-World Experience Prepares NSU Undergraduates for Global Economy Left, Kedene Smith, a sophomore studying behavioral neuroscience at NSU’s College of Psychology, is learning about internship options through the Office of Career Development. continued on next page