Name: Nicole

Year: Sophomore

Major: Psychology

Minor: Global Health

CFS Program: Field Studies in Public Health

This spring, I have been working as an intern at the Fenix Family Health Center.
The Fenix Family Health Center is a non-profit, primary care center focused on providing high quality, low-cost health care to low-income Latino/a immigrants and their families. As an intern at Fenix, I have mostly worked on utilizing my Spanish-English translating skills to help around the clinic– from attending to patient needs at the front desk or via phone call to creating material for the clinic in Spanish. I have also had the opportunity to learn about some of the goals, challenges and nuances of public health work through some of the other tasks assigned to me. For example, researching different advertising options for the clinic has taught me about how much marketing happens within non-profits that are handling public health. Moreover, I have learned how much of a challenge it is to manage my time when trying to balance a work schedule with school life– though, fortunately, this has not deterred me from enjoying the work that I do.

In conclusion, my experience working at Fenix has been such a positive and enlightening one, that I have now decided to pursue a global health minor to complement all that I’ve learned from my internship experience and my CFS public health class. Furthermore, I have learned to appreciate public health as a potential career option such that I hope to have another opportunity to involve myself in this field before graduating college. Lastly, I must admit that participating in the CFS Public Health Program has certainly been one of my most rewarding experiences as a Northwestern student and that I am grateful to have had this amazing opportunity!