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Novartis Program Provides Real World Experience
Emery Students Get Chance to Work at Local Pharmacuetical Corporation
What did you do on your summer vacation?
When that question comes up in the fall, seven Emery Secondary students will be able to say they spent their summer months working for the world’s second largest pharmaceutical company.
The teen-agers are among 28 students from Emeryville, Berkeley and Oakland who received paid internships this summer at Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics Inc.
The high school juniors and seniors showed up for work on June 30. The eight-week internships last until late August. The teens will work 40-hour weeks and earn minimum wage while learning about vaccines, chemistry and research as well as basic office functions such as filing, answering phones and writing up purchase orders.
The seven Emery Secondary students are Karishma Singh, Satwinder Bassanpal, Navi Singh, Darius Dupont, Gagandeep Singh, Harjit Plaha and Ebere Arum.
They and the rest of the teenagers as well as their parents were introduced to the program at a reception on the Novartis campus in early June. Novartis employees emphasized to the incoming interns what an opportunity the summer program is.
“This is a great gift we are offering you,” said Meghan Leader, Novartis’ head of global business operations. “It will help you discover what inspires you.”
Leader told the students they will be exposed to not only the pharmaceutical world but also the working world. She said they will receive challenging opportunities, instructional supervision and mentoring in a “world-class environment.” In exchange, Novartis expects them to show up for work on time, act and dress professionally and fully participate.
“This is the real word. It isn’t school,” Leader said.
She also assured parents their children would be in a safe environment. She asked them to make sure the students make the most of this opportunity.
Richard Spada, Novartis’ program manager for the 2008 summer internships, told the students they are also being looked at as the potential future of the company.
“As interns, you are helping fuel our pipeline,” he said.
Spada also marveled at the diversity and success of the 28 interns. He noted the students speak 10 different languages among them. Their talents range from athletics to music to rabbit breeding. The average grade point average for the students is 3.7. Five of them have GPAs above 4.0 and four of them have perfect SAT scores.
“This is an incredibly diverse pool of talent,” Spada remarked.
This is the 10th year Novartis has done the current summer internship program. More than 200 students have participated over that decade. Emery school board member Melodi Dice is a Novartis alum. She was a summer intern there in 1993, before the current program started. She now works at Novartis and will be hosting two interns this summer.
This year’s crop is the largest ever. They were chosen from more than 50 applicants.
Karishma Singh and Navi Singh, who will both be juniors at Emery Secondary in the fall, said they look forward to the internship. Karishma will work in communications while Navi works in the legal department. The two students, who aren’t related to each other, said they don’t mind giving up most of their summer vacation.
“It’s great,” said Karishma. “I’m going to gain experience and see the working world.”
David Mills is a writer for The Emeryville
Connection. If you have a question or comment, please contact him at ecocnews@gmail.com
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