Kaiser’s Summer Intern discovers a future in helping others

“I didn’t really know about the internship at first, but then I saw an email that Ms. Anderson sent out about internship opportunities, I decided to click on it and then I saw the Kaiser Internship,” said Maria Silva, who earned the position for the summer. She has been interested in a career in healthcare so she applied.

“I didn’t think I was going to get accepted but then I ended up getting an email saying that I got the internship,” she said. “I didn’t really know how to take it at first.” This only happened after a series of events.

“I had the interview and it was through a Zoom meet so it was less nerve-racking,” she said. “The interview took about 15 minutes… and I didn’t really think much of it, but when I saw that I got accepted, I was really excited.”

Thousands of students potentially apply for this internship every year and Silva felt honored to be selected. “At first, I didn’t really know how to feel, but I’m really excited for it and really looking forward to it,” she said

Silva’s interest in nursing in one of two areas: pediatrics or eating disorders. “I have been interested in the medical field for about three or four years,” she said “At first I didn’t really know what I wanted to be or what major I wanted to take, but then I just liked the environment of the hospital and being able to help others. I really like that.”

An internship is designed to help students learn by doing. For Silva, her expectations “are to just learn a lot and learn more overall of the medical field and healthcare,” she said. “Entering as a freshman in high school, I knew I wanted to do something and help in this area.”

She is open to learning different things in areas of healthcare she may be less familiar with and learning how to communicate better in the hospital setting. “The internship would be really helpful for me because you know it’s going to expand my knowledge of what to expect with the medical field,” she said.

While Silva will get a lot of experience in this internship position, it is only the beginning of her education. Her plan is to go to Napa Valley Community College before transferring to a four-year university. She eventually wants to become a registered nurse and use her skills as a bilingual speaker to help families understand what’s going on at the hospital. “I also want to become a medical interpreter so I am able to help others that don’t speak English…you just have to be there for people that don’t really know the language,” said Silva.