Kay Mundy is currently a senior at Marion High School and has been involved with the Workplace Learning Connection for the last two and a half years. As a sophomore, Kay initially attended our FBI Career Day to explore her interest in the criminal justice field. After gaining firsthand experience at the FBI day, she discovered criminal justice was not the career path for her. The following year Kay attended WLC’s Veterinary Science Day to explore another area of interest and loved her experience. Coming out of that day, Kay knew she wanted to pursue a career in vet sciences and she set out to make it happen.

In the winter of 2019, Kay applied to the WLC Internship Program and was accepted for a summer 2019 internship as a vet assistant at Ross Veterinary Clinic, with Dr. Kathy Ross. Her experience with Dr. Ross solidified her passion for animal care and set her trajectory for her college career. Kay is planning to attend Iowa State in the fall, majoring in veterinary medicine and biology. Another positive outcome from the internship is that Kay and Dr. Ross both had such a mutually positive experience that Kay has since begun working part-time at Ross Veterinary Clinic, where she is continuing to gain experience. Employment following an internship is not a guaranteed outcome from all of our internships, but for dedicated students who make a positive impact on their hosts, it is always a potential.

Approximately 29% of our WLC interns go on to get offered a job or continued internship with the business where they interned.

Kay has taken full advantage of the opportunities offered by the Workplace Learning Connection. She started by first attending job shadows to narrow her fields of interest, and then when confident in her area of interest, pursued an internship to gain real-world experience. We have been able to watch Kay grow and develop over the last several years and have been so pleased to see the development of her career pathway.

This experience greatly impacted Kay’s college and career trajectory. Her experiences with the Workplace Learning Connection helped Kay establish her career pathway, by allowing her to identify her true area of interest before she even stepped foot on her college campus. Not only that, but this experience has greatly bolstered her self-confidence as she heads into the next chapter of her life.

“At the time, I was very unsure of what route I wanted to take, but that’s why I’m glad I took advantage of the WLC program. With the FBI day, I was still somewhat interested, but as I went through high school and did an internship at Ross Vet Clinic, I finalized my decision to become a Veterinarian. I’ve also always had a love for animals and I knew I wanted to pursue a career that involved them. Ultimately, what had a big impact on my decision was how active I’d be, and through my FBI job shadow I learned that most of the time it’s a sit-down job and, although the physical aspect interested me, I like to be on my feet.” 

Dr. Ross also positively benefited from this experience as well. Not only did she find a part-time employee following the internship, she also built a positive relationship with Kay and feels very good about her role in helping young people discover and follow their dreams.

All parties involved, including Kay’s counselor, guardian, and the WLC coordinator could not have been happier with how this experience turned out.

Kay’s experience demonstrates how IIN and their regional partners provide an invaluable resource to Iowa students by helping them to discover and refine their college and career pathways through exciting, work-based learning opportunities. This work helps to build Iowa’s future workforce by giving students learning opportunities to promote and encourage students to get involved in fields that are experiencing a shortage, such as in this case, rural veterinarians. Kay indicated her internship experience positively influenced her decision to live and work in Iowa.

In Kay’s own words: “If you want to know for sure [that a career is right for you], you really should do an internship. It helps you determine if it is a career you want to pursue. Gives you experience so you know what to do and expect.”