The Career Development and Internship Office (CDIO) walks alongside students from the beginning of their academic careers at North and even after they graduate, offering guidance for career goals and assisting with resumes, internships, and interviewing strategies, and more. One of their valuable offerings to students is the annual CDIO Networking Dinner鈥攁n event where students have the opportunity to sit over a meal with professionals for networking opportunities. Evelyne Peterson, the career programs manager of the CDIO, highlights the benefits of the event. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of skill development that students don鈥檛 necessarily get just through the classroom experience, so this one of those good guidepost experiences while they鈥檙e at North Park.鈥�
This year, a new aspect was incorporated into the dinner: internship awards. On April 4, the CDIO honored an intern of the year and an internship host of the year at the Eighth Annual Networking Dinner. According to Renee Tucker Martinez, the CDIO鈥檚 career education specialist, the awards were created to recognize students鈥� hard work at internships as well as the internships that host North Park students. 鈥淭his is the city of Chicago; there are boundless opportunities for students to build preprofessional resumes,鈥� she says, in hopes that the awards will encourage more students to explore internship opportunities.
Winner of the Intern of the Year Award, Mi Ran Choi C鈥�20 is a cello performance major also working towards a certificate in music for social change and human values. Choi was nominated by Dr. Tom Zelle based on her internship with The People鈥檚 Music School. With the help of resources from the CDIO and conversations with Dr. Zelle, Choi got connected with Ewa Sarota-Raczek, program manager of the non-profit organization dedicated to making music education accessible to communities.