Sarah Welsh Awarded Intern of the Year

By Lindsay Anderson

Sarah Welsh ’17, a Management and Leadership major with a concentration in Human Resource Management, from Dunlap, Illinois, is the Smith Career Center’s Outstanding Intern of the Year for the Foster College of Business.

Welsh became a human resources intern at OSF Healthcare in Peoria last summer and reported directly to benefits manager April Rowe. Rowe nominated Welsh for the honor.

“Sarah was always very reliable and more than willing to work full-time every opportunity that she could. She learned very quickly and provided great customer service to our employees.”

Welsh encountered numerous highlights during her internship.

“OSF had been working on making changes to their benefits that would please both the employees and administration over the summer,” Welsh said. “The changes ranged from new insurance providers to the number of paid time off days that should be offered to full-time employees. This required a large amount of time deliberating, researching and then implementing. I became a crucial part of these benefit changes when I was assigned two research projects to further implement the process.”

In addition to highlights, Welsh received many takeaways during her time at OSF Healthcare.

“My internship continues to provide me with experiences I can immediately align with courses at Bradley University,” Welsh remarked. “This position afforded me a firsthand glimpse into the unique world of business management, which is my ultimate objective. I can now envision my career in the arena of human resources as the result of the ongoing, invaluable practical applications of business concepts and philosophies provided by this internship.”

Welsh also added that some of the experiential learning and faculty interaction she encountered at the Foster College of Business, and in the Management and Leadership department, helped her tremendously in her internship.

“The material I learned from Valerie Pape in the Interpersonal Effectiveness in Organizations class was a great help,” Welsh said.  “Throughout the semester, I learned methods of effective interpersonal interactions and self-awareness in order to better inform and understand others. Other helpful topics from the course that were beneficial to me included motivating others, team dynamics, problem solving, conflict management, and communication expectations.”

Five Bradley University students (one per College) were honored by the Smith Career Center. Welsh will be recognized with the following:

• Welsh will receive a monetary award and commemorative acknowledgement at various events.
• Welsh’s name, picture, and biography will appear on the Smith Career Center website.
• Welsh will serve as a guest speaker at several career-related events during the spring 2015 semester.
• Welsh’s name and picture will appear in the Bradley Scout.

“I am so proud of Sarah for so many reasons,” Rowe continued. “She had juggled her work at OSF, her new role as Vice President of Housing for Pi Beta Phi and her studies very professionally and successfully. I know she will be successful at anything she works towards in the future.”