As I finished my sophomore year of high school, I was so excited to learn that I received the opportunity to be the first high school intern at the Risk & Insurance Education Alliance’s Research Academy!
However, that excitement also came with a lot of uncertainty. A common experience for high schoolers like myself is that many of us don’t know what we don’t know, which is difficult when we’re trying to navigate the adult and professional world.
This is why internships and courses such as the CISR High School program being offered at schools are so vital. This exposure to the insurance industry as well as learning in the classroom has helped me find that I’m passionate about marketing and advertising, which is what I’m actively trying to pursue a future career in. I’m incredibly grateful to the Research Academy for giving me a leg up and building my portfolio before I’ve even taken a calculus class. This blog is dedicated to my experiences working with the Risk & Insurance Research Academy.
This week, the Risk and Insurance Education Alliance launched Virtual Career Connections (VCC), showcasing two days of livestreams providing students with an overview of the insurance industry plus soft skills development workshops.
The first day was kickstarted by our own Noelle Codispoti, Head of the Academy. The Academy is the part of the Alliance that houses the Emerging Talent Program. Noelle presented a great overview of the importance and impact made by the CISR High School program.
The opportunities available due to this program are grand. Young adults and students have the chance to earn a nationally recognized designation that validates the insurance knowledge they have gained and prepares them to continue as insurance professionals before they even make it to college. As an intern at the Academy, I can personally say that everything Noelle explains in her presentation is incredibly true. The CISR High School program has given me the phenomenal chance of working with real world professionals at the age of 16.
Working professionally at such a young age can be nerve-wracking. You may not fully know what you’re doing, but the support of everyone around you helps tremendously. Everyone at the Alliance is immensely kind and has been extremely helpful guiding me along this journey. This is why I found Nicole Durham’s presentation on how she built her agency so inspirational.
Combined with her inspiring drive and motivation from her family and people around her, she was able to start up her own brokerage. The support of my own family, friends, and the Academy team has been so grand, and with my own hard work it makes me feel like I could even start my own business by tomorrow.
Continuing on this idea with hope and visions of the future, Tandeka Nomvete, ARM-E, AIS, CAWC, gave two wonderful soft skills presentations, with one being about building your own personal brand.
This was an incredibly important lesson for students like me who are actively seeking out internships— and not exclusively in the insurance industry. Her delivery was electric, and she presented information that you could carry out in your daily life today! It was a helpful insight on what companies looking for interns want to see, and it makes me more confident that if I incorporate these things, I could even land more future internships.
The insurance industry is one of, if not THE most important industries in the world. People need insurance, and insurance need people. This idea was explored from different angles by Jelani Fenton, Cameron Annas, and Jim Roe. To point to an example, the devastating floods occurring in central Texas. With all the lives destroyed in these floods, we must hope that they have the coverage to help pay for damages to get these people back on their feet. My heart goes out to all the people experiencing hardships in Texas right now. I’m extremely lucky to have not been majorly affected by the harsh weather, and I urge everyone to go out and help our community in these times of need.
As we complete our first week of VCC, I reach the halfway point of my internship. In my short time here, I’ve met so many amazing people and have been so inspired by everyone. I encourage anyone reading this to please tune in next week for another VCC recap!
