On Feb. 4, 2015, Indiana INTERNnet hosted the 9th annual IMPACT Awards at the Ivy Tech Culinary Center, where a record-setting crowd came together to celebrate the achievements of the state’s interns, employers and career development professionals. We hope to see even more of the state’s best in 2016!
Your 9th annual IMPACT Award nominees and winners!
Group Dekko’s Jennifer Fisher framed her IMPACT Awards keynote speech around how great success only comes from taking risks. “You can’t win the lottery if you don’t play,” she said, reminding both interns and employers that while becoming an intern or hiring one is a risk, the rewards can be great.
Fisher quizzed the audience on people whose success was once tempered by failure and people who told them no. Lucille Ball was encouraged to quit acting and Elvis was turned away time and time again before they changed American culture. Interns, Fisher said, should not give up on their dreams either, as they are making all of the right moves toward their goals.
Lt. Governor Sue Ellspermann closed the IMPACT Awards luncheon by posing a challenge to those in the room. While the nominees in all categories represent some of Indiana’s best talent, the state needs more meaningful internships and talented interns to guarantee continued success.
The success from this year’s winners, however, shows that talent is growing in Indiana at a fast rate. Congratulations to all of our IMPACT Award nominees and winners!
Charisa Scott
College Intern of the Year Charisa Scott dove headfirst into her duties while working at Covance. Scott was given the challenging task of creating a SharePoint site for the Global Client Coordinator Team. The only problem? She had never heard of SharePoint. In her free time, she bought a book about the software and quickly put her newfound skills to use, scheduling meetings with the staff to learn more about how they use SharePoint and creating a mock website for the project. Scott accepted a full-time position with Covance following her internship.
Andrew Kimmel
Andrew Kimmel, while working as an intern at The Children’s Musuem of Indianapolis, compiled a book highlighting the past winners of the Museum’s Power of Children Awards. Kimmel took it one step further by creating his own impact summary to motivate others and remind them of the changes they can have on an organization. Andrew is our Non-Traditional Intern of the Year.
Juan Armendariz
Juan Armendariz, intern at SMC Corporation, is our High School Intern of the Year. Juan wore a lot of hats while at SMC Corporation, specializing in the order-fill process and helping the SMC team see at 6% increase in on-time-to-schedule orders. Juan was a leader not only among the other interns, but with full-time staff members as well. Juan is a student at Noblesville High School.
The IMPACT Awards also honored Baldwin & Lyons, Inc. and the Dekalb Chamber Partnership as Employers of the Year. Both organizations let their interns take a hands-on approach to learning and trusted them with leadership roles.
Ball State University’s Sheryl Swingley is our Career Development Professional of the Year. Swingley’s commitment to the university’s students and dedication to matching them with internships makes her one of a kind. 3,200 internships have been filled under Swingley’s watch. Swingley is currently in her 22nd year at Ball State in the Department of Journalism.
We couldn’t be more proud of this year’s interns and nominees, and look forward to even more next year! Thank you to Ivy Tech, Jennifer Fisher, Lt. Governor Ellspermann and emcee Gerry Dick for helping us all hit the jackpot in internships!
