KP LAUNCH Intern – Nicklaus Pio, Nursing Health Education and Continuing Care

What drew me into the KP LAUNCH college internship program is the emphasis on diversifying healthcare. As a first-generation student going to college, I knew that experience is essential to thrive in the healthcare field. I truly believe this was the perfect internship to achieve this goal. I am a third-year undergraduate student studying Speech Language Pathology at University of the Pacific and I noticed the lack of diversity in this profession. In addition, KP Launch breaks this cycle by bringing opportunities for first generation students like me to thrive in networking and learning a variety of different tasks to further my professionalism and aspirations for healthcare. The essential skills for speech pathologists to have would be compassion, organization and interpersonal skills and public speaking skills. These skills I have learned throughout my internship in Nursing Health Education and Continuing Care.
One of my favorite parts about the KP Launch program is meeting the people. The other interns and employees all have a profound story to tell with big aspirations. The Kaiser Permanente employees want to see their interns succeed and that is a big reason why I love this program. This internship has made a positive impact on the amount of respect I have for Kaiser Permanente and healthcare in general. This company has an organized system to provide the best healthcare for their patients. My ultimate goal is to become a Speech Language Pathologist for Kaiser Permanente and KP Launch provided me a step closer to this dream career. I cannot wait to take on what I have learned in this wonderful internship program and apply it to my career. I want to take what I have learned throughout my internships at Continuing Care and Nursing Health Education and take it to the highest level I can. Thank you KP Launch for believing in me, the journey has been everything I ever wanted in an internship program.