Ciarra Davis:
If Ciarra Davis does not drop out of college, she secured an internship with Columbus Public Health (CPH) this summer that will last until graduation.
Davis said that a weird chain of events last spring lead her to speak with the director of CPH’s LGBT section, who then assigned her a position in their sexual health lab.
There, for 13 hours a week, the sophomore conducts tests for HIV and Hepatitis C, while also doing slide stains for gonorrhea, trichomoniasis, and yeast infections.
Davis must also pour urine into tubes, but did I mention this internship pays $13 an hour?
“In class, you really only learn how to do specific stains or tests, but the actual lab really puts the whole picture together of what you’re doing in a clinical setting,” Davis said. “There’s a lot of paperwork you’re not aware of. You have to make sure everything is labeled correctly. And the way our clinic is set up, you actually see some of the patients that walk in, so there’s all kinds of HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) guidelines. There are other certifications, called CLEA (Clinical Legal Education Association), that make sure the lab is running correctly up to standard.”
Seeing as Davis recently changed her major from biology/pre-med to psychology, she hopes that learning practical lab applications will help her be a more informed psychologist.
“I think there’s still an application of biology to psychology,” Davis said. “Getting to be on the other side of running the tests and seeing how everything works is cool.”
Though Davis aims to be a clinical psychologist who helps LGBT youth accept themselves, she is thrilled to be working with CPH for the long-term.
Mark Bartus:
The next time an Ohio State Football halftime show airs, keep your eyes peeled for Capital sophomore Mark Bartus. This summer he auditioned for The Best Damn Band in the Land and earned one of 14 spots on the snare line.
Bartus said he was overwhelmed when he learned he had made the cut. However, this news should not have come as a great surprise. To have an advantage over his 32 competitors, Bartus opted to spend the summer in Columbus instead of his hometown, Pittsburgh.
“Obviously, I was glad that I didn’t waste my entire summer. But I was also very thankful because I knew a lot of talented people tried out,” Bartus said.
Accepting the spot came with a lot of commitments. Bartus must now attend two-hour practices Monday through Friday, while his Saturdays are booked solid for the next three months.
“It’s going to be worth it, playing for one of the best collegiate bands, though I’m definitely stressing out thinking about how I’m going to balance band and school,” Bartus said.
Not many people realize students attending other schools may try out if their respective school does not have a marching band. And while one may think “playing for the other team” is a bad thing, Bartus said fitting in with other members has not been an issue.
“I get a lot of ‘you don’t even go here’ jokes, but I know they understand I’m putting in the time, just as everyone else,” Bartus said.
Matt Heim:
Google search “Matt Heim AND “America’s Got Talent””and see what you find.
This past July, Heim, a sophomore music technology major and percussionist, made it to “AGT” Quarterfinals as a band act with vocalist/ukulelist Olivia Millerschin and guitarist Sammy Affer.
Heim and Millerschin began playing together regularly their junior year of high school. They chose to audition for “AGT” only after a talent scout discovered Millerschin on YouTube, said Heim.
Asked to describe their sound, Heim said they tend to take an indie-folk approach to their music and rely on unique instrumentation.
They began their eight month journey last November with screening auditions. The following February, their first televised audition consisted of a folksy cover of Bastille’s “Pompeii.”
The judges all said “Yes.”
“You see the judges on TV all the time, but when you walk out on stage and their faces are 30 feet in front of you, it’s pretty cool,” Heim said. “It was really neat to get positive feedback from Howard Stern and Howie Mandel.”
Matt described the next round, Judgment Week, as a musician’s boot camp, where periods of waiting, interviewing, and intense practicing consumed their lives. An acoustic indie cover of OutKast’s “Hey Ya” was strong enough to send them to the Quarterfinals.
Having made it to the top 48, the trio was sent to “AGT” music sessions in Los Angeles. There, they prepared to play Queen’s “Fat Bottomed Girls” for their Radio City Music Hall debut.
Heim said they it gave their best. However, they did not receive enough audience votes to be sent to the Semifinals. Matt Franco, a magician who performed in The Mezz last year, was sent instead.
“We were sent home, but…we weren’t heartbroken by any means. Honestly, it was a great experience,” Heim said. “We were honored to have done it. And it was totally fun.”
Lynn Tancak:
Lynn Tancak worked as a public relations/publicity intern for NBC Universal’s cable division− what did you do this summer?
A junior PR/Electronic Media and Film dual-major, Tancak spent two months working for Universal Cable Productions (UCP), the studio that produces shows for USA Network and Syfy.
Tancak said, if not for Capital EMF professor Betsy Pike, she wouldn’t have thought to apply. She said she had little hope of landing such a sought-after internship.
One of Tancak’s tasks involved creating a press list to send to appropriate media sites. She was also present for the launch of UCP’s Instagram and Twitter accounts, which allowed her to work alongside a third party social media company.
Perhaps the biggest task assigned to Tancak was helping coordinate the Television Critic Association’s Press Tour, a two-day conference held at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif.
Tancak’s boss even fell sick, leaving her with the responsibility to send out UCP’s press release for Comic Con to media connects at specific times.
Needless to say, her job came with some perks, from attending the Emmy nominations to reserving a table for Jason Isaacs (Lucius Malfoy) to sneaking into Universal Studios. As for living 25 minutes out of Los Angeles, Tancak said “it was fun to play house” with her boyfriend of six years, Matt, who conveniently landed an internship of his own in the area.
“I cannot project how awesome this experience was,” Tancak said. “The entire trip was seamless. It’s definitely made me more confident with the idea of moving away one day.”
Tancak hopes to spend next summer interning for NBC again to see exactly where she fits within the TV industry.
