Success is not a measure of how high test scores are, but how much knowledge students have retained.

The Cincinnati Eye Institute is an ophthalmology office located in the heart of Blue Ash, which has changed the lives of and fostered seniors Shazia Malik and Naveen Viswanath. The institute gave these two seniors the chance to experience the world of medicine at a young age.

There were 14 students interested in the medical field that were going for the internship, but in the end Malik and Viswanath were the only two selected.

“I didn’t know about the CEI was visiting our school until the day before. My counselor told me about it because he thought I would be interested in it,” Malik said. “He was right.”

This internship gave both Malik and Viswanath the chance to shadow various types of ophthalmologists.

“We did clinical rotations with retina, glaucoma, cataract and cornea specialists,” Viswanath said.

They were able to meet the patients, sit in on procedures and watch surgeries.

Along the way, doctors would explain what was going on during the procedures and the students were allowed to asked questions.

The doctors explained step by step the procedures and the protocol that had to be followed in order to successfully complete the procedure.

“I was interested in this internship because I’ve been curious as to what the typical day is like for a doctor,” Malik said. “I experienced and learned a lot from CEI, any exposure helps.”

This one experience exposed them to one of the many fields of medicine, and while completing the program, they received a 1.5 course credit hour called ocular pharmacology.

“Due to the vast amount of information that we learned, I would definitely use this as one of the stepping stones in order to become a doctor,” Viswanath said.

The clinical experience that they received allowed them to visualize themselves in 10 years when they would be in their residences after Med school.

Both Malik and Viswanath are looking at working in the medical field after college and both agree that this opportunity was worth the time and effort.

“I have never experienced something as surreal as this and I hope that I get the opportunity to do something like this in the future,” Viswanath said.

Making relationships with individuals is essential. Letting these students build relationships with doctors allows them to have a starting point when ready to begin the process of selecting a career.

Another example of two seniors who have changed the game of high school is Samantha Ciricillo and Michael Choi. They took part in a paid engineering internship through Etegent.

“We worked for seven weeks. It was such an awesome experience because I want to be an engineer so I learned about the field was able and to talk to engineers. It was a worthwhile experience,” senior Samantha Ciricillo said.

Their job was to manage data given to Etegent using a program called NLign.

“We worked with #D views of a part and assigned the defects that were seen on paper onto the CAD model,” Choi said.

They also had the opportunity to see the engineering industry close up and to work with a program that is also used by the USAP, Boeing and other big names.

“Even though we were assigned to one division of the firm, a lot of other cool stuff was happening only a few meters away,” Choi said.

For example, there was a 3D printer that was kept only two cubicles away from Choi where individuals were making small models and then to the left of that was a robotics lab.

Getting involved with any type of internship will assist every individual in building a better resume.

To truly succeed, people need to get hands-on experience with an intended major.  Internships are an efficient means to learn the way around the job and gain mentors.