While an internship with one of the area’s leading healthcare providers might sound like something severely limited for prospective interns, Fayetteville State University (FSU) has partnered with the medical group to expand the possibilities for student interns across multiple majors and interests. 

Started in the summer of 2022 as part of an agreement made between FSU Chancellor Darrell T. Allison and CFVH CEO Michael Nagowski, the Cape Fear Valley Health (CFVH) internship program is a semester-long non-clinical internship offered through Fayetteville State University to their students. This internship matches students in different majors with vacancies in different departments within CFVH to provide them with hands-on opportunities to learn the actual positions that will be available to them in their fields. 

“Students that are eligible to be part of the program are those who are juniors or seniors, and they have to be on the non-clinical side. So we've sent people to their purchasing department, some have done their marketing or HR or their payroll, or even helping out with the physical therapy department,” shared Rachel Townsend, internship coordinator in the FSU Career Services Center. 

For students who may not have a set path or varied skills, organizers of the program work with them to try to match them with the best team for their internship. 

“We typically recruit up to 12 interns for each cohort, and then we reach out to our leaders at Cape Fear Valley, ask them if they are willing to have an intern [be] part of their department,” shared DeVanté Monds, campus recruitment manager for CFVH. “Of course, sometimes with our interns, they may not know where they want to go, and we look at their skills, and what they can be successful in, and then we pair them in a certain department.” 

The CFVH FSU Internship is a course offered to FSU students each semester for a total of 120 hours. As students train they are also assigned a supplemental project due at the end of the semester to share what they’ve learned. 

“We do require them to have a project at the end of the semester to talk about their time as an intern. I know for myself, when I was an intern [not related to the CFVH FSU program], it was just kind of grabbing coffee and filing some paperwork. But we don't want that to be the case for our interns. We want it to be as interactive as possible, want them to gain that experience, to have that foot in the door,” shared Monds. 

The internship not only provides hands-on work experience, but also connects students with a potential future employer. Some interns go on to work for CFVH full time after graduating. 

“We've actually had a student hired to work for Cape Fear Valley Health after their internship from every cohort, at least one. Sometimes we've had multiple, but for every cohort, we've had at least one student that was then offered a full time job. It's been a very strong partnership,” shared Townsend. 

A virtual information session led by Monds and Human Resources Project Manager for CFVH Allyson VanderWeide has been scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 18 from 5:30-6 p.m. You can reach out to dmonds@capefearvalley.com or amcclain@capefearvalley.com for more information and register by using the QR code below.]