Internship Seminar Lead by Passport Health
Baltimore, MD—04/26/2010—Passport Health’s Corporate Director of Business Development and Marketing, Jorge Castillo, lead a seminar about the importance of Internship Programs and collaboration between university systems and public and private business sectors at the World Trade Center Institute (WTCI) in Baltimore on Tuesday April 20th, 2010. WTCI is hosting a delegation of young professionals from the Republic of Serbia from the regions of Belgrade, Nis, and Novi Sad. The delegation is sponsored by USAID (United States Agency of International Development) and will be in the U.S. for three weeks. All members of the delegation are professors, directors, pedagogues, and psychologists that are active in the area of employment, career guidance and counseling as well as leaders in local associations and organizations.
The seminar’s main objective was to provide the Serbian delegation with an insight into the private sector of the US economy and learn how businesses as well as students benefit from establishing successful internship programs. “Most questions raised during the seminar were inquiries about how to market internship programs to make them more attractive to employers as well as current students and graduates,” said Mr. Castillo. “In Serbia, internship programs are not well developed and they are not perceived as important neither by the business sector nor by university students.”
Passport Health’s seminar as well as other events during the time the delegation is here in Baltimore will aid them in finding solutions to bridge the gap and help both employers as well as job seekers realize the importance of internships.
Mr. Castillo spoke to the Serbian delegation about implementing internship programs and their importance in the work environment for students/graduates as well as employers. Passport Health, the largest provider of travel medical services and immunizations in the United States, has an exceptional internship program that Mr. Castillo developed over the last few years. All past and present interns at Passport Health have gained valuable working experience and have made significant contributions to Passport Health’s team at the company’s headquarters in Baltimore.
Mr. Castillo invited two members of his marketing team to join the seminar. Erin Duffy, who is one of the current Marketing and Sales Interns, as well as Tammy Broghammer, who started out as an intern in the spring of 2009 and was recently hired as the company’s Marketing Coordinator. Both provided insight regarding their own experiences and the value gained from their internships.
“I was honored to be asked to assist the Serbian delegation in understanding key strategies to unify universities and business as it relates to developing meaningful internship programs,” added Castillo. “An intern needs more than to learn how to file paper and enter data. They need to be given a meaningful purpose, cutting edge learning opportunities, evocative reading material and hands-on experience to feel challenged and inspired. The best way to do that is to set specific learning objectives and goals for their tenure. I run our internship program like a graduate business school module,” he concluded.
Passport Health has attracted top talent from business schools like The Joseph A. Sellinger School of Business and Management at Loyola University (Castillo’s M.B.A. alma mater), Towson University’s College of Business and Economics, The Alfred Lerner College of Business & Economics at University of Delaware, The School of Graduate Studies at Morgan State University, The Robert H. Smith School of Business and the School of Nursing at The University of Maryland College Park among others.
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Our nationwide staff is comprised of professionals that include board-certified physicians and registered nurses who have completed rigorous training in the field of travel medicine and immunology. We currently operate 170 locations in 36 states. Passport Health’s services include adult and adolescent immunizations for business and leisure travel, college, immigration, military readiness, disaster relief, and bioterrorism response. Our on-site services for employers and schools include onsite clinics for Flu, Meningitis, and more. Passport Health has provided anthrax vaccinations and smallpox vaccination training and has worked with the US military, Post Office, and Federal employees and currently runs a 24/7 immunization call center for the Department of Defense.
About the World Trade Center Institute: The World Trade Center Institute (WTCI) is the largest international business network of its kind in the Mid-Atlantic – a who’s who of the top global business executives in the region.
At WTCI we strive to drive the growth of Maryland’s flourishing global business community. Today more than 2,500 Maryland firms benefit from WTCI’s global connections, events, and extensive international business services.
WTCI was established in 1989. Financed jointly by area businesses and the State of Maryland, WTCI operates as a private, non-profit membership organization.
