Luther sophomore Ces interns at the Tabaco City Health Unit

Following the footsteps of a public health nurse, Luther sophomore Charles Ian Ces of Tabaco City, Philippines, spent four weeks of his summer as an intern at the Tabaco City Health Unit.

Ces, son of Ana and Jimuel Ces, is a 2014 graduate of the Engineering Science Education Program at Tabaco National High School and also received International Baccalaureate Program Bilingual Diploma from United World College of the Atlantic in Wales, United Kingdom in 2016. He plans to graduate from Luther College in 2020 with majors in mathematics and physics.

The Tabaco City Health Unit sends out public health nurses to each barangay, a village within a city, who are often responsible for a population of at least 2,000 people. Shadowing a public health nurse and assisting with the programs for adolescent parents and blood donation, Ces witnessed the challenges in providing medical assistance in Tabaco City. In addition to the limited supply of medicine and medical staff, he explained that “the unfavorable weather can pose challenges for public health nurses, especially those assigned to remote and upland regions.” Nurses in Tabaco City must have “resilience, patience and perseverance” to meet these obstacles to providing health services, Ces said.

Correlating with his mathematics and physics majors, Ces amplified his passion for scientific research through his internship. Speaking with a doctor towards the end of the summer, he discovered that the two major health problems in the city are the drug-resistant Tuberculosis bacteria and the long process of obtaining HIV test results. After graduating from Luther, Ces hopes to become a biochemical engineer to combat public health issues.

Approximately 10 percent of Luther students take an internship for academic credit each academic year. The Luther College Career Center assists students with their internship search through resume preparation, networking, online internship searches, career fairs, on-campus interviewing, and connecting the student to alumni through the college’s Alumni Internship Program. Students also meet with a faculty adviser prior to the internship to create an internship learning plan that includes learning goals and assessment benchmarks.An internship work supervisor assists in the process by writing an evaluation of the student at the end of the internship. Students also complete a self-reflection form to help finalize the learning experience.

A national liberal arts college with an enrollment of 2,050, Luther offers an academic curriculum that leads to the Bachelor of Arts degree in more than 60 majors and pre-professional programs. For more information about Luther visit the college’s website: http://www.luther.edu.