This past summer, Angela Abellana spent 10 weeks as a finance intern at Adventist Health Lodi Memorial. From July to September, she shadowed and observed finance meetings, learned about healthcare administration, and reviewed many spreadsheets. Her duties focused on preparing daily reports and sending them to hospital leaders. She also worked independently on projects and saw how business and finance apply in the real world by collaborating with HR, marketing, pharmacy finance, patient access, and the therapy department. 

When Angela was a sophomore last school year, she applied for an interview with Adventist Health when they visited PUC for internship and residency interviews. “All my life, I thought I would become a doctor, but life had its ways of leading me to study business and potentially law in the future,” she said. “With that, I was interested in experiencing working at a hospital, but on the business side of it rather than the clinical side.” 

Now a junior majoring in accounting and music, the internship helped Angela figure out what career path she might want to take. As she realized the business field can take her in many directions, she spoke with leaders who graduated with degrees different from the work they do now. From their experiences, she’s learned to experience more than what her degree offers and not limit herself to what she’s studied. 

“This internship benefits my remaining years here at PUC by giving me an idea of what my classes are supposed to teach me,” Angela said. “I used to think that my classes were just requirements for me to get my degree, but now I realize that these classes are what prepare me for my future job.” 

Which task did you enjoy the most, and which was the hardest? 

I really enjoyed working with Excel, such as organizing and creating spreadsheets for department leaders. I struggled to keep up during finance meetings where they reviewed financial statements and discussed volume and revenue because they used a lot of finance terms that I hadn’t learned or encountered yet.

What specific new skills have you learned during your internship? 

I learned a lot more about Excel. I also learned how to write basic SQL statements used in Excel. I also learned how to polish my resume and LinkedIn. I learned how to present and lead meetings, especially without losing my own voice.

What is the most surprising thing you learned about this industry so far? 

The most surprising thing I learned about this industry is how many administrative staff work in a hospital. I used to think there were more clinical staff, but during my time at Adventist Health, I was surrounded mostly by administrative staff. That made sense because they keep the hospital running by managing finances, employees, patients, billing, and more. Clinical employees interact with patients, and administrative employees are like the invisible force that keeps the hospital running.

Is there a specific class you’ve taken at PUC that helped prepare you for the tasks you’re doing during your internship?

My Accounting, Spreadsheets, and Principles of Information Systems classes have prepared me for the tasks I did during my internship. The accounting principles I learned helped me understand the financial statements we reviewed. Spreadsheets helped me a lot, especially when I worked with Excel every day. The concepts I learned in Principles of Information Systems helped me understand the database they used and how it worked. 

How does the work you are doing during your internship differ from the assignments you complete at PUC? 

The work I did during my internship differed significantly from the assignments I completed at PUC. Learning concepts and theories is always different from applying them in a real-life context. The concept was there, but context also matters. Usually, school assignments and projects come with specific instructions from the professor. In the real world, you may not get detailed, step-by-step instructions for completing a task. 

Has your internship experience changed what you want to do after graduation?

It definitely gave me a different perspective and opened new opportunities I hadn’t considered after graduation. I still want to pursue law after graduation, but who knows what the future holds.