First Insurance Funding (A Wintrust Company) has been a Corporate Work Study Partner of CRSM since 2007. Currently, First Insurance employs five Cristo Rey St. Martin students, four in Office Services, and one in the Marketing Department.
Our Corporate Work Study Program (CWSP) coordinators recently sent out a questionnaire to our business partners, asking them what goals they had for their student interns, and how the students will reach those goals. Not expecting a formal plan or goal oriented assignment, Lori Bell from Corporate Work Study was pleased to hear from Blanca Vasquez at First Insurance Funding that she was creating and implementing SMART Goals for her student interns.
Traditionally, SMART Goals are to be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time Sensitive. Each student in Blanca’s Officer Services department was given a specific goal based on something that they previously struggled with or needed to complete for their job. For example, Yahir, a senior at CRSM, was given the goal of: BAI Courses – Individually Productivity Enhancement and Time Management. Following this was the SMART acronym drawn out in steps of when, why, and how to achieve this goal. SMART goals are to be completed by the end of the school year, challenging students to focus their efforts toward improving their work performance. As an extra measure of motivation for our students, Blanca encourages other First Insurance employees to recognize students’ achievements with awards and certificates of recognition to celebrate and reinforce meeting their goals.
In addition to working with our students directly, Blanca takes the time to acclimate the interns to the rest of First Insurance Funding as soon as they begin working there, by featuring each in the company’s newsletter, “First Things First”, sharing their hobbies, favorite movies, and other fun facts about each.
Thank you to Blanca Vasquez and First Insurance Funding for taking these extra steps to help our students thrive and become purposeful professionals!