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From left: Jennifer van der Meer, Erin Jackson '07
and Christine Deussen '90
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Erin
Jackson '07
There's
no better time than summer for students to experience the
professions they might like to pursue after graduation. Last
summer, Erin Jackson '07 did just that. As one of 30 students
awarded a $3000 internship grant through the Trust Entrepreneurial
Internship Program (TEIP is funded by a multi-year grant to
Barnard by the Trust Family Foundation), Jackson went to work
as an intern with the Connecticut Veterinary Center in West
Hartford.
Jackson's
hope was to develop some understanding of the economics of
running a veterinary practice—she plans to become a veterinary
scientist. "The overhead is so high and the necessity
of the cost isn't as obvious to many consumers as it is when
considering human treatment," Jackson said. Both the
internship and the full-year TEIP, which includes workshops
and seminars on entrepreneurship, and post internship panels
and networking events, helped the student hone her plans for
the future, and more carefully consider the feasibility of
running her own veterinary practice.
As part
of the TEIP award, this spring Jackson entered TEIP's business
plan competition. Her project, named "Safe and Savvy,
DVM," is, as Jackson describes it, "a modern hospital
for educated pet owners, pet owners in search of education,
and pets in search of owners." Such an enterprise, she
explains, is based on the idea that a new generation of pet
owners will be smart, eco-friendly, technologically astute,
busy, and, most importantly, completely in love with their
animals. Much of her work experience from last summer informed
the project.
On May
2, Jackson was awarded first prize in the competition. The
judges—alumna Christine Deussen '90, President of Deussen
Global Communications, an international marketing firm specializing
in wine and spirits and cause and corporate communications,
and Jennifer van der Meer, a product innovation consultant,
writer, entrepreneur, and Chair of o2NYC, a green design association—were
so impressed that they awarded a larger than usual prize to
Jackson as incentive for her to implement the plan ($3500
rather than $3000).
"Writing
my plan forced me to consider many things I never had before,
such as taxes and workers comp insurance and property maintenance
fees," she says. Jackson is confident this yearlong experience
will play an important part in achieving her future goals.
--Dimitra
Kessenides
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