COOK Medical
My first BME co-op was with Cook Medical in Bloomington, Indiana. I was a bit nervous at first because I was going to be away from school, I didn't know anyone there, and I was the youngest co-op in the company. The first day, I found out that I would be working with regulatory engineering in the Asian Pacific engineering team (APAC). My basic responsibilities at work were age testing of medical devices for re-registration in Japan and China. This entailed accelerated aging articles, writing protocols, testing aged articles, writing reports based on the results of those test, and re-registering those products in the APAC region, mostly in China and Japan. I grew a lot professionally because a lot of my job entailed asking questions and working with a wide variety of people within different departments in the company. All of my projects and professional growth were compiled at the end into a capstone presentation that I presented to a group of over 40 fellow employees including other co-ops, team leaders, managers, and more. Even though I learned a lot and grew a lot in the workplace, a lot of my growth and memories came during my time away from work.
As I stated earlier, I was very tentative coming into my first co-op. I was the youngest co-op and did not know any of the other 16 co-ops before I arrived on day 1. However, I was not going to let that get in the way of making friends and truly enjoying my time in Bloomington. Right away on day 1, I met Owen Stone. He is a University of Louisville student (Don't hold it against him) and is also in the PIKE chapter down there. I overheard him say this so right away, I was able to go up, introduce myself, and share that common ground with him. My worries were eased a bit. Throughout the first few weeks, I grew closer with him and many other co-ops. Every Tuesday, all the co-ops would go bowling together. We also went for ice cream very often and even tried the Bub's 1 pound burger challenge. Another very cool thing that a small group of us did was start a "dinner" club (Owen, John, and Louis). Monday thru Thursday, each of us would cook a meal for the other three. I learned a lot about cooking and was able to perfect at least 10 dishes that I still prepare for myself a lot at school. We also played sand volleyball a lot, went out for dinners, watched movies together, and much more. I also worked out a lot (I know that is surprising) with Owen and John. We would go in at 6 A.M. to the COOK gym before work everyday and did P-90 X type workouts. These small things really helped us all grow close and made the time in Bloomington a lot of fun. The year finished off with a gift exchange right before we all left for Christmas.
As I stated earlier, I was very tentative coming into my first co-op. I was the youngest co-op and did not know any of the other 16 co-ops before I arrived on day 1. However, I was not going to let that get in the way of making friends and truly enjoying my time in Bloomington. Right away on day 1, I met Owen Stone. He is a University of Louisville student (Don't hold it against him) and is also in the PIKE chapter down there. I overheard him say this so right away, I was able to go up, introduce myself, and share that common ground with him. My worries were eased a bit. Throughout the first few weeks, I grew closer with him and many other co-ops. Every Tuesday, all the co-ops would go bowling together. We also went for ice cream very often and even tried the Bub's 1 pound burger challenge. Another very cool thing that a small group of us did was start a "dinner" club (Owen, John, and Louis). Monday thru Thursday, each of us would cook a meal for the other three. I learned a lot about cooking and was able to perfect at least 10 dishes that I still prepare for myself a lot at school. We also played sand volleyball a lot, went out for dinners, watched movies together, and much more. I also worked out a lot (I know that is surprising) with Owen and John. We would go in at 6 A.M. to the COOK gym before work everyday and did P-90 X type workouts. These small things really helped us all grow close and made the time in Bloomington a lot of fun. The year finished off with a gift exchange right before we all left for Christmas.