Christopher Piccirillo

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281 Raleigh Street Chapel Hill, NC 27514

Telephone: (919)-709-2949

Email: christopher.pic77@gmail.com

Dear Selection Committee,

I am writing to apply for the administrative internship position offered over the summer at UNC hospitals.  Immediately upon being introduced to this opportunity by my English professor, I knew that I wanted to apply, as it suits my passion for medicine, my teamwork and communication skills, as well as my career goal of working as a doctor overseas.

Currently I am a freshman on the pre-med track at UNC at Chapel Hill pursuing a B.S. in chemistry as well as a B.A. in German.  I am passionate about languages and communication as I feel that effective communication skills can improve any system, especially the fast-paced medical system within hospitals.  This internship would allow me to understand and work in the administrative part of the medical field, gaining a more holistic view of communication in medicine.  This would improve the way I relate to patients in my future medical career.

I am familiar with the demands and responsibilities of an administrative position and I feel that I would be a valuable asset for the administration of any department.  As President of my high school I was often tasked with the responsibility of writing surveys and collecting data about the effectiveness of various administrative efforts.  It was my role to then organize this data into a visual display and present it to the principal team.  As a result, I am proficient in Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint, necessary knowledge in any position, but especially in an administrative position.  This experience and skill set acquired in my role as School President will allow me to effectively convey the results of the study I will conduct during the internship via an end-of-summer presentation to my department.  Data analysis, however, is not the only form of communication my high school experience prepared me for.

As an orator at school functions and member of the school debating team for three years, my verbal communication skills have been well fostered.  Administration consists heavily of communication of expectations and instructions to colleagues, and the more experienced one is in the ability to communicate verbally, the more effective one’s administrative techniques are.  However, while oral communication is crucial in administration, without teamwork even the most effective communication may break down.

While in high school, I participated in a number of activities that challenged me to develop my teamwork skills to a high degree.  During state-wide debate competitions, my team and I were given the topic of the debate an hour before.  In 60 minutes, it was our job to break down the topic into separate, more manageable issues, distribute these among each speaker and then write a draft of our speeches.  Under such stressful conditions, my team was able to reach the position of top eighth in the state.  Three years on the debate team has prepared me well for working in teams and has developed my ability to be personable, cooperative and reason on the spot, even under pressure. Such skills are coveted in an administrative setting as they enhance efficiency and team cohesiveness, despite the often stressful environment so common in hospitals.

While on my High School’s Chemistry Titration Team, I was able to enhance my teamwork skills in a formal lab setting, and was given the opportunity to develop a strong sense of administrative laboratory experience.  In organizing and leading titration team practice, I became familiar with the demands of lab administration: understanding and being aware of everyone in the lab and each of their separate tasks and the proper procedures that they should adhere to.  At times it was challenging, but it allowed me to broaden my teamwork and administrative ability to a real world setting.  This is exactly the reason I am applying for this internship – to enhance my developing skill set in a more practical setting that allows me to benefit a system which enthuses me.

Through this internship I hope to gain valuable insight into the behind the scenes administrative work necessary to support any medical system.  After medical school, I am planning on practicing medicine overseas, where availability of medical supplies and personnel are sparse and I expect that the administrative experience gained from this internship would equip me well for such a task.

I thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Christopher Piccirillo

Undergraduate at UNC-CH School of Arts and Sciences

Connor #413

Chapel Hill, NC 27514