Ella Martin arrived on the College of Saint Benedict campus already focused on what she wanted her future path to look like.

“I had her as a student in my intro bio class during her first year,” recalls Michael Reagan, a professor in the biology department at CSB and Saint John’s University. “A lot of first-year students are afraid to even talk to their professors. But she approached me and wanted to talk about career stuff.

“Her focus even then was on genetic engineering, and she wanted to make sure the traditional biology major would fit her specific needs. She was already taking the initiative and thinking creatively about her own education at a time when a lot of students are still trying to figure out where their classrooms are.”

Martin – a Bemidji High School graduate – has remained engaged on the task at hand. That includes taking advantage of the Summer Leadership Fellows program, which provides opportunities for students to participate in 10-week summer internship programs with non-profits, government organizations and other groups.

Two summers ago, she was able to create an internship with the Northwoods Battered Women’s Shelter in her hometown. Last year, she completed an internship at CHI St. Joseph’s Heath, a rural hospital in Park Rapids, Minnesota.

“It’s been really helpful to get out in the field and get hands-on experience,” said Martin, who is also a member of the Bonner Leader program, a student naturalist with Outdoor University and one of the recipients of this year’s Presidents’ Student Leadership Awards presented by Iowa and Minnesota Campus Compact.

“Over the past two summers, I feel like I’ve grown a lot in my academics, but also personally and professionally. I’ve gained so much confidence.”

This summer, she’s been able to explore her passion for genetic counseling even more closely thanks to an internship she helped design and create with Essentia Health in Duluth.

It’s an opportunity that came together thanks to a contact of Angie Schmidt Whitney ’97, the executive director of experience and professional development (XPD) at CSB and SJU.

“Ella has always been interested in genetic counseling, but that’s an area that requires an advanced degree. And because of that, genetic counseling internships are pretty rare,” Whitney said. “I had a former colleague who’d left higher education and now works for Essentia in Duluth, which is the geographic area Ella was looking at. I connected her and she took it from there.

“That colleague got back to me to praise Ella because they’d never had an internship like this with an undergraduate before. There was no structure in place, but Ella stuck with it, let them know the funding she had available through our program and made it happen. They got it figured out, and now hopefully that will open the door for other students in the future.”

Martin’s official title is a genetic counseling intern, a position that is allowing her to work with registered nurses (RNs) when it comes to addressing social determinants to health in the maternal-fetal medicine clinic, as well as working with genetic counselors to learn strategies for advising patients about healthcare decisions.

She’s also helping identify opportunities for free testing for patients, as well as shadowing medical professionals working with a wide range of patients facing a number of genetic disorders.

“There are so many different areas involved with genetics and the field is ever-changing,” Martin said. “So it requires life-long learning if you want to make it a career.

“There is testing, so you have the science aspect of it. But there’s also a ton of educational work with patients. So you feel like a teacher in some ways as you work with these families and go over the results and their options with them.”

Reagan said the work Martin is doing this summer will provide her a real edge when it comes to applying for graduate programs in the field.

“It’s very competitive and there aren’t many spots nationally in genetic counseling programs,” he said. “These graduate schools demand hands-on experience working with people because that’s what the profession is. They want to know that’s your thing and Ella is showing pretty clearly it is.”

Martin said the experience is also helping her home in on the specific areas she might like to one day focus on in her career.

“The more I learn and experience about genetic counseling as a whole, the more I love it,” she said. “I’m finding I’m particularly drawn to pediatric genetic counseling. I want to leave my options open, but that’s an area I’ve really enjoyed being involved with.”