North Shore Healthcare provides services ranging from skilled nursing to assisted living, short-term rehabilitation to home health and hospice, and brain injury rehabilitation. With 70 centers in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, and North Dakota, it is the largest provider of post-acute care in the Upper Midwest.
Last summer, Polytechnic M.S. applied industrial/organizational psychology graduate student Aranthza Gonzalez completed an internship in learning and development at . Support Center in Milwaukee, where she worked on the corporate side of the organization, supporting initiatives across multiple health care facilities through services such as learning and development, human resources and operational strategy.
Gonzalez . path into applied industrial and organizational psychology was shaped by her experiences at organizations from several different perspectives – from serving in the military to working directly with people in health care to now working within learning and development at the organizational level.
“Those experiences have made me especially interested in the connection between the people making organizational decisions and the people carrying them out every day. My internship reinforced that even something developed behind the scenes – whether it is a training program, communication, process or leadership resource – can ultimately influence an employee . experience and the culture of an organization,” she said.
Gonzalez plans to graduate in May 2027 and hopes to continue building her career in learning and development or people and culture, particularly in roles where she can support employee development, leadership, workplace culture and organizational effectiveness.
“Long term, I want to continue growing into positions where I can help shape organizational practices and ensure that the employee perspective remains part of the decisions being made,” she said.
As part of the university . degree requirements, all students are required to complete an internship, co-op or field experience. These additional applied learning components are part of the reason why 99% of recent graduates were employed or continuing their education within six months of graduation, and 77.4% of spring 2026 graduates were hired prior to graduation.
What interests you most about your M.S. AIOP degree?
What interests me most about applied industrial and organizational psychology is understanding how organizations can create environments where people are able to perform well, grow and feel supported.
My background includes serving in the U.S. Navy and working in frontline health care, so I have experienced firsthand how leadership, communication, training and workplace culture can affect employees. I enjoy being able to take those experiences and connect them with research and psychology to help improve the workplace from an organizational perspective.
What were your main internship roles at North Shore Health?
My roles included supporting leadership and employee development, creating training resources, developing implementation and tracking tools, analyzing competency data and helping coordinate learning initiatives across multiple facilities.
Every day looked different. I collaborated with executive leaders, built learning resources, developed dashboards, analyzed data, and supported organization-wide projects that strengthened employee development. Coming from a hands-on health care background, it was a full-circle experience to see how the work happening at the Support Center empowers frontline teams to provide exceptional resident care.
What interested you in interning with North Shore Health?
I was especially interested in the opportunity at North Shore Health . Support Center because of my previous experience working directly with patients and clients in health care settings. Moving into the Support Center allowed me to see the other side of health care – how learning and development, people and culture, and organizational leadership support the employees doing frontline work.
It was a full-circle opportunity to connect my professional experience with what I am learning through my I/O psychology program.
What did you enjoy most about your internship?
I enjoyed being trusted with projects that had a real purpose and could be used across the organization. It was rewarding to create tools or resources and then see them implemented by leaders and employees at multiple facilities.
I also really valued learning how decisions and resources developed at the Support Center eventually reach frontline employees. Having been a frontline worker myself, that connection was especially meaningful to me.
My favorite part was knowing the work I completed wasn’t temporary. I was able to contribute to projects designed to have a lasting impact. I learned that meaningful organizational change starts with strong collaboration and thoughtful planning.
What were two projects you worked on or helped with?
One of my largest projects supported the implementation of a new resident-safety framework across multiple facilities. I developed project-management tools, competency tracking systems, Microsoft Forms, Excel dashboards, and reporting processes to help facilities monitor implementation and identify areas where additional training or support were needed.
I also developed an Emotional Intelligence Skills Series for employees and leaders. The series provided practical resources around areas such as self-awareness, communication, relationship building, coaching and navigating difficult workplace conversations.
How did you face challenges within your internship?
One challenge was supporting multiple facilities virtually while recognizing that each location had its own workload, priorities and needs. I couldn't simply create a process and assume it would work the same way everywhere.
That experience taught me to listen, communicate clearly, simplify processes when possible and consider the perspective of the employees responsible for carrying them out. It reinforced that successful organizational change depends just as much on people as it does on the process itself.
How do you hope to make an impact in your field?
As both a veteran and someone who has worked in frontline health care, I understand how much the decisions made at the administrative and leadership levels can affect the people doing the work every day.
I want to help organizations recognize the importance of psychological safety and understand how leadership, communication, training and organizational practices shape workplace culture. I hope to contribute to workplaces where employees feel safe speaking up, asking questions, learning from mistakes and contributing their ideas. To me, supporting employees is not separate from organizational performance – it is part of creating a stronger and more sustainable organization.
Do you think your courses and experiences at Stout will help you make that impact?
Absolutely. Polytechnic has helped me connect my military and professional experiences with the research and science behind workplace behavior. My coursework has strengthened my understanding of research, organizational development, occupational health psychology, interpersonal effectiveness and employee development.
The applied nature of the M.S. AIOP program has stood out most. Through class projects and my internship, I have had opportunities to move beyond learning concepts and actually use them to evaluate workplace needs, develop resources, analyze information and recommend practical solutions.
