When Davion Pendleton finished his junior year in high school and was accepted for a paid internship at the Kaiser Permanente Vacaville Medical Center Trauma Department, he wasn’t completely sold on a career in health care.
The 2019 KP LAUNCH internship sealed the deal.
Pendleton, who earned a degree in biochemistry and molecular biology from UC Santa Cruz, recently was accepted to 5 medical schools. He chose UC Irvine School of Medicine where he will begin studying in the fall.
“That internship was one of the more formative experiences of my life so far,” said Pendleton, who is the first person in his family to go to college and the first to work in health care. “I am a Black person, and I was surrounded by physicians and nurses who look like me and who are underrepresented in health care. That was the number one thing. Those people faced the same historical obstacles I faced.”
More than 300 interns in 2025
This month, more than 300 high school and college students started paid internships at Kaiser Permanente Northern California hospitals, and medical and administrative offices. This experience aims to inspire more young people to think about careers in health care.
“Davion’s experience is exactly what we are hoping for when our interns spend a summer with Kaiser Permanente,” said KP LAUNCH Supervising Consultant Barry Dinkins. “We work to support young people in Northern California communities to reach their goals.”
College students and recent graduates work 32 to 40 hours a week, mostly in non-clinical settings for 8 weeks. Ten hours a week are devoted to professional development. The high school students shadow doctors and nurses in health care settings for 7 weeks.
This is the 57th year of KP LAUNCH. More than 3,000 students applied for the popular internships. The main priorities are to introduce young people to careers in health care, build leadership skills, teach practical job skills, and encourage them to pursue higher education and career development.
A letter Pendleton recently wrote to his mentors from the Kaiser Permanente Vacaville Trauma Department articulates the lasting impact the internships can have on young people.
“That experience not only opened my eyes to the realities of medicine, but it also showed me that I could truly thrive in it,” Pendleton wrote. “Thank you again for welcoming me into your space and for the support you offered me along the way. I’ll never forget where this started, and I look forward to staying connected.”
