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Seniors tout value of internships
October 19, 2007
By now, the Daily Flyer ads and posters around campus have alerted students to Wednesday and Thursday’s Fall Career, Internship and Graduate Programs Fair in the lower level of the University Center.
At the annual fair, students can network with potential employers, learn more about career and internship opportunities and explore the requirements of local graduate programs. Employers attend the fair with the intent to hire employees and interns.
Two seniors whole-heartedly endorse interning as a valuable and necessary experience. Troy Andrade and Allen Unzelman spent the summer interning in Washington, D.C. – Andrade in a senator’s office and Unzelman at a nonprofit public interest law firm. It was the second internship experience for each, and the rewards, they said, are endless.
“The things I learned there, I didn’t learn in class. You can’t learn in class,” Andrade said.
Unzleman echoed the sentiment. While college courses teach theories, internships provide real-world application and enable students to develop skills that can’t be taught in the classroom.
For example, while working at the Institute for Justice, Unzelman would be asked to find a decades-old documents, such as the minutes from a city council meeting held 30 years ago. He would have to figure out how and where to find such a document.
“You’re not taught how to do that in school, but you must know how to do it,” Unzelman said. “You learn as you go and teach yourself because that’s what you must do that in real life.”
The annual fair is a good place to begin your search for an internship. Andrade found his first internship with the Pierce County juvenile court at the fair. He credits this first experience – and the connections he made there – with getting him his second in U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka’s office this past summer.
Internships provide valuable networking opportunities, Andrade said. Those networking contacts come in handy when applying for future jobs, be it through letters of recommendation or by using their own connections to help.
Andrade’s experience is a perfect example: his first internship helped him land his second, and his second internship helped land him a job as a policy advisor in the Hawaiian legislature, which he’ll start after he graduates this December.
In Akaka’s office, Andrade was one of three interns. Instead of the requisite “paper pushing” that accompanies most D.C. internships, Andrade said he spent little to no time filing, making copies or stuffing envelopes.
“The senator I worked for wanted all the interns to have a great experience doing everything,” Andrade said.
Andrade shadowed Akaka and members of his staff, and spent most of his time with the senator’s press secretary. He also wrote policies, letters and statements, drafted amendments and participated in seminars hosted by members of Congress and the Bush administration.
“This was a once in a lifetime shot,” Andrade said. “I got to meet a lot of people.”
Likewise, Unzelman didn’t suffer the mundane duties most undergraduate interns face in D.C. Over his 15-week internship, he was spent most of his time researching issues and writing summaries. Since his supervisors always explained the bigger picture associated with a task, even the most routine held meaning, he explained.
“Maybe it was boring, but I knew the end purpose for it,” Unzelman said. “It was important to keep the larger picture in mind, the scope of what you’re doing.”
The Fall Career, Internship and Graduate Programs fair runs from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Wednesday and includes representatives from business, private corporations, hospitals, healthcare and the military. A separate School District Fair for newly minted teachers will be held the same day from 3 to 5 p.m. in Chris Knutzen Hall.
The second day of the fair runs from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and features employers from non-profit organizations, state and federal agencies, and recruiters for graduate programs. Find complete list of employers attending the fair and tips on appearing professional at Career Development’s Web site.
Photograph: Troy Andrade and Sen. Daniel Akaka in Akaka's Washington, D.C., office. (Photo provided by Troy Andrade).
University Communications staff writer Megan Haley compiled this report. Comments, questions, ideas? Please contact her at ext. 8691 or at haleymk@plu.edu.
Two seniors whole-heartedly endorse interning as a valuable and necessary experience. Troy Andrade and Allen Unzelman spent the summer interning in Washington, D.C. – Andrade in a senator’s office and Unzelman at a nonprofit public interest law firm. It was the second internship experience for each, and the rewards, they said, are endless.
“The things I learned there, I didn’t learn in class. You can’t learn in class,” Andrade said.
Unzleman echoed the sentiment. While college courses teach theories, internships provide real-world application and enable students to develop skills that can’t be taught in the classroom.
For example, while working at the Institute for Justice, Unzelman would be asked to find a decades-old documents, such as the minutes from a city council meeting held 30 years ago. He would have to figure out how and where to find such a document.
“You’re not taught how to do that in school, but you must know how to do it,” Unzelman said. “You learn as you go and teach yourself because that’s what you must do that in real life.”
The annual fair is a good place to begin your search for an internship. Andrade found his first internship with the Pierce County juvenile court at the fair. He credits this first experience – and the connections he made there – with getting him his second in U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka’s office this past summer.
Internships provide valuable networking opportunities, Andrade said. Those networking contacts come in handy when applying for future jobs, be it through letters of recommendation or by using their own connections to help.
Andrade’s experience is a perfect example: his first internship helped him land his second, and his second internship helped land him a job as a policy advisor in the Hawaiian legislature, which he’ll start after he graduates this December.
In Akaka’s office, Andrade was one of three interns. Instead of the requisite “paper pushing” that accompanies most D.C. internships, Andrade said he spent little to no time filing, making copies or stuffing envelopes.
“The senator I worked for wanted all the interns to have a great experience doing everything,” Andrade said.
Andrade shadowed Akaka and members of his staff, and spent most of his time with the senator’s press secretary. He also wrote policies, letters and statements, drafted amendments and participated in seminars hosted by members of Congress and the Bush administration.
“This was a once in a lifetime shot,” Andrade said. “I got to meet a lot of people.”
Likewise, Unzelman didn’t suffer the mundane duties most undergraduate interns face in D.C. Over his 15-week internship, he was spent most of his time researching issues and writing summaries. Since his supervisors always explained the bigger picture associated with a task, even the most routine held meaning, he explained.
“Maybe it was boring, but I knew the end purpose for it,” Unzelman said. “It was important to keep the larger picture in mind, the scope of what you’re doing.”
The Fall Career, Internship and Graduate Programs fair runs from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Wednesday and includes representatives from business, private corporations, hospitals, healthcare and the military. A separate School District Fair for newly minted teachers will be held the same day from 3 to 5 p.m. in Chris Knutzen Hall.
The second day of the fair runs from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and features employers from non-profit organizations, state and federal agencies, and recruiters for graduate programs. Find complete list of employers attending the fair and tips on appearing professional at Career Development’s Web site.
Photograph: Troy Andrade and Sen. Daniel Akaka in Akaka's Washington, D.C., office. (Photo provided by Troy Andrade).
University Communications staff writer Megan Haley compiled this report. Comments, questions, ideas? Please contact her at ext. 8691 or at haleymk@plu.edu.