Summer internships send students toward their careers

Internships during the summer or school year can be an enriching experience, and Norwich has resources to help students find a position.

The Career Development Center, located on the second floor of the Wise Campus Center, is where students can go to get help with the internship search and application process.

"We help students develop the skills and find the resources to get internships," said Cary Brown, NU's internship coordinator.

According to Brown, "everybody's search for an internship is different," meaning that each student has a different type of internship requirement for the job that they want to pursue.

"I'm somebody that a student can come to and talk about what their interests and needs for the internship are," Brown said.

She said that students tell her "whether they want to do the internship for credit or as a paid internship, if they want to do it in the summer or school year and how it fits into their overall education."

One student who worked with Brown on getting an internship was Troy Ciesco, an 18-year-old freshman studies in war and peace major from Tolland, Conn.

"My internship is with the town of Northfield in the zoning administrator's office," Ciesco said. His job is to take care of duties such as assessing the flood damage in Northfield homes.

"I went and talked to Cary Brown to see what kind of internships she had," he said. "Cary told me about an internship with the town of Northfield, and I said, ‘That's perfect', because it fit what I wanted to explore as a job possibility."

"I worked with Cary so that I could figure out how I could best present myself to this particular employer," Ciesco said. "She really helped me because I had done an application in the past for college, but I hadn't done one for a job."

The typical application process for internships requires a cover letter and resume.

Brandi Dewey, a 38-year-old English and education major from Roxbury, Vt., will be starting her internship next year teaching at a local elementary school. "I'll be teaching solo in a full-time teaching position for about six weeks," she said.

"My ideal internship would be in Kentucky," Dewey added. "I'm really interested in moving there so it would be ideal for me to complete my student teaching there."

Dewey can earn up to 12 credits towards her curriculum requirements at Norwich, and she's "hoping to teach in Williamstown, Vt.," where she currently observes students in preparation for her internship.

Another student looking forward to an internship is Jasmine Carpenter, an 18-year-old freshman technical theater major from Montpelier, Vt.

"I'm too busy this year and upcoming summer to get an internship," said Carpenter. "Yet when I do find the time for one I want it to be with the Abby Theater in Dublin, Ireland. That or with a theater on Broadway."

John Dulmage, a 67-year-old psychology major from Barnard, Vt., found a completely different type of internship than Dewey or Carpenter.

"My internship was out of the psychology department's catalogue of internships," said Dulmage. "And out of all the possible internships I chose to follow my own idea and work with homeless veterans."

The goal of Dulmage's internship was to apply the psychological principles that he had learned in the classroom to a real-life situation.

One example of this is when Dulmage spent some time at the shelter studying the veterans' behaviors and comparing them to the behaviors that he had learned about in an abnormal psychology course at Norwich.

"I am a Gulf War veteran," Dulmage said, "and my interest is veterans with PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder)."

Dulmage said his interest in PTSD veterans stems from his personal war experience because he, like the veterans at the shelter, has had PTSD symptoms such as reacting badly to loud noises as if they were gun fire.

Dulmage said that his interest in getting an internship working with veterans "started with being hyper-sensitive about veteran's needs in general" and that he was interested in veterans who had been in Iraq, as well as Vietnam and the Gulf War.

Before Dulmage applied for the internship he had talked it over with his advisor. "I asked ‘Is there a possibility of me working at the homeless shelter here in Northfield?' and there was," Dulmage said.

"What I did with the veterans was work on life-coping skills," Dulmage said. "I talked to them about educational opportunities here on campus as well as in general, and I tried to help them with some of their PTSD symptoms, like drinking addictions."

Dulmage's internship amounted to six credits and approximately 20 hours spent at the Northfield homeless veteran's shelter on Vine Street, plus a better understanding of the function of a homeless shelter for veterans.

Morgan Fowler, 22, a senior communications major from Rowley, Mass., interned this summer with a newspaper in Newburyport, Mass.

"I was a reporter for the newspaper, and the whole experience was really nice," said Fowler, "but it also broadened my perception of the world so it was more than just nice."

"This (particular) internship was for minimum wage over the summer," Fowler said, "but I was happy just to get paid, and I learned some good skills like how to use Adobe software to make the newspaper layout."

"I was communicating with (Norwich) Professor William Estill over the summer," Fowler said, "and he would make sure that I was getting my hours done."

One of Fowler's most memorable moments working for the newspaper an assignment to interview a Girl Scout troupe about a community project.

"It was the second reporting (assignment) I had to do," Fowler said, "and it was to go and meet this Girl Scout club that was hanging up birdhouses around the Newburyport area on a new walking path that had just been built."

Fowler said it was one of her most unforgettable interviews during her internship because she got to interact with the little girls and see their project from their viewpoint, as well as do her job as a reporter.

She added that they told her sweet things like what their favorite bird was and how much they liked bike riding on the new path, which Fowler included in the article.

Ciesco and Fowler said they recommend internships, because students could learn new skills and gain more hands-on experience in whatever field they chose.

"If you want an internship go for it," Ciesco said. "Even if you're not sure if you have all the right credentials, you'll make a good name for yourself by having a positive attitude."