Internships: earn credits and gain experience
By Sheryl A. Machita
Get experience and academic
credited the same time? No,
it’s not a dream; it’s called an
internship.
Internships at Capitol Cam-
pus vary from a twelve-credit,
nonpaying multi-media intern
ship at a local television station
to a four-credit accounting in
ternship at a large firm which
pays $2OO to $225 per week.
The television internship is a
Friday through Monday, from
5:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. job for
Suzanne Reichert (a twelfth
term, multi-media major), who
works at WHP, a Harrisburg
television station. Although she
doesn’t get paid, she will earn
twelve credits at Capitol Cam
pus.
“The difference between do
ing work for the classroom and
the workplace has to be ex
perienced to be fully ap
preciated,” says Reichert. “The
experience allows you to
discover your weak and strong
points as well as the job’s and
the employer’s. Types of work I
sampled in the classroom and
said I wouldn’t want to do, I
now feel I should re-examine.”
The Humanities Division of
fers multi-media internships in
many fields including televi
sion, print, advertising, and
public relations. Generally, the
media internship is a twelve
credit program where the stu
dent works full-time, keeps a
record of his or her ex-
periences, and then writes a
paper about them.
Head of the Humanities Divi
sion, Dr. John S. Patterson,
says: “It has served people
well in the past and given
students good experiences. I’d
like to see more interaction be
tween the people who are actual
ly on an internship, and the peo
ple who have had internships
before, and the people who
haven’t had them yet, so that
everyone has a good sense of
what to expect.”
Internships in the Public Af
fairs Division range from pro
bation and parole offices, state
offices, ana the legislature to
various human service agen
cies. The two requirements of
the internship are to keep a dai
ly journal about the experience
ana to write a report on it.
“Students come back from an
internship,” says Dr. Lloyd W.
Woodruff, associate professor
and coordinator Of the
undergraduate public affairs in
ternships, “saving that it has
given them insight into linking
the campus with the outside
world.”
Dr. Christopher K. McKenna,
head of the Public Affairs Divi
“Types of work I sampled In the classroom and said I wouldn’t
want to do, I now feel I should re-examine.”
sion, says: “A side benefit of an
internship is that it may often
lead directly or indirectly to a
permanent iob/’
In the Behavioral Science
Division, internships of four,
eight, or twelve credits can be
earned, depending upon the
number of hours spent at the
organization. In addition to the
work at the human service
organization, a weekly seminar,
a log, and a paper are required.
This term two students are in
volved in behavioral science in
ternships. One is working at
Philhaven, a private
psychiatric hospital in Lebanon,
and the other is at the Helen S.
Chandler Community Mental
Health Facility in Harrisburg.
Rie Gentzler, instructor in
social science and coordinator
of the undergraduate
behavioral science internships,
says that internships are a lot
of work. But she went on to say,
“Most students feel it was an
invaluable part of their educa
tion.”
Over in the Education Divi
sion, junior year students get
seven weeks of class and three
weeks of teaching in school.
This goes on for three terms.
“They aren’t internships in
the regular sense of the word,”
says Donald K. Alexander,
associate professor and coor
dinator of the undergraduate
education program, but they
are “an integral part of the
courses.”
He added: “These field ex
periences make students com
Suzanne Reichert
student intern
fortable with the classroom by
the time they student teach.”
Although most internships
aren’t paid, the Business Ad
ministration Division offers the
exception to the rule.
The accounting internship,
which pays $2OO to $225 per
week and is four credits, in
volves working full-time for a
firm and requires a paper about
the experience.
Archie McGhee, instructor in
accounting, says that par
ticipating in an internship is “a
big plus especially in today s
market.” He says that working
for a firm like Cooper’s and
Lybrand, or Laventhal and Hor
wath looks good on a resume.
The accounting internship
usually takes place in the
winter term. McGhee advises
students not to take any other
classes as the work load at the
firm is heavy.
Not all divisions have intern
ships.
Dr. William A. Welsh, head of
the Science, Engineering, and
Technology Division, says:
“Engineering students are bet
ter served by having taken
specific courses that employers
can recognize than the varied
experiences of an internship.”
The division does have a
Cooperative Education option in
the Electrical Design Engineer
ing Technology. A student
works six months and gets paid
and attends classes six months,
but the student doesn’t receive
academic credit for the work
part of the program.
“The big advantage of the op
tion,” says Wesley G. Houser,
associate professor and chair of
the electrical design engineer
ing technology program, “is the
experience of interspersing for
mal education with practical
experience.”
Almost every division at
Capitol Campus has some kind
of undergraduate or graduate,
real work experience that is
aimed at bridging the gap be
tween the world of education
and the world of work.
“Students have a real advan
tage,” says Gentzler, “in that
there are so many people who
want interns that they can
design an internship to meet
their own needs.”
Photography by Sheryl A. Machita