Immediate Release: June 30, 2006
Contact: Kathryn Reed, 919-807-6975, reedk@nccommunitycolleges.edu
Community College Student Interns Learn About State Government
By Kathryn Reed, Intern
North Carolina Community
College System Office, Public Affairs
RALEIGH: Six North Carolina community college students are trying
their hand at everything from turtle research to inmate assistance
programming to therapeutic horseback riding through unique summer
internships with the state government.
The internships are provided by the North Carolina State Government
Internship Program, run by the Youth Advocacy and Involvement Office
(YAIO) of the North Carolina Department of Administration. The
program offers paid internships in almost all levels of state
government for undergraduates as well as graduate and professional
school students.
Eighty students were chosen from 600 applicants this year in a
competitive selection process by the North Carolina Internship
Council. The number of community college participants is up from
only two in 2005.
“I definitely think that had a lot to do with efforts by the
community college system office,” said Lisa Flint, the program
coordinator. Flint said that the YAIO worked closely with the system
office to publicize the program at the colleges.
Flint said participation in the program by community college
students is a win-win situation for both the program and the
interns. She said the students bring a variety of interests and
backgrounds to their internships while the program provides students
with a real-world glimpse into their fields and makes them more
competitive job applicants after graduation.
“Our internship council is always striving to make our program more
diverse,” she said. “I think the internship program really provides
a unique internship opportunity for students within state
government.”
Connie Hedrick of Morganton is a therapeutic recreation technology
student at Western Piedmont Community College. She is working in the
exceptional equestrians research program at the J. Iverson Riddle
Development Center in Morganton teaching children and adults with
mental retardation how to ride and care for horses. Hedrick’s
internship is through the North Carolina Department of Health and
Human Services.
“I figured I could use my therapeutic recreation experience and my
love for horses and mix them together,” Hedrick said. “It’s worked
out really well. I’m hoping to have my own therapeutic riding
program some day.
Hertford native Michelle Vargas is a student in the college transfer
program at College of The Albemarle. She is working as a research
assistant at the Museum of The Albemarle in Elizabeth City. The
internship is through the North Carolina Museum of History and the
North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources.
Vargas is researching free African Americans from the time of the
first census to the start of the Civil War, and she has also had the
opportunity to help with collections, storage and conservation of
artifacts. She assisted with the opening of the museum’s preview
exhibit as well.
“I wound up doing a little bit of everything,” she said.
Vargas said her experience has prompted her to reevaluate her career
path.
“I want to be a history teacher,” she said. “I figured this would
give me some experience, and since I started this, I’m thinking I
might want to work in a museum.”
Weaverville native Tina Mortier is in Asheville-Buncombe Technical
Communty College’s criminal justice program. She is interning at the
Marion Correctional Institute at Marion. The internship is through
the Department of Correction.
Mortier spent her first week as an intern “on the floor” learning
procedures and working with inmates and officers. She is now in the
programs department assigning inmates to programs such as GED or
sewing classes based on her research into their backgrounds.
“Whatever will help them in the long run,” she said.
Mortier wants to pursue a career in probation and parole. After she
began her internship, she decided to apply for a permanent position
at the Marion Correctional Institute.
“To be honest, when I came into this I didn’t know if it was
something I wanted to do,” she said. “Now that I’ve gotten here, I
like it. Now I have an idea of both sides. What the prisoners deal
with and what the officers and the employees deal with. It just
gives me an awareness.”
Kathleen Collado of Charlotte is a student in the hotel and
restaurant management program at Central Piedmont Community College.
She is working at the North Carolina National Guard Lodge in housing
management at Kure Beach. The internship is through the North
Carolina National Guard and the Department of Crime Control and
Public Safety.
“I love it,” Collado said. “I’m learning a lot. I’ve learned how to
deal with upper management. That’s a big one. Making decisions,
handling large groups, accounting. There’s a list. I could go on and
on. It absolutely will help me find a job.”
Meredith Smith is a Charlotte native and graduate of the criminal
justice program at Central Piedmont Community College. She is an
intern with the Unauthorized Substance Tax Division in the Charlotte
office of the North Carolina Department of Revenue.
Smith has had the opportunity to work both in the office and out in
the field alongside the division’s officers. She said that she
mainly learned about criminal law at Central Piedmont, and her
internship is providing her with exposure to civil laws.
“This in one of the government jobs that is not really well-known,”
she said. “I didn’t know anything about it before I applied for this
internship, but I’ve learned a lot since I’ve been here.”
Lisa Cook, a student in Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community
College’s college transfer program, is interning as a sea turtle
researcher and education specialist at Hammocks Beach State Park in
Swansboro. Cook is a native of Montreat. Her internship is through
the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
“They (the interns) are really a good representation of the
community college system,” Flint said.
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