“Internships provide valuable opportunities for students to take what they learn in their classes and apply it to practical situations,” Dr. Vagn K. Hansen, provost and vice president for academic affairs, said. “Ideally, their experiences can provide useful feedback for their classes.”

Rashanda R. Pruitt, a junior majoring in culinary arts with a minor in nutrition and wellness will intern this summer at the highly acclaimed Charlie Trotter’s establishment, particularly Charlie Trotter’s To Go, in Chicago.

During the nine-week internship, she will help prepare a wide variety of meals to be readily available to the customer.

“Their main goal is to provide tasteful meals that are consistent with the philosophy of Charlie Trotter himself,” Pruitt of Tuscaloosa, Ala., said. “On a daily basis I will be participating in diverse food preparations, which will entail various tasks under the guidance and direction of his pastry team.”

In addition to giving students experience in their academic fields, Hansen said internships are helpful in determining the desired career path.

“Through internships students can take a look at the realities of a career while they are still in college,” Hansen said. “I've had students whose internship experiences confirmed their ideas about the right career for them, and I've had other students who changed to a different career path as a result of the knowledge they gained from their internships.”

NASA funds partially funded internships for senior Heather Van Pelt of Columbus who worked on a microbiology project at Georgia Tech for “a world-class microbiologist” and senior Shannon McVay of Senatobia who worked at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute on a project involving bioluminescence.

Communications majors, senior Kara Rogers of Mobile, Ala., secured a highly competitive internship with the Special Olympics of North Carolina, and senior Candise Taylor of Florence did an internship with The Bridge of Meaning, an American-owned company in Harbin, China, where she was responsible for organizing and leading more nightly activities such as movie night, culture night, game night, English corner and speech contests.

“It was much, much more than an internship,” Taylor said. “It was an opportunity of a lifetime that I would gladly repeat. I learned about entrepreneurship, business, public relations and all of it with a Chinese/American twist.”

Students majoring in the areas of human sciences, speech-language pathology/audiology and education take advantage of many local facilities to get their experiences.

Dr. Richard Millikin, associate professor of psychology, said students pursing a bachelor of science degree in family studies complete a six-hour field experience that places them in a supervised capacity in many professional environments associated with human services agencies in Columbus and the surrounding areas.

“Not only do these students gain valuable experience in the field, but they also have the opportunity to network with professionals and establish themselves in their respective disciplines,” Millikin said.

Similarly, all students in the master of science in speech-language pathology/audiology program complete two off-campus practica, one at a public school and one at a medical-type facility, and education students are required to do student teaching in the local schools during their senior year.

Maggie Clark of Cape Girardeau, Mo., a junior majoring in English, and Chloe Schornick of Biloxi, a junior majoring in business, interned at the Magnolia Independent Film Festival, and Clark also did an internship at the Southern Food Alliance, which is part of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi.

In addition, Jill Davies of Columbus, a senior political science major, did an internship in Columbus Mayor Jeffrey Rupp’s office in which she worked with the city’s webmaster to help improve and maintain the city’s web page.

Nursing students do preceptorships at the end of their programs. Students pursuing an associate degree work full time for two weeks, and students pursuing a bachelor’s degree work full time for four weeks. Faculty do on-site visits and grade students weekly during this time.

The W’s first graduate in sports management, Hannah Page, completed an internship at the Kiawah Island Resort in South Carolina where she used her education to help plan vacations, nature outings and children’s activities.

Dr. Mark Bean, professor of health and kinesiology, said that many of the exercise science majors have done their internships at HealthSouth Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation Center in Columbus.

“It is an outstanding site for us because of the wide range of therapy that the students see and because of how involved the students are allowed to become,” Bean said.

All graphic design and interior design students are required to completean internship.