Students get glimpse of future careers in internships

No matter how different the internships were from each other, they all emphasized teamwork.

Shauni Hope, a hospitality management major, spent eight weeks of her summer interning at the Hampton Inn and Suites in downtown Chicago. She got the position through a global internship program provider called Dream Careers.

“I got to rotate through the different departments in a hotel system,” Hope said. She started out in housekeeping where she cleaned rooms and did laundry. Next, she worked the breakfast shift, preparing the complementary meal for guests. She finished off working at the front desk where she learned how to use the computer program and practiced interacting with guests.

“One of the most important things I have learned is the importance of the ‘team.’ Working together and communicating together really makes for a much smoother operation. And more than likely a happier guest, which is what we are aiming for,” she said.

This internship has confirmed for her that hospitality management is the right major for her, and that she wants to eventually work in the hotel industry. After living in Chicago for the duration of her internship, Hope has decided she’d like to live there in the future.

For Kirby Craft, this was his second summer interning with the Arizona League Indians, an affiliate of the Cleveland Indians in Arizona, his home state. He’s an athletic training major as well as a baseball player himself.

Craft said that because he spent so much time with the players, it was more like being part of a family than merely working with a team.

“It’s more than just sports medicine,” Craft said of his responsibilities. Not only did he assist the athletic trainer in treating players’ sports injuries, but he also helped them with general care as well as injuries sustained off the field. Craft explained that many of the players are Latino and new to the United States. Beyond making sure they’re physically healthy, Craft played a part in getting them acclimated to life in the United States and helping them improve their English.

Since this was his second summer with the team, Craft said he enjoyed more freedom on the job.

In the future, Craft hopes to work in baseball because “it’s a sport I’ve grown up with.” He had a lot of fun at his internship: “I get to go out and watch baseball.” Craft attended every practice as well as every game.

Kyle Gleockler, a sport and recreation management major, spent his summer interning for the Williamsport Crosscutters minor league baseball team. The experience has helped him confirm his career goals.

“I’ve actually applied for a couple jobs” Gleockler said of his hopes to eventually work in promotions, his favorite part of his internship responsibilities. He said he had lots of fun ensuring fans have a good experience at games.

Gleockler and five other interns split up the work of making home games enjoyable for all ages. They showed up three hours before games start to wipe down bleachers and set up a kids’ zone full of entertainment for younger fans.

His favorite assignment involved offering incoming fans an opportunity to play games on the field. Three interns worked together to gather 12 fans, set up the game and explain it to the players.

Perhaps the strangest part of Gleockler’s experience was working with a monkey rodeo. He explained that for one game, a man who tours the country with his three border collies and their monkey cowboys came to entertain fans.

Another sport and recreation management major, Charles Burdine, had very different experiences at a very different internship. Burdine spent his summer working for Rep. Michael McGeehan, D-Philadelphia.

He was offered the job when the men met during the spring 2012 semester in Harrisburg, where Burdine was among 24 Pitt-Bradford students, staff and alumni who joined Dr. Livingston Alexander, Pitt-Bradford’s president, in lobbying against Gov. Tom Corbett’s proposed budget cuts to higher education. Burdine and McGeehan got to talking, realized they had a lot in common and before he knew it, Burdine had accepted a job offer. Burdine added that it would have been silly for him to turn the opportunity down.

Burdine said he’d always been interested in politics and that studying politics had always been on the table. This experience has solidified his plans to make political science not just a minor, but his new major.

At his internship, Burdine worked with people on all kinds of problems, from issues with electric and oil companies to legal advice and help with taxes. On his first day, a man came into the office and began yelling at Burdine. Soon after that issue was resolved, a woman came in crying. That initiation made “every day after that easier,” he said.

Now that he’s finished with his internship, Burdine is working with President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign. Burdine said this has been a “big summer” for him, not just in terms of hard work, but in confirming his true calling.

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