Student Internships in The Public Sector
St. Thomas University enables students to land internships that provide an opportunity to grow in their careers. These are the testimonies of two of our students, who are currently doing a summer internship for two important U.S. government agencies: The Department of Agriculture and the United States Food and Drug Administration.
United States Department of Agriculture Interning in Pisgah Forest, NC
By Giselle Inoa, Criminal Justice and Psychology major at St. Thomas University.
HACU has opened the door of opportunity for me, as a competitive employee. This is my first internship, and after about only three weeks, I have learned so much and gained experiences that will be treasured for the rest of my career. It is my first time away from home, and everyone at HACU and Job Corps have gone out of their way to help me out with anything I need. I genuinely appreciate that. It was really nice to have the opportunity to go to Washington, DC and actually visit the Department of Agriculture. I had no idea the different positions and types of careers I could obtain in the USDA. For example, I am currently working at a Job Corps as a counselor in Pisgah Forest, North Carolina. My supervisor, Ms. Diana Flynn is really an amazing person and is great to work with. She always finds opportunities to involve me with important parts of Schenck. Some of the countless aspects I have worked in include the initial counseling interview for new students. In this interview, I was responsible for representing the counseling department and letting students know valuable information and also getting to know the students on a one-on-one basis. Sensitive, personal questions are also addressed concerning student’s previous grievances and mental health record.
Other aspects of Schenck that I have worked with include developing an anger management course, which all 200 students will attend.
I was able to use my previous knowledge on this matter as well as new resources to compose a one-hour course. I teach this course once a day to twelve students at a time. I have also attended many different meetings including a meeting concerning changing current policies in handbook, a dorm meeting where students reside, an economics class, and a CMT where a student’s progress is evaluated. Finally, I have been given access to the Job corps database and am able to enter many of the evaluations on each person including individual case notes to track progress. I am constantly busy, and am really excited about each and every day working at SCHENCK’
Food and Drug Administration
By Lily Santamaria, Criminal Justice Major.at St. Thomas University
My experience as an intern for the United States Food and Drug Administration thus far has been a memorable one. I am working for the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition under the supervision of Kirk Arvidson, from the division of Food Contact Notifications. My task as an intern is to update and enter various chemical and toxicological studies into a computer database. This computer database serves as a reference point for chemists and toxicologists when working on cases where they have to determine if a chemical or substance has any harmful or abnormal effects if consumed. I have been fortunate enough that our department has constructed different meetings, seminars and training sessions that allow us to better our understanding of the agency and our respective department subdivisions. For instance, my supervisor has allowed me to sit in the Chemists’ weekly review where I hear what each individual chemist is working on as well as any other valuable information.
I have also had the privilege to be allowed into a Phase I meeting where confidential information regarding a new food petition is discussed and see a lecture given by a potential job candidate. Overall, I believe that these first two weeks of being a HACU intern have allowed me to learn a great deal about the FDA. I am witnessing firsthand the great amount of work and dedication it takes to better the lives of American citizens. It is most definitely not an easy task to maintain food, drugs and cosmetics safe this day and age. I look forward to learning more about food and food addititive safety!