When school ended in May, students fled Elon and landed positions in companies around the country including cities such as New York, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.

Having an internship teaches students things that sitting in a classroom can’t. Students are thrown out into the real world and asked to take on new tasks and responsibilities, all the while deciding if it is the right career path for them.

As a broadcast major, senior Steve Haas worked at Fox News in New York City working as a segment producer on a morning television show. There, he had many duties as an intern, which included working in the green room, coordinating guests for the shows, giving the actors and anchors their scripts and was even allowed to produce several segments that aired.

“I was surprised they let me do so much,” Haas said. “They throw you right in.”

Among nine interns, Haas was able to work with the other students as well as producers of the show. Haas was able to contribute his own ideas and was also allowed to produce on his own, with help if he needed it.

He said that there is a ton of work that goes into a morning show, including the behind-the-scenes things that most people don’t realize when they’re watching. Haas wrote some of the introductions for the guests, the teasers before the story and the banner at the bottom of the screen.

“It was a great experience, probably the best internship I’ve had,” Haas said.

Having the classroom experience before entering his internship certainly helped Haas this summer. He felt he had an advantage on some things that other younger interns didn’t have, such as terminology. Working with ESTV also proved to be helpful.

Junior Andrea Smith completed her first internship this past summer in the Public Relations division for the Stella McCartney clothing line in New York City. Many of her duties included running errands for the company, going through clothes, sending out samples and working closely with fashion magazines.

“It gave me insight into what I’d like to do,” Smith said.

Smith is a Corporate Communications major and feels the class that seemed to help her the most was public speaking, as she had to talk professionally to numerous companies, especially magazines.

“It wasn’t what I expected,” Smith said. “It helped me realize what I wanted and didn’t want as a career.”

Stella McCartney offered Smith numerous opportunities after completing her internship, including working with the London division of the clothing line and attending a fashion show in February.

Smith said she would still like to work in the fashion industry doing something with PR or marketing. While she decided New York wasn’t the city for her, Smith would like to try Chicago next. She’s interested in completing another internship, hopefully locally during Winter Term.

Sophomore Marshall Sharpe began applying for the Washington Center early in his freshman year. The Washington Center offers 500 students of numerous majors an opportunity to explore a field of their choice for the summer. They offer housing and classes, as well as an internship.

Sharpe worked as an intern in Interntional Relations for the World Sindhi Institute, a non-profit and non-government organization.

It was a small company of about five or six employees creating a family atmosphere, which was meaningful to Sharpe. A lot of what the organization did was hold discussion forums, meetings, protests and rallies especially concerning the situation in Pakistan.

Like Smith and Haas, Sharpe was thrown into the professional world. To him, this was one of the best parts of the internship. He worked 40 hour weeks and wore a shirt and tie every day. Professionalism is something he took away from his experience, and feels he is better prepared for working after Elon.

“It gave me a focus,” Sharpe said. “It really inspired me to work hard in school and to really learn and not just do the work to get by.”

Not only did Sharpe earn credit for his internship, he also had the opportunity to attend lectures and take a night class for credit.

“It was incredible but a lot of hard work,” Sharpe said.

As part of the Washington Center program requirements, Sharpe interviewed professionals in different fields to get a better idea of what they did and what he could do. One of his interviews was with someone who worked for the State Department. After the interview, Sharpe decided it would be an excellent career goal.

Both Haas and Smith found their internships online. It was helpful that they each had some kind of an idea of what they wanted to do to narrow their search. Sharpe heard about the Washington Center while attending a lunch with President Lambert. The Career Center can also be used as a resource for finding an internship, as they have many connections to companies that students have interned for in the past.

While Sharpe was given housing through the Washington Center, Haas and Smith were on their own. Because Haas lives outside of New York City, he was able to make the commute each day. Smith, who is originally from Greensboro, was able to live in the city in Columbia University’s dorms. Smith said it would be great if Elon was able to help the interns out who were living in cities for the summer.

Sharpe recommends completing the internship early on. The three interns each had excellent experiences that they would do all over again if they could. They have had the opportunity to see what it is really like in the field, even though they were unpaid like most internships

The requirement of an internship made by most majors is necessary for graduation and the real world as well. Students learn about different jobs as well as different places in the country and the world. What Elon teaches in the classroom is only the foundation, an internship takes your learning much further and shows students what they are capable of doing.

Reporter: Laurie Craft - 09/19/07