Student interns find summer?s work better than play

Eight Skidmore students flexed and deepened their career skills this summer with internships at businesses and organizations as diverse as a Manhattan recording studio, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, the Vermont Earth Institute, Amnesty International, and television?s popular Nickelodeon cable channel.

The fortunate interns?looking ahead to careers in government, music, art, international affairs, political ecology, economics, education, and journalism?got their boost from Skidmore-centered funding sources that are new this year. Four students received Skidmore Funded Internship Awards, two relied on Alumni Board Internship Awards, and two more received help from the Doyle Family Internship Awards established by Skidmore associate director of Career Services Alison Doyle, her husband Michael, and daughter Katie. All three internship programs are designed to help students ?gain valuable work experience and to become more marketable in today?s competitive job market,? as award citations note. Below, four of this summer?s interns share a glimpse into the hands-on value of how they spent their summer vacations.

At a desk in the newsroom

Erin Pruckno ?10 caught her break with an internship to The Saratogian newspaper in downtown Saratoga Springs. A former Skidmore News editor and writer, Pruckno is an English and anthropology double major whose dual interests in literature and science are leading her to consider either a career in arts public relations and/or arts journalism, or possibly a future in environmental advocacy. Her close prior ties with The Saratogian?s editors, who serve as professional advisors to the student weekly, made Pruckno?s Alumni Board-funded internship a shoo-in. She fit right in to the paper?s pace and practices, making herself useful compiling and editing events calendars and community news stories and writing arts features published every few days over her byline. Besides the professional portfolio her Saratogian internship is beefing up, there is the delight Pruckno takes in being a community insider (a local?s editors and reporters tend to know everything going on around town) and an integral part of a daily newspaper. ?It?s not a nine-to-five job,? says Pruckno appreciatively, ?it?s a lifestyle.?

In the heart of the music business
A Doyle Family Internship Award allowed Mlungisi Ndwandwe ?10 to spend a summer at Maze Studios in New York City, where as a trainee producer, he helps with in-studio production, technical assistance, and the business side of the music. A Davis Peace Projects scholar hailing from Swaziland, Ndwandwe majors in management and business but harbors an entrepreneurial passion for the recording business. He first connected with Maze Studios through Scott Jacoby ?93, of Scojac Music Productions, where he once spent a nine-hour studio session. Things took off from there. This summer, ?I spend most of the time behind the board, side-by-side with Scott, producing?an amazing experience because not only do I get to be part of the development of great works but I get one-on-one tutelage on high-end production concepts and techniques. Music production is a thousand rather subtle operations?.so getting to tap into Scott?s sensibilities throughout the process many times over has been transformative and definitely exceeded my expectations of what this experience was going to be like.?

In defense of the earth
Political economy major Kalu Long ?10 went to the Vermont Earth Institute in Burlington on a Skidmore Funded Internship, with a specific job to do. As the ecological economics course designer, he is creating a six-week community-education curriculum for the institute, which provides free environmental classes to the Burlington community; leads discussions; and promotes action for sustainability.  Ecological economics is a new field that ?recognizes the limitations of economic growth and strives for a stable and sustainable economy,? explains Long. ?Because I?m young and new to the subject matter, I am able to create a course accessible to people with no economics background.? To do that, he seeks out readings, videos, poems, and art; writes introductions to concepts and discussion questions; and secures copyright permissions. ?No form of conventional schooling could be teaching me as much as I am learning this summer,? says Long. ?Not only am I able to study how the world needs to change course, but I can begin spreading the message to the Vermont community. This summer is the springboard from which I will go forward.?

For the good of the children
A psychology major and education minor, Emily Schlemmer ?10 wants to combine those two fields to better understand how children learn. She got a glimmer of how to do that when her freshman adviser suggested she chat with Alice Wilder ?88, co-producer of the popular children?s show Blue?s Clues, which aired for 10 years on Nickelodeon. This summer, with the help of a Skidmore Funded Internship, she?s a utility intern for Team Umizoomi, premiering this October. She types scripts and schedules for producers, finds images for the art director?s ?storybook,? and gets to ?unleash my inner five-year-old and work on a special computer monitor with a special pen to color the storybook panels which will be used for research, and later be animated.? In her jack-of-all-trades summer in the children's television industry, ?I've seen how things work, in multiple stages of production, talked with writers, artists, producers, editors and researchers, and gotten a good sense of where I'd like to fit into the scheme of things. Being in this internship has certainly made me want to continue on in this field.?

Stories like these come as no surprise to Penny Loretto, the Career Services assistant director who coordinates the internships. ?These experiences can make a significant difference in the types of jobs the students will be considered for after they graduate,? Loretto points out. To read more about all eight students? summer experiences, check the Career Services web site, where their stories will be posted when they return to campus this fall. Look for reports not only from the students mentioned above but also from Elana Hazghia ?10, who interned with Amnesty International; Ally Jane Grossan ?10, who spent her summer with Continuum Publishing; Kamen Fon ?12, who worked as an assistant paralegal in the Kings County District Attorney?s office; and Rachel Haas ?10, who spent her summer immersed in art at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery.

The College?s new internship awards are designed to cover the expenses of student participation in unpaid internships, volunteer, or community-service projects. They are modeled on the Levine Internship Awards, awarded each fall, spring, and summer in memory of Skidmore government professor Erwin L. Levine. Donations for student internships are accepted from alumni, faculty, parents, college employees, corporations, and foundations. For more information, contact Lori Eastman, Skidmore?s director of development.

(August 2009)