Learning for Life: Importance of Internships for
Non-traditional StudentsLynn Brandt, MSE, GCDF
Career Counseling and Internship CoordinatorAdult Degree Program
University of Wisconsin-Green Bay
Who am I?University of Wisconsin – Green
BayTotal Enrollment 2012-2013 – 6,211
Non-traditional student enrollment – 27%
Total Enrollment in Adult Degree Program - 650
Who are Non-traditional Students?• 25 years-of-age or older• Delayed post-secondary education• Work at least part-time• Have dependents• Taking care of parents• Financially independent from parts• Veterans• Displaced Workers
Why do an Internship?A Typical Student Story:
“When I first graduated from college, I thought, “ok, great I have my B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies, emphasis in Human Development. I can finally work in the career of my dreams: being an advocate for runaway teens. As I researched the jobs I really wanted, I saw that I was lacking one very vital thing, experience.
All of my experience had been in the business world. In spite of it having always been my dream, I didn’t have any recent or tangible experience in a field related to my dream career. This could have been avoided if I would have done one simple thing…completed an internship.”
Road Blocks • Career changers have little to no experience in new career field• Flexibility of internship hours • Unpaid internships/financial barriers• Difficulty communicating benefits of internships to students• Fear of Failure
Creative Solutions: Career Changers have little to no experience in new career field
Volunteering
Join Professional Societies
Workshops, conferences, conventions, seminars
Job Shadowing
Internships
Creative Solutions: Flexibility of Internship Hours
Virtual Internships
Winternships
Shorter internships during academic year or summer
Weekend/evening internship opportunities
Creative Solutions: Unpaid Internship/Financial Barriers
Great Lakes Higher Education grant awarded to UWGB which allows payment of interns who are at non-profit or public service agency
Intentionally build relationships with companies who offer paid internship opportunities
Internships at place of employment
Creative Solutions: Difficulty Communicating Benefits of Internships to Students
Develop marketing resources from employers
Academic Advisors and faculty need to be supporting efforts to promote internships
Start promoting internships the moment students step in the door!
Use electronic resources
Creative Solutions: Fear of Failure
Pretty Self-explanatory…We grew up trying NOT to fail…message sent loud and clear FAILURE IS BAD. Avoided an F on an exam, only tried out for sports teams you thought you had a relatively good chance of making and compromised yourself in the context of a relationship just to avoid failure.
Steps taken to createInternship Program
Created Internship Manual specific to Adult Degree Program
Set up database to track internship sites and contacts
Plan outlined to begin creating program
Develop Relationships - Network with potential internship sites: do site visits, meet one-on-one with staff responsible for placing interns
Steps taken to createInternship Program
Create internship-specific information documents
Created informational site on Desire-to-Learn (D2L) for students to access at their convenience
Career Counseling offered directly through program with expertise geared toward the non-traditional students
Career Development Plan for every student entering the program
Steps taken to createInternship Program
Development of Internship brochure specific to targeting businesses
Use team approach to reach out into area businesses: create internship opportunities specifically for non-traditional students
Offer Career/Internship Fair geared toward non-traditional students/Possibly a virtual Career/Internship fair
Internship requirements create opportunity for reflection and synthesis of major learning outcomes
Capstone seminar for major to offer alternative Experiential Learning component