From Student to RST Professional: The Role of Internships

RST student Dylan Grammer (left) is completing an internship with Visit Champaign County. He is pictured here with Bridget Broihahn, communications specialist with the City of Urbana and Visit Champaign County board member.

More than 60 percent of respondents to a 2017 survey of students by the National Association of College and Employers (NACE) reported engaging in internship or co-op experiences as undergraduates. With that many students seeking out these experiences, one has to wonder, what do they gain from them?

NACE’s 2018 student survey revealed part of the answer, with nearly four-fifths of respondents reporting that their professionalism and work ethic were “very” or “extremely” improved by the real-world experiences they had through internships and co-ops. In its 2019 Internship and Co-op Survey Report, NACE stated that 70 percent of employers made full-time job offers to interns and that 80 percent of the students accepted the offers, meaning that more than half of interns secure a full-time job from their internships.

In short, internships are good for both students and employers, a fact that makes Terri Daniels’ job enjoyable and fulfilling. As RST’s internship and engagement coordinator, Terri teaches RST 280, in which students complete a mini-internship of 100 hours with a relevant agency over the course of a semester—students can take 280 up to three times—as well as RST 480, which prepares students for their required full-time internship, and RST 485, the required 400-hour internship.

 “RST 280 gives students the opportunity to try out a professional interest and determine if they want to pursue it further,” she said. “It may also give them a chance to get their foot in the door for the required internship.”

But whether or not a shorter internship leads to the required full-time internship, or a full-time internship leads to a career, Terri believes all internships are valuable.

“Any experience is good experience because students are learning and growing, professionally and personally,” she said. “They’re increasing their knowledge and their self-confidence.”

This has certainly been true for Dylan Grammer. He is interning this semester with Visit Champaign County, the local convention and visitors bureau. He has been able to work with all seven of the organization’s staff members, doing everything from working the front desk to updating website information to writing blogs to assisting with recommendations for community development.

“I have attended Visit Champaign County board meetings, helped work the Hot Rod Power Tour, sat in on a recording of WCIA-TV’s ciLiving segment, toured many local businesses, and much more,” he said. Visit Champaign County staff also have arranged for him to shadow professionals at Prairie Fruits Farm and Creamery, Home2Suites by Hilton, the Virginia Theatre, and the Rantoul Family Sports Complex.

Dylan is getting a “behind the scenes” look at the field of tourism, he says, and working on projects related to tourism that will be nice additions to his resumé. “I’m developing my professional skills within an environment where growth and learning are encouraged,” he said. “I have the opportunity to ask questions often and to connect with professionals along the way.” The various professional contacts he’s made have exposed him to different career paths, and he’s been able to establish relationships with people with whom he may be working in the future.

Mike Koon, Visit Champaign County’s director of sports, events, and film, says one of the things he’s always enjoyed about working with students is that it feels like a partnership.

“We’ve gotten great work from Dylan, but we’re also cognizant of the fact that we’re helping him create his portfolio and preparing him for the opportunity to get his first job,” he said. “It’s nice to have someone to lean on for some of the things we do, but we also see this as a service we can provide to the community. We can give back, and have a relationship with RST.”

Mike noted that the 400-hour internship requirement can seem daunting, but Visit Champaign County has had no problem keeping Dylan busy through a combination of in-office and remote work.

“Dylan has been great. He has initiative. We can give him a project and we feel confident he can take the lead,” he said.

There’s always a training period when you take on someone new, Mike added, but you invest in them in hopes of eventually getting a return. “So yes, there is extra time that we’ve put in, but we feel that we’ve made a good investment, and we’re getting a lot out of it,” he said.

Bob Good, operations and general manager of the Maggie Daley Park Climbing Wall at Lakeshore Sport and Fitness, also has had good experiences with RST interns. He agrees with Mike Koon that having an internship program is a big responsibility, but also that the return on investment is well worth the effort.

“One of the reasons we created an internship program was to introduce quality team members to Lakeshore in a learning experience, with the possibility that they would want to stay with the company after their internship was completed,” he said. “We are looking for employees who would make good leaders and who care about the business.”

He has good luck with RST students, whom he describes as “hard-working and dedicated.” The most important thing he wants all of them to take away from their experience is knowledge of how to work with a very demanding general public. “This is the litmus test to see if an intern has chosen the right field,” he said. The most important result for him and his staff, he added, is the enjoyment they get from seeing interns excel.
 
Terri Daniels is most happy when both the interns and the hosts have a positive outcome. She works hard to make that happen, shepherding her students through the entire internship experience and working closely with businesses to help them develop their internship positions and complete affiliation agreements. Many of the host sites have RST alumni on staff—they see it as a way to give back to and stay engaged with a program that played such a prominent role in their own professional life. But any business that can provide students with solid experience in recreation, sport, or tourism-related fields are invited to help students, and help themselves, by getting involved with the RST internship program.

For more information, contact Terri Daniels.