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head: INTERNSHIP ANALYSIS

Internship Analysis: Narrative Reflection

Samantha Garcia
December 5, 2014
SDAD 564

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I chose Trinity Lutheran College for my 100-hour internship. I am the graduate assistant
at Trinity in which position I hold a multitude of responsibilities. I oversee student events and
activities, club event planning processes, career services, assist with resident life, and participate
in various planning committees. Prior to me working at Trinity, career services did not exist
particularly in the student life realm. Some professors did professional development but it most
often only appeared in the students senior capstone course. In my first year as the graduate
assistant, I decided to adapt some of my knowledge and skill in career services that I gained from
Texas A&M University to meet the basic needs of students at Trinity. In the first year I started
doing a couple resume and professional letter writing workshops, opening up my time to do 1:1
resume review, and created the first Career Fair at Trinity. Wanting to do more with career
services for the college, I opted to do an internship with Trinity so that I may focus on the area
specifically.
The nature of Trinity Lutheran College is unique. There is hard working professional
staff that is doing their best to meet the needs of students. However the colleges small size puts
a strain on how much its employees can actually do. That's where I come in with the directed
purpose of my internship. My three specific objectives for the internship were- 1: Further
knowledge and skills on Career Services at Trinity, 2: Develop and implement Career Services
webpage for Trinity, and 3: Create 2015-2016 Career Services plan for implementation at Trinity.
Respectively related to each objective I have learned- 1: Collaboration with faculty and other
staff is critical to developing programs where you are not trying to reinvent to wheel, 2:
Collaboration, again, is key however the realities of workflow and time commitment from others
means not everything gets done on schedule so be flexible, and 3: It is okay to take ownership
of a task and advocate for its implementation and persistence. Through collaborating with faculty

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and staff at Trinity I was able to get a feel for what they were communicating to students and
what I needed to be providing. With that information I adapted the Texas A&M University
Career Center Resume and Professional Letters pamphlet to be Trinity student specific. I also
created a physical and, soon to be, online platform for students to receive information on what
they can be doing with their majors, on and off campus jobs available, when professional
workshops are occurring, and how they can develop a solid resume and cover letter. I have also
created the 2015-2016 Career Services calendar. I mentioned that I learned ownership and
advocacy for a task because I am the only person at Trinity, professional staff person, that is
pushing the development of career services. I hope to create buy in from my colleagues so that
they may continue career services/development for student life after I have finished my graduate
assistant duties.
LO 2: Collaborating with faculty and staff to get an idea of what students were being
provided in career development was a starting point for me to determine what the students need
were. However, the greatest learning came from speaking directly with students. While many of
the students did not know what they wanted from career services, other than a part-time job
while being a student, there were a few that expressed interest in having more resources available
on campus. I took that and ran with hosting workshops on various career development and
furthering education topics, as well as hosting employers on-campus for the first career fair.
LO 3: Opening up my schedule for students to meet with me 1:1 to have their resume
reviewed allowed me the opportunity to inadvertently develop some professional skills for the
students. Since Trinity is so small it is easy for students to just run into someones office without
making an appointment. I stick to strict guidelines for resume review that if a student wants to
have their resume reviewed they must formally schedule an appointment. While the process for

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doing so is incredibly easy some students struggle with it, however I believe that setting an
example for a basic professional ethic will help the students further down the road.
LO 4: As a part of the 2015-2016 career services calendar I have scheduled professionals
from various backgrounds that will come to campus once a month and have lunch with our
students. One of the beauties of Trinitys small size is that students can have the opportunity to
interact directly with a professional in this setting. Bringing in the perspective of respected
professionals allows students to think about their career in new ways.
LO 5: The very nature of this internship was based in adapting services to fit the needs of
Trinity Lutheran College students. Adapting the Texas A&M University Career Center Resume
and Professional Letter pamphlet, the resume workshop presentation, and What can I do with
this major? handouts from Career Services at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
LO 6: I not only met with faculty and staff at Trinity I also met with Michael Shehane,
career advisor at Texas A&M University. I appreciated working with Michael specifically on
career services again as he is the one that taught me all I knew in the beginning. He provided me
with a sense of direction for starting career services at almost ground zero.
LO 8: Through adapting the Resume and Professional Letters pamphlet I had to be very
aware of any errors I made, as that document will remain with Trinity for an indefinite period of
time. Also having basic presentation skills and continuing to present has allowed me to develop
into a more dynamic presenter.
LO 9: Another fact of the matter with a small school staff and student body, is that
there is always a budget restraint. This is not totally unique to Trinity however finding free or
inexpensive exterior services was and is vital to the sustainability of career services for the

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college. I discovered Glassdoor a free online job posting forum that is great for students. This
will be available on our career services webpage.
LO 10: Taking ahold of this internship and really making it my own has given me so
much confidence in myself. I recognize now that I have practical and technical skills to
contribute in any area of student development. I can adapt to various institutional types, students,
and colleagues, and create something worthwhile.
As I ventured into wanting to adapt career services to meet the needs of Trinity students I
discovered that I was in a way conducting systematic inquiry (Blimling & Whitt, 1999). The
questions that coincide with the second part of systematic inquiry are what stuck out to me- who
are your students? What do your students learn and where do they learn it? (Blimling & Whitt,
1999). While systematic inquiry weighs heavier on the quantitative data side, I prefer to look at
my work as a qualitative assessment of the Trinity students- what they have, what they need,
why they need it, and the best ways to provide this information.
The very nature of career services/development, whichever you wish to call it, is to
provide the student with assistance in developing their identity. The vast majority of students go
to college to get a job or a better one than they had. However the big question is- how can the
student efficiently develop their identity so that they may leave their institution with a degree and
sense of purpose? Each vector of Chickerings Theory of Identity Development is important for
students to develop so that they may succeed in the job market. Career services should be doing
work in each vector- developing competence, managing emotions, moving through autonomy
toward independence, developing mature interpersonal relationships, establishing identity,
developing purpose, and developing integrity (Evans, 1998). Through my internship work I have

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focused greatly on developing competence, developing mature interpersonal relationships, and

moved into developing identity/purpose for Trinity students.
Transition is another focus of this internship. Career services always finds students at
various areas of transition- first job, long time employee, first year student, graduating student,
alumni, etc. With the awareness of Schlossbergs Transition Theory it is important to meet all
students where they are at in order to adapt to their needs.
As I transition out of graduate school and my work with Trinity it is my hope that I can
set the table for the next person to come in and take over career services. The continued
development and growth of this area for the college is vital and needs attention. In my final
months with Trinity I will work hard to develop services at a low-maintenance sustainable level.

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References
Blimling, G., & Whitt, E. (1999). Using Systematic Inquiry to Improve Performance. In Good
practice in student affairs: Principles to foster student learning. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Evans. (1998). Chickering's Theory of Identity Development. In Student development in college:
Theory, research, and practice. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Schlossberg, N. K. (1984). Counseling adults in transition. New York: Springer