The Psychology program at St. Petersburg College continues to offer life changing experiences through their internship class.  Shazia Mitha is currently completing her A.A. degree in Psychology and is a summer intern with Pinellas Safe Harbor.  This is Shazia’s testimony of her internship experience:

My experience at Pinellas Safe Harbor has been one of a kind. I have never felt so rewarded in an environment of service to the community than I had at PSH. I truly feel that every minute I was at PSH; I was being useful to my community and at large, useful to humanity. I feel very fortunate that I was given the opportunity and I can say that it is at the top of my list for the most memorable summer of my life. The interactions with residents are such a humbling experiences. There is constant learning, engaging, and helping which really bring out the milieu therapy aspect of the internship. I feel I have become a better person through the process and definitely have become less judgmental and more receptive to the residents at Safe Harbor.  These individuals really need the help and if you are willing and welcoming, they will seek help from you. Those little moments of success for them are most rewarding if you are helping in that process. I cannot compare these intrinsic rewards to any other experience I have had. I have served in many capacities but serving at PSH has been the most rewarding and enlightening experience of my life. If given the opportunity again, I will continue the service and empower myself in that process.

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Even SPC alum recognize the value of an internship!   Read all about Maria Thurber’s summer internship at the Ecuadorian Embassy.

Maria Thurber – a Gates Millennium Scholar – graduated from SPC in 2013 and is a student at Catholic University of America in D.C. She is the author of the Ask Maria, a Q & A blog for Students by Students.

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Eric Romero, a student in the Information Technology Security A.S. Degree Program is serving his internship at Network People this summer.   Network People is owned by Nate and Kelly Freeman who started the IT security company in 1996.  In addition to serving the needs of their customers, they also believe in serving their community and work with a number of non-profit organizations.

The SPC Internship Office has partnered with Network People since 2010 – they have mentored a number of interns and even hired three students after they served their internships! 

This summer Network People chronicled Eric’s experience as an intern.  Read more about it on their Blog, The Think Tank:

July 2:   Internship Chronicles – Eric answers the question: Where is the Cloud.

June 25:   Internship Chronicles – Eric talks about building a server out of used parts.

June 18:   Internship Chronicles – See Eric destroy  some hardware

June 11: Internship Chronicles – Eric observes Network People Engineers Troubleshoot then tries it himself!

June 4:     Internship Chronicles – Eric’s first day as an intern

Thank you Nate and Kelly for being such great partners!

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Tait Sorenson is about to embark on an opportunity of a lifetime. Tait, a student and SGA member at St. Petersburg College, is interning with NASA over the summer. Below is a recent interview the SPC Internship Office had with Tait about his time at SPC and how he landed an internship with NASA. Make sure you subscribe to the Internship and Career Connection blog to hear about Tait’s internship experience at NASA coming later this summer!

SPC Internship Office: Hello Tait. Congratulations on landing the internship with NASA! Can you tell us a little about your time at SPC?

Tait Sorenson: Thus far in my academic progress I have participated in a multitude of extracurricular activities of which have enabled myself to emerge as a student leader as well as a community servant. In my first year of college, I was invited to join our Honor’s College in which opened the door to several interesting programs that I quickly took advantage of. One such opportunity was Phi Theta Kappa, our International Honors society, where I learned how to work within a team to create and implement community service projects. I currently serve as an officer for Phi Theta Kappa and this year we are focusing on what foods are available in poor neighborhoods. We are designing, building, and growing urban gardens at less fortunate elementary schools. However, we are not simply growing gardens, we are mentoring students at these schools with the overall goal of increasing more students to stay in school and to graduate. Concurrently, I am in my second year of Student Government and I am serving as an officer. As an officer, it is our responsibility to manage of a budget of $71,000 to plan and organize campus and community events to help student success and encourage new student club growth. In particular, I am very excited that we will be conducting a Rocket Workshop where students will be working in teams as they spend a day building rockets from kits learning rocketry basics. This is actually a prelude to a Rocket Competition that our campus will be participating in the spring. I am extremely grateful to all the advisors, mentors, and fellow colleagues that have helped shape my interest and passion for these extracurricular programs as I hope to share my experiences with incoming new students.

SPC Internship Office: What are your plans for after SPC, and have you chosen a major?

Tait Sorenson: I have been admitted to UCF in Orlando for fall 2014. I will finish my Bachelor’s there and work on a Master’s in Aerospace Engineering with a focus on Space Systems Design.

SPC Internship Office:What was the Internship process like for you at NASA? Was there an application? Did you submit a resume? How many interviews did you have?

Tait Sorenson: The internship process is completely online at intern.nasa.gov. The web portal allows students to attach an application (with various short essay questions, employment/volunteer history) to their selected majors of interests as well as their current academic year of study. This profile can be attached to up to 15 specific internships with NASA. The application/profile can be used for all future semesters as a rolling application, which enables the student to continuously polish their profile.

NASA contacted me shortly after I submitted my application for a brief phone interview and the following week I was offered the internship.

SPC Internship Office: Describe what you will be doing at NASA for your internship.

Tait Sorenson: I will be part of the Small Payload Integrated Testing Service (SPLITS) Project Development Internship at the Kennedy Space Center.

SPC Internship office: Say wha…?

Tait Sorenson: I will be making a website for high school/college students groups that design very small satellites and then I will facilitate those satellites being launched into low-orbit on small to medium sized rockets.

SPC Internship office: What is your living arrangements while you are there? Is NASA providing an apartment or dorm where you will be with other interns?

Tait Sorenson: I am on my own to make my living arrangements. I will be renting a small apartment on Cocoa Beach.

SPC Internship office: Is this a paid internship?

Tait Sorenson: Yes, it is a paid internship.

Internship office: This sounds like an amazing opportunity, and a once in a lifetime experience. Thank you for taking the time to share this information with us, and the subscribers of the Internship and Career Connection Blog. We can’t wait to hear all about your internship! Enjoy your time at NASA and we’ll talk again when your internship is completed.

Click here to learn more about NASA’s internship program, and make sure to subscribe to the Internship and Career Connection Blog to hear all about Tait’s experience at NASA later this summer.

 Follow internship news at SPC on Twitter at #spcintern