By RUTHANN WRIGHT
Forget working at the boring jobs that seem to plague college student's lives.
There are some interesting and unusual jobs to be found through BYU's internship program that have placed BYU students at work on farms, in pharmacies and at companies outside of the United States.
Take Karl Kuebitz for instance. He is a junior from Poway, Calif., majoring in environmental engineering with an international emphasis, and has already worked a full summer in Germany in his field of engineering.
Kuebitz worked for a small, private company in soil mechanics, which deals with studying the soil and land where a foundation will be laid before construction on anything can begin. He ran into a few challenges while he was there, but says it was a great experience overall.
One challenge was learning and speaking the technical jargon of engineering. 'I speak German pretty well, but I not only had to learn a new vocabulary, I also had to make sure I understood what I was saying and what I was being told,' he said.
Kuebitz also said it wasn't always easy to work with the construction men, because he would sometimes be placed in the awkward situation of being in charge. He had to make sure they were doing their job right.
Hans-Wilhelm Kelling, a professor in the Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages, works with students like Kuebitz in the international internship program to provide them with the working experience that will help after graduation.
Kelling said that the internships are open to anyone who is qualified. Students don't need to be a humanities major to intern internationally, like Kuebitz, but do need a language background.
Kelling said he has placed students who are majoring in areas like chemistry, business and finance. Jobs offered to these students have included working at IBM, Colgate, Xerox, luxury hotels and restaurants and European banks like the Swiss and German National Banks.
'These students want to improve their language background,' Kelling said. 'They are mainly interested in the language and culture experience that they don't get in the classroom.'
Cathy Ackerson, a junior from Tacoma, Wash., majoring in international relations, also worked with Kelling to get placed on a farm in Rahden, Germany milking cows.
Ackerson said she just wanted to do something different and felt like this would be the chance. Having learned the language only up to German 202 at BYU, she was nervous about people being able to understand her, but said it was never a problem.
'Working on a farm was a little different than I thought it would be because I had a romantic idea of what a farm was like,' she said. 'I guess I wanted to be the next Heidi.'
Wearing out three pairs of jeans in the three and a half months she was there, Ackerson would get up at 6 a.m. every day and would start milking cows by 6:30. She said she milked cows twice a day and in between would do other errands on the farm like throwing down hay, cleaning and mowing the grounds.
'My jeans were thrashed by the end of the day, and I always took my showers at night, but I learned a lot.'
Richard Heckmann, professor of Zoology said it doesn't matter what a student's area of interest is, he wants to get them placed in a hands-on experience situation before it is too late.
'These students need to know what it's like to work in an area of interest while they're still in school,' he said. 'It looks good on a resume and it helps them get a better feel for things.'
Katie DaBell, a junior from Pleasanton, Calif., majoring in zoology, began her internship this semester at the pharmacy in the Utah Valley Regional Medical Center. Right now she is just observing, but soon will be filling and distributing prescriptions around the hospital. She said getting involved in this internship was purely a shot in the dark.
'I didn't know what I wanted to do with my major, but decided on the possibility of pharmaceutical sales after I attended a seminar given by Dr. Heckmann about making a career out of it.
DaBell says that her internship has already been a great hands on experience for her where she can learn in a real-life situation, because 'you can't learn this stuff from books.'
Other interests of students in the Zoology Department have led to internships at a mortuary, a pest control agency and as far away as Africa.
The College of Education also offers some interesting possibilities through their program.
LuJeanne Peters, director of the advisement center for the David O. McKay College of Education, said that those who would like a teaching internship interview directly with the school districts, not the department here on campus. Once these students are chosen, they teach for a full school year, get paid half salary of a teacher and receive all the benefits of a teacher. Also, their fall tuition is paid.
'It is a real plus to get chosen to do an internship,' Peters said. 'It not only looks good on a resume, but it is a way for students to get their foot in the door.'
Student teaching, another program with the College of Education, is not considered an internship, but students sometimes have the opportunity of traveling a little further. Student teachers chosen to participate in the Washington Seminar will teach in inner city schools in Washington, D.C. Other student teachers have also been chosen to teach in Mexico, China and Tonga in the past.
Terry Nels Lee, director of the undergraduate management program of the Marriott School of Management, said that most students can tailor their internships to fit their interests.
'Some will cold-call companies, some will answer the internship opportunities that are posted, and others do it completely on their own.'
Lee said he had two students interested in the import-export business who are now in Africa to work in and learn all about setting up their own business.
Dave Memmott, a senior majoring in electronics engineering and technology, works with the internship students in the College of Engineering and Technology, along with graduate student Scott Kube.
'I'm just the middle man for the students and the companies,' he said. 'A part of the experience of an internship is the actual searching to find one.'
Yet another interesting internship on campus is the program in the Department of Physical Education. Students are required not only to be involved in an internship, but complete it over the course of two years, having to get in 800 clinical hours to graduate.
Gaye Merrill, the athletic training program director said that students generally spend one year of their internship in a high school and then spend one season with a team on campus. The students help provide medical coverage at the different sports events and at the high school level are supervised by a certified trainer.
As a part of any internship program at BYU, it is required that all intern students have liability insurance, which the University provides. This is a way of protecting the university, the student and the company involved.