This week: social services, forensic science, TV news

RELEASED: Feb. 10, 2005

DANVILLE, KY—For all Centre College students, the January CentreTerm means active, in-depth, engaged learning beyond the norm. For those students who chose to participate in internships, the CentreTerm experience takes them outside the classroom and into the working world.

Internships are an integral part of the Centre Commitment, which guarantees students an internship, study abroad, and graduation in four years. (For details visit, http://www.centre.edu/web/admission/publications/centrecommitment.html)
The Centre Internship Plus program offers matching grants for selected internships, and offers students a chance to receive extra financial support.

This year, a number of Centre students had interesting internships for CentreTerm. Here, in the first of a two-part series, are a few of their stories.

JULIA COVINGTON
Chemistry
Batesville, Ark.

Describe your internship. Where do you work? What are you doing?
I'm working for the Jefferson county forensics lab in the drug analysis division. My specific project is to test standards in a class of drugs known as tryptamines. Because tryptamines are relatively unknown in this lab, the results from my testing will be used as references in later drug cases. I'm also learning how a crime lab works and all the different divisions that are contained in one. Besides the drug analysis/forensic chemistry divisions where I work, there is also forensic biology and firearms/toolmarks division.

What have you found most challenging about your internship?
Most of what I'm doing deals with instrumentation that I'm fairly familiar with, so that's not so bad. The challenging part is having to just sit and watch, and not being able to touch anything that has to do with [the instruments].

What have you found most rewarding?
The most rewarding part is probably realizing that I could do what they're doing with the education I have.

How has your Centre experience helped you to prepare for your internship?
My previous chemistry classes have been the big help in understanding how the instrumentation works that I'm using.

What are your goals after graduation? Will your internship help you meet those goals?
I'm still unsure about my future after graduation. I'd like to work in a forensics lab, but jobs there are few and far between. Unless something falls in my lap, I'm planning on going to graduate school and to work either in industry or teaching.

Was there a certain person or office at Centre who helped you during the application process to get the internship?
My advisor, Dr. Jennifer Muzyka, was the biggest help I had in getting this internship. She was there for me when I didn't think it was going to work out, and she did a lot of the communicating to actually get me the internship. She had spent her sabbatical working at the state crime lab in Frankfort so she was very helpful in making sure I knew what would be expected of me and what I could and couldn't do with evidence.

Would you like to share any anecdotes about your internship, just plain old funny stories, etc.
One of the chemists had a case that I never could have imagined—250 pounds of marijuana! It was crazy. Also, I just want to let everyone know that even though it is a great show, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation isn't very realistic. There's no way a person could have such expertise in so many fields. The characters [in the show] do the job of about six different people in real life.

ANNA UEBELE
Religion (pre-med)
De Pere, Wisc.

Describe your internship. Where do you work? What are you doing?
I'm interning with the Kentucky Refugee Ministries (KYRM) of Louisville, Ky, a not-for profit refugee resettlement agency. I've been working primarily with health services director Janette McCabe on two major projects. The first involves developing and advertising for a free mammogram clinic at the end of February. The second is addressing a family planning 'crisis' of sorts with a group of recent refugees. Addressing family planning with this group has been particularly sensitive and often unwelcome. I'm working with Janette and other resettlement agencies, all of whom seem to be having the same problem: to come up with a way to relate family planning and general reproductive health to the women of this group in a culturally sensitive and relevant manner. I also do odd tasks for anyone in the organization who needs an extra pair of hands. So far it's been a whirlwind of learning how refugees are settled, and the many people who are needed to make the resettlement a success.

What have you found most challenging about your internship?
It's been a challenge not to become cynical. I have to remind myself that in spite of all the genocide, starvation,and indifference that plagues the world, there's still an amazing wealth of self-sacrificing individuals who commit their lives to the service of other people. The dedication and generosity that I have a chance to witness working at KYRM is awe-inspiring.

What have you found most rewarding?
Many of the individuals that KYRM is resettling are fleeing their homes as a result of religious, political or ethnic persecution—or even genocide. Unwed mothers, homeless and jobless individuals, and families are among the group we often refer to when talking about 'those less fortunate.' Being at KYRM has put me face to face with these people on a daily—in fact hourly—basis. I have faces and stories to put with concepts such as welfare, food stamps, and the unemployed, along with international issues such as political, religious and ethnic warfare. It's rewarding to witness an organization whose sole purpose is to serve these individuals. I'm sure this internship has benefited me far more than it has the employees I'm trying to serve!

How has your Centre experience helped you to prepare for your internship?
I've been educated in a college that expects you to see the big picture—to see beyond the comfort of one's own beliefs, practices and way of thinking.

What are your goals after graduation? Will your internship help you meet those goals?
I plan on going to southern India to work with a small orphanage and hospital to create a health education program in their small costal village. This program will focus on AIDS education, family planning, and help for the large number of girls who become 'illegally' pregnant as a result of communal rape. Depending on funding, I will spend as much my first year after Centre as possible serving in this village. This internship has helped me to begin to explore the ways to make health education culturally sensitive and relevant to the people I'll be serving. After that year's experience, I hope to attend medical school in Kentucky.

Was there a certain person or office at Centre who helped you during the application process to get the internship?
Joy Asher, associate director of career services at Centre, gave me the name of KYRM.

Would you like to share any anecdotes about your internship, just plain old funny stories, etc.
Lee Welsh, a Centre grad who's married to Al Welsh, another alum, works for KYRM as their sponsorship coordinator. Other Centre grads work for KYRM, too: Audra Cain, Barbra Klein (married to Gary Klein, another Centre grad), and Lucy Harbin Rain.

MICHAEL GREGORY HALL
History
Jacksonville, Fla.

Describe your internship. Where do you work? What are you doing?
I work at WJXT Channel 4 in Jacksonville, Florida and I'm basically a newsroom assistant. My duties consist of shadowing others and learning about what makes the news come together. So far, I've learned a bit about editing, making investigative phone calls and following field reporters. I've been on the field twice with the same reporter covering different things such as tsunami donations and a hit-and-run incident. I've also been with a reporter, conducting live interviews and writing news scripts for the 5 o'clock broadcasts.

What have you found most challenging about your internship?
The most challenging aspect of the internship has been figuring out what do with my downtime. There's a great deal of downtime here.

What have you found most rewarding?
I think the most rewarding thing about this internship has been the ability to catch a first-hand glimpse on the behind-the-scenes work that goes into making the nightly news.

How has your Centre experience helped you to prepare for your internship?
My Centre experience has helped me a great deal because it's taught me how to deal with stress and given me very valuable time management skills.

What are your goals after graduation? Will your internship help you meet those goals?
After graduation, I'd like to enroll in journalism school, and this internship will no doubt help me to meet that goal.

Was there a certain person or office at Centre who helped you during the application process to get the internship?
No one person at Centre really recommended this to me, but Career Services was very helpful in getting the ball rolling as far as contracts were concerned.

Would you like to share any anecdotes about your internship, just plain old funny stories, etc.
One of the funniest things so far has been an incident that happened to me while I was shadowing an investigation of a hit-and-run. A rival station showed up while we were conducting an interview and their field reporter got into a verbal and somewhat confrontational scuffle with ours. After telling her that we needed five minutes to wrap up the interview, she banged on the door, brushed past our reporter and sat down. The whole incident in retrospect was very funny.

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Founded in 1819, Centre College is ranked among the U.S. News top 50 national liberal arts colleges. Centre alumni, known for their nation-leading loyalty in annual financial support, include two U.S. vice presidents and two Supreme Court justices. For more, visit http://www.centre.edu/web/elevatorspeech/

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