TheIntern

Water Safari Photo Intern

Yes, it's a chance to practice those photo skills, meet people, and spend time in a fun environment. More information on the Water Safari photo internship and other openings is available from myfirstpaycheck.com.

Job for an intern: find recycling bins

If you do get a position in an office and you find that it's not easy to recycle there, get a bin and ask if you can place it in a prominent spot. Then learn your city's rules, and adhere to them. Energy Matters found a recycling problem in New York and is calling attention to it. That's a task others can do, too.

Great internship -- marketing

This is an opportunity with a fast-growing tech start up:

• Description:
  Myfirstpaycheck.com is looking to grow in your community!
  
  Want to help us expand while learning about marketing and sales within a vibrant youthful start-up?
  
  We are looking for high school and college students who are looking for experience. This is an unpaid internship, but the hours are flexible and you can work from home.
  
  Email us if you have any questions, and please attach a resume if you're interested in applying.
• To Apply

  Myfirstpaycheck.com

  :
  email@myfirstpaycheck.com

And how was your summer internship, Katherine?

Katherine Roubos is a college student from Minnesota who had a summer internship with a newspaper in Africa. Here's how the Washington Post described what happened after she wrote a story about gay rights --hundreds of people rallied and demanded she be deported:

Tuesday's demonstration was the latest in a series of showdowns between religious conservatives and a small, but growing gay rights movement across the continent.

The protesters gathered at a Kampala sports ground holding banners with anti-gay messages and posters demanding the deportation of 22-year-old Katherine Roubos.

Roubos, from Minnetonka, Minn., was assigned to cover gay issues in Uganda as part of a three-month internship with the Daily Monitor newspaper, which is owned by the Aga Khan, the spiritual leader of 20 million Ismaili Muslims. The Ismailis are a part of the Shiite community.

Katherine's hometown paper in Minnesota caught up with her by phone:

Reached in Kampala on Thursday, Roubos, who was born and raised in Minnetonka and graduated from Minnetonka High School, said the hubbub continues.

"There have been no direct personal threats," she said. "But it's been pretty stressful just trying to evaluate my safety situation. I've been in touch with the U.S. Embassy, so that's been helpful. I'm taking common-sense precautions. I don't feel entirely safe, but I don't feel I'm in imminent danger."

Roubos will return to the United States next month to finish her last semester at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif. She said calls for her deportation have even reached the nation's parliament.

Solid foundation

Middle Tennessee State University seems to be a good launching pad for at least one intern. The Philadelphia Inquirer uses the story of 21-year-old Joshua Travis to illustrate the growing demand for concrete and for skilled managers who understand how to make and use concrete. Travis has a summer internship with Pennsy Supply in Harrisburg, supervising a crew that pours concrete for a new office building. Here's an excerpt:

If Travis miscalculated the concrete's water evaporation rate during his 2 a.m. shift or quit paying attention to its sloshy composition as the crew pumped it seven stories up, the floor's foundation could crack.

But that did not seem to bother Travis, though he is only 21 and just a summer intern at the concrete giant Pennsy Supply Inc.

The college senior is highly qualified. As part of a requirement to earn a bachelor's degree from Middle Tennessee State University in concrete industry management, a major with growing popularity, he has been certified as a concrete field-testing technician.

"I've been doing this stuff since my sophomore year," Travis said confidently.

Other schools and communities help place interns in the construction industry. Here are links to programs at Colorado State University, in Fresno, Calif., and with a national builder. There are plenty of other people out there ready and willing to follow in the footsteps of Travis.

Making the most of the internship

New on the job, new in a community, an intern can start to think about what a permanent job would involve and what living in that new community might mean. One way to learn is to start asking questions. Here's an example, from The Frederick News-Post:

He has a great job in a great place and Lavin realized that Frederick could be somewhere he'd end up living for more than just one summer. He wanted to find out more about what the city had to offer. And he wanted to know what could be changed to make it even better.

So, after a little online research and writing up a proposal, he hit the streets with a spiral notebook and asked people what about Frederick they'd like to be different. Lavin surveyed about 50 people. It's an ongoing project at least until his internship ends Aug. 17.

Finding valuable intern information

Here's a guide to intern links on the web:

Internships have become a gateway to permanent jobs, and the Web helps employers craft internships while telling prospective interns how to get the edge for the internships they want.

Hokies

"We are all Hokies today"

Happy Easter

Click for an Easter smile.

Start with a definition

The one from Wikipedia includes this: An intern is one who works in a temporary position with an emphasis on education rather than merely employment, making it similar in some respects to an apprenticeship. Interns are usually college or university students or other young adults.