“An internship is a form of experiential learning that integrates knowledge and theory learned in the classroom with practical application and skills development in a professional setting. Internships give students the opportunity to gain valuable applied experience and make connections in professional fields they are considering for career paths, and give employers the opportunity to guide and evaluate talent.”
– National Association of Colleges and Employers
While not all academic programs require their majors to participate in an internship, UMF students recognize the educational and professional benefits of participating in one or more internships over the course of their college careers. Some use it as an opportunity to gain skills and connections in their chosen field, others to explore potential career paths. Whatever field you are interested in, whatever your goals, UMF can help you find an internship that’s right for you.
Surrounded by breathtaking scenery, Portia Hardy (‘22) worked as a summer intern at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in its Adult Education & Interpretive Exhibits program. She taught visitors about butterflies and host plants as they walked through the Native Butterfly and Moth House, interpreting the garden to guests through “a learning lens” of natural science. Portia describes her internship as having been an invaluable experience in “informal public education within a cultural institution.” She credits UMF with helping her to connect with the Botanical Gardens. Portia was particularly appreciative that her academic advisor, Prof. Julia Daly “visited me at the garden campus to check in on my activities” and helped Portia connect the internship experience to her major in Environmental Science.
As an Environmental Policy major with a Geology minor, Mel Geisler (’21) has taken a number of courses that directly applied to his internship with MICA Guides in Glacier View, Alaska. As an intern, Mel led 3-hour glacier treks across the Matanuska Glacier, a 26-mile long valley glacier, multiple times a day. He credits Prof. Doug Reusch as “an inspiration for me to get into the mountains and follow my dream of being a professional guide, but also to strive to learn more about the geology and glacial processes that have shaped much of Alaska. Without the knowledge I learned in his classes, not only would I not be nearly as knowledgeable on tectonic processes and glaciology, but I wouldn’t even be able to look at mountains the same way as I do now.”
Spending his summer as a member of the Patient Experience Team at Maine Med, Andrew Parent (‘21) gathered information from patients about their stays and helped prepare for a hospital-wide Patient Experience Conference. Andrew believes he would not have been able to accomplish this if it wasn’t for UMF’s close-knit community and his psychology classwork that helped him understand “what patients and families were going through in order to help give them the best patient experience possible. As a psychology major working with patients, this experience has allowed me to develop a deeper compassion towards patients and their family members during difficult times.”
Sam Wood (’21) was very excited to be selected as one of the Margaret Chase Smith 2020 summer interns. Despite the COVID pandemic, Sam Wood (’21) was able to work remotely for the Bureau of Rehabilitation Services. Along with various other projects, she worked with the Bureau’s Systems Improvement and Quality Assurance unit on their Intranet to redesign their webpages and make the site more user-friendly. Sam also worked on an early college program for students with disabilities in a Step-Up program. Through the prestigious MC Smith paid-internship program, Sam learned “what it is like to work in State government and how to work with many kinds of people. I have also learned about the intersectionality of disabilities through online webinars and the people I have worked with which will hopefully help me in my future career as a human rights lawyer one day.”
The Senior Buddy program connects the elderly in our community with UMF students who volunteer to read and/or perform at the senior centers in the Farmington area. After Abby Hoffman (’19) initiated the program, Katie LeBlanc (‘20) took up the relay in her senior year, interning as the volunteer coordinator. Katie was responsible for identifying and coordinating student volunteers who spent time each week at one of Farmington’s four senior living facilities. Katie’s internship enhanced her skills in marketing, communication, management, and grant writing. “As a Business and Economics major with a concentration in finance and economics,” Katie explained, “I never thought I would be working in the community health field. But in the end, I felt more connected with the Farmington community and figured out where I may want to take my degree after graduation.”
As a double major in Geography and Business Economics, Natalie looked forward to the opportunity to apply her classroom learning to a more “practical and real-life” experience through her internship program. “Working with the City of Gardiner’s Department of Public Works offered a more engaging and insightful experience than I could have ever imagined. My internship allowed me to explore my interests beyond my academic major in a way that has already been beneficial to my career.” After graduation, Natalie was offered a position as a cartographer with Central Maine Power. “I would not have been offered the job without my internship with Gardiner. It was my experience mapping utility flows that convinced them that I was the right candidate.”
During the summer of 2019, before she began her career as a science teacher at Biddeford Middle School, Sophie Manning (’19) had a paid internship at the Maine State Aquarium in Boothbay Harbor. “I was really looking forward to any science experience that I could gain to share with my students, and my summer internship at the Maine State Aquarium did not disappoint. From giving day-to-day presentations on various science topics, taking care of the marine creatures behind the scenes, to job shadowing in the Department of Marine Resources labs, I gained so much knowledge in such a short period of time.” Getting her photo taken with Bill Nye The Science Guy was just icing on the cake!
