September Internship Spotlight
The Internship & Career Fair is coming up on September 20th, but have you ever wondered what it looks like to be an intern?
Working at an internship site will help you gain valuable experience in the field, as well as begin to build your professional network and add substantial content to your resume.
To give you insider information, we asked one of our psychology students who completed an internship this summer to share with you about her experience. We are proud to highlight Krysta Bernasconi and her experience as an intern working with victims of human trafficking.
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Major: Psychology
Minor: Criminology.
Semester of Internship: Summer 2018
Internship Site: Family Services of Tulare County, Visalia, CA (Freedom House)
Give an overview of your site and what you did while interning there.
Freedom House is a youth drop-in center for victims and at-risk youth of human trafficking. While interning, I oversaw the drop-in center, I did standard office work (answering phones, directing calls to other FSTC buildings), and worked on projects such as: Human Trafficking kit (walk-through experience of life of a victim) and sexual health/healthy relationship private information.
Why did you choose this site for your internship? Discuss how the site fits in with your career and/or academic goals.
I mostly chose this site because it was in my hometown. However, it mainly provided me with the knowledge to determine if social work was a field I would want to pursue. The site connected with my career/academic goals by allowing me to use my knowledge from Social Psychology and Developmental Psychology and better understand how to apply it in real-life situations.
What did you like most about working at your site? What activities/responsibilities did you enjoy and learn the most from?
I liked how welcoming the youth drop-in center was. It felt very at home and was even in a home-structured building. It provided the youths to come in and have a snack, watch some TV/play games, and do homework. Towards the end of my internship I was able to help run a youth group. I was instructed to pick out an art activity and we interacted with the youth about common life stressors and how to relax the mind and body.
What skills/knowledge did you gain at your internship that you will carry with you in your career path?
During this internship, I was able to better my communication skills with the youth, especially those who would refrain from divulging information. Building trust among victims and at-risk youth is so imperative and can really make a difference in a case.
Discuss your career goals and what your next steps are after you complete your Psychology degree.
After I complete my Psychology degree, I plan on interning either a non-profit group or looking into becoming a paralegal. In that time, I plan on researching and considering options for graduate school as well.
What advice can you give to other students interested in pursuing an internship?
Internships are so beneficial to a resume and it truly helped that I was able to get course credit for it as well. My biggest advice would be to not get upset or disappointed if your internship isn’t turning out like you expected. Communication is a big key and being able to voice your concerns with your site supervisor isn’t a bad thing. It can actually build that relationship more and better your outcome of getting a letter of recommendation or future job with them.