Summer Internships Prepare DSU Students

While some DSU students’ summer season means going to their hometowns to reconnect with family and friends, a number of students are using the time to fulfill their intern requirements and gain some hands-on experience in jobs relating to their majors.

Below is a sampling of some current internship experiences of students from each one of DSU’s colleges.

India Sage Williams, a Mass Communications/TV, Radio and Film major in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, spent part of her summer interning at CBS News in Washington, D.C. She learned about the opportunity at a job fair at Howard University where she met Kia Baskerville, a CBS News senior producer, who encouraged her to apply for the internship.

Ms. Williams, of New Castle, Del.,  has been assigned to the CBS Special Events News section, where she is involved with work on assignments that have included the Orlando shooting tragedy, President Barack Obama’s addresses, Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey’s “United State of Women Summit” and others.

“Throughout this internship I have learned that the sky is certainly not the limit, that I can achieve past that and as a young woman in media I can become a trail blazer for so many other young people to come,” Ms. Williams said. “I mostly enjoy the working environment, the people and the impromptu conversations I have with the bosses in the business who inspire me to keep working hard toward my dreams.”

Kevin Perry, a junior accounting major in the College of Business from Alexandria, Va., has spent his summer months as an intern auditor at SB & Co., a certified public accountant firm near Baltimore.

Mr. Perry is working on actual client accounts, an internship experience well worth his traveling expenses. He commutes daily from Dover.

“The gas mileage is killing me, but it will be worth it,” Mr. Perry said. “This is helping me build my skills in the corporate world, and it is giving me good experience in workplace interactions and communications.”

He is not totally far away from Hornet camaraderie, as he is working side by side with DSU alumnus Eric Barfield, who landed a job as a staff auditor with SB & Co. right after his May 2016 graduation.

Mr. Perry said he plans to share his internship experiences with his peers in the DSU Accounting Club, of which he is president.

Timesha Ray, a senior Textile and Apparel Studies major in the College of Agriculture and Related Sciences, spent her summer internship working for Fila at the National Harbor in Washington, D.C.

Ms. Ray said her aspiration is to become a clothes designer. She said her work at Fila gave her some valuable customer service experience.

“I helped customers find what fit them as a person. I had to adapt myself to what works for them,” Ms. Ray said. “The experience made me more well-rounded. Ultimately my goal is to make people feel better about themselves through clothes.”

Ms. Ray added that her interaction with corporate people at Fila helped her gain a better understanding of the business part of the company.

Shanice Yearwood, a senior Movement Science major in the College of Education, Health and Public Policy, did her internship on the DSU campus with the Delaware Center for Health Promotions (DCHP), which is based in the Wellness and Recreation Center.

Through her internship work, Ms. Yearwood has helped the DCHP design a new Walking Program that it will launch in the fall on campus. The goal of the program is to get people to walk 10 miles a week.

“I am learning that the health field involves a lot of data research, a lot of sitting and analyzing numbers that you have gathered in the field all day,” Ms. Yearwood said. “This experience has helped me realize my potential and showed me that I can work with people in this field.”

She added that she has future plans to pursue a master’s degree and Ph.D. in Public Health.

DSU’s Optical Science Center for Applied Research (OSCAR) has attracted Ines Latiri and Laurence Vobe from their University of Versailles in France to spend their summer at Del State doing separate internship research projects. OSCAR is under the College of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Technology.

Ms. Latiri, a sophomore chemical engineering major, is focusing her research on the movement of particles in fluorescent light. “This will be a great addition to my C.V. (curriculum vitæ),” she said, adding also that this internship has given her the opportunity to improve her English.”

Laurence Vobe, also a sophomore chemical engineering major, said she has been able to utilize OSCAR’s Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) and spectrophotometer.

“In my research, I’m trying to use LIBS to detect cancer earlier,” Ms. Vobe said. “I am also working with the spectrophotometer, which we have different types of in France; but at OSCAR it is more advanced.”