Vincennes University students on Oct. 24 had an on-campus opportunity to find an internship at the Internship Fair.
According to Director of Career Services Trenton Lee, this is the fair’s sixth year, and it gives students the chance to expand their horizons and seek out new opportunities.
“We implemented it with the thought of giving students the idea or the opportunity to come and meet with employers and network,” said Lee.
VU students also have the chance to earn scholarships.
While there were scholarship opportunities across a variety of disciplines, Lee said, the fair saw good representation from tech companies. Scholarship opportunities in that area, however, are few.
“There are only a few scholarships that are heavily focused on technology,” Lee said. “(For instance), Berry Global is here.”
Representatives from Daviess Community Hospital in Washington were also on hand to visit with students.
“We do internships for basically every role there. We also offer job shadowing,” said hospital employee Heather Stone.
Internships offer students real-world experience in their chosen fields and what it is like to be in the workforce.
“There’s a plethora of positions there, not only in healthcare, but you could intern in HR, marketing, accounting, or billing,” said Stone.
There is also so much that goes into making this fair happen for students.
“We touch base with faculty and staff to see where students are to see what students would be interested in as far as internships go. Then we start reaching out to employers, and often employers will be reaching out to us looking for students for their internships,” said Lee.
Although this event is mainly for VU students, it is open to the public.
“Who’s to stop the public from coming in and finding an internship?” said Lee.
Each year the fair usually hosts “70 to 100 students,” he said.
VU student Bryce Peek, who is going studying surveying, was at the fair looking around.
“I’m a surveyor trying to get an internship for the summer,” he said.
The majority of students searching for an internship were freshman.
“We’re starting to see these incoming freshmen participate quite a lot more in on-campus activities,” said Lee.
“The goal of every fair we have, whether it be a job fair, internship fair, or transfer fair, is networking. The opportunity for students to come through here and meet people, make those connections, and just really learn about what is out there and put faces with names when it comes to companies. That helps a lot, as students will graduate and look for jobs in the future,” Lee said.
