Internship experience is invaluable to students

Each year when the summer semester rolls around, some students go home or take a few classes, but for some UCF students, the semester that is supposed to be the easiest winds up being the busiest.

Many students are now trading their free time in exchange for valuable experiences in the form of summer internships.

Senior Aerospace Engineering major Jonathan Martinez dedicated his time to a cooperative education program with NASA since 2009. With the childhood dream of becoming an astronaut, Martinez finds himself in a good place, especially during the summer months.

"As soon as I found out that NASA had a co-op program, I knew this is where I wanted to be," Martinez said. "I'm thankful that I was given the opportunity to be part of the shuttle program at Kennedy Space Center and experienced seven incredible launches."

As a student trainee at the Kennedy Space Center, Martinez works with the Main Propulsion Branch where he is part of a team responsible for processing a system that determines the proper velocity, momentum and impulse it takes for a spacecraft to function correctly. He has also worked closely with space shuttle main engines, ensuring that the hardware is ready for flight. Martinez hopes that with three years of working with the agency under his belt, he will be hired on as a full-time employee in May 2012 after he graduates.

"What I like most is the fact that I can relate everything that I've learned in school to real life situations," Martinez said. "In engineering, students are taught a lot of theoretical concepts…this allows me to see how these concepts are applied in day-to-day situations."

While Martinez considers his program a part-time job, not all students can be so lucky. Senior advertising/public relations major Matthew Malerba had to balance an unpaid internship, a part-time job and courses this summer.

As a public relations intern for the Office of the Mayor in Orlando, Malerba spent the summer researching information for media alerts and press releases and handling media relations at events that Mayor Buddy Dyer attended. Malerba's teacher was the one who told him about the opportunity.

"The Office of the Mayor was seeking a PR intern for the semester, and she felt I would be a good fit; she was right," Malerba said.

Malerba said he enjoyed dealing directly with the media at major events and seeing firsthand interactions between reporters and public relations professionals, but there was still a lot to learn.

"I learned to go after people when you are in need of information, a phone call will not suffice and if you are not a go-getter…then you will fall behind," Malerba said. "No one cares about making you look good except yourself."

For Chris Erhart, his event and social media internship still taught him new things even after his recent graduation. Erhart spent his summer with entertainment company Firestone Live.

"I made connections, gained real-world experience and even had a little bit of fun," Erhart said. "I'm passionate about music and this was a good way to get my foot in the door in the industry that I love."

Erhart said experiential learning helped fine-tune his resume and land the job. "I would say that's a must for anyone who is looking to get started with an internship," Erhart said.

While some students took the opportunity to gain experience in their field, others jumped at the chance to continue education overseas.

For junior Marian Davila, a finance major and Italian minor, the summer was filled with wine tours, ancient artwork and views of the Mediterranean Sea.

"As soon as I heard that there was a summer program in Italy, I immediately jumped in," Davila said. "The way I see it, I was going to spend my summer in school anyway, might as well be in Italy."

As part of the Italian Language and Culture program at UCF, Davila spent the summer in an apartment with eight other students in Florence, Italy, taking a course called "Dante's Inferno."

"Just being in a country that I have fantasized about for years, and actually living in it, made all the downfalls seem minuscule," Davila said. "At the end of the trip, I felt like a Florentine."

Going to a new country or stepping foot into an office that is completely out of one's element can prove to be difficult, but the experience is invaluable.

"Even though at times it could be stressful, I know that in the long-run it will be beneficial to my career and the time I put in now will help me land that dream job and make the big money," Malerba said.