Ferris State University students gain valuable work experience through internships.
Internships also can confirm or redirect career decision-making, provide marketability,
develop people skills and enhance classroom learning. Many academic programs require
one, but the experience is encouraged regardless to provide students with a better
understanding of what will be expected of them in the workplace.
Many students are participating in myriad internships this summer. Meet:
Brook Botbyl
He is: entering his senior year. Brook, from Muskegon, is a student in Ferris’ Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Technology program.
HIs Internship: Brook is serving in a project management capacity with the Limbach Company, based in Pontiac, Michigan. “I am learning how to run multiple programs that help track the progress on job sites. I am learning how to properly fill out permits, then going to the city, to follow through in pulling those permits. I am also learning to properly read prints of a job, so I can navigate myself around the facility, as well as being able to count up all the mechanical equipment located on the prints.”
Internship Experience/Ferris’ Assistance with This Internship: “I did an internship the summer following my freshman year, in Dearborn, at Mechanical Heating and Cooling. After my sophomore year, I did an internship in Muskegon at G&W Refrigeration. The main reason I chose Limbach for an internship was because associate professor of HVACR Joe Pacella has worked for them, and said nothing but positive things about their company. Once he told me and my classmates about how great the company is, he sold me on working for them immediately.”
Future Plans: “I hope I have proved myself to Limbach in the time I have spent in my internship, that I might land a job with them once I graduate. I have not found one thing that I do not like about this company. I dream to work for them after graduation.”
Advice to Students Seeking Internships: “Try and find an internship that puts you in a role that you want to experience once you graduate. For example, since I started the HVACR Bachelor’s program, I have always wanted to be a project manager. So my goal was to land an internship where I could experience the day-to-day work life of a project manager. This is kind of like a test trial, to see if this is what you actually might want to do for the rest of your life.”
PHOTO CAPTION: Brook Botbyl is entering his Senior year in Ferris State University’s
Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Technology program. He spent
the Summer semester in a project management internship with the Limbach Company, of
Pontiac, Michigan.