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:
Tayler Hartfield-White
She is: a fourth-year student from River Rouge majoring in Applied Speech Communication, who is pursuing a minor in Hospitality Management. Tayler plans to graduate in May 2019.
Her Internship: Tayler is serving as an operations staff member, including front desk duties at the Country Inn and Suites, in Big Rapids. She states, “It has given me a wide variety of experiences, dealing with things like conflict management, greeting and supporting our guests, taking up tasks, independently, and working in a team setting.”
How She Got Her Internship: “I have a friend who is working with another hospitality property, in town. I spoke with them and then contacted Country Inn and Suites’ management. They were agreeable and supportive in helping me to pursue this internship at their facility.”
Her Advice for Other Students Seeking Internships: “Start as early as possible, to help in your exploration of possibilities. By taking part in job shadowing, and other outlets, it should help them to better define their career goals.”
Tayler’s Future Plans: “I am still exploring opportunities. I have always had an interest in event planning, and my internship has helped me become acclimated with hotel operations, and how they handle activities. My classwork, in Hospitality Management, is showing up in the experiences I am having during my internship.”
Ferris Core Values She Relates to: Opportunity and Collaboration. “I believe they apply in terms of the networking a student does, or what goes on while I deal with the public. You don’t know how might wind up meeting someone and what that encounter might present in terms of chances for a job or other connections.”
PHOTO CAPTION: Tayler Hartfield-White, a senior from River Rouge majoring in Applied
Speech Communication with a minor in Hospitality Management, is shown above in this
Meet the Interns photo.