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:
Michael Henretty-Jornales
He is: a senior in the Manufacturing Engineering Technology program at Ferris, who lives in Holland. His internship is with his employer, Ventura Manufacturing, in Zeeland.
About His Internship: “I take classes part-time at the Grand Rapids campus while working full-time. In my internship, I am learning the day-to-day life of a full-time Manufacturing Engineer in the Furniture industry. I had worked at Ventura Manufacturing five years, before enrolling at Ferris, and was promoted to a full-time engineering position after working as an engineering intern for two years, prior to this current summer opportunity, through Ferris.”
Future Plans: “I hope that I can maintain my current position at my company throughout the rest of college and that it leads to more career opportunities down the road.”
Advice for Students Seeking Internships: Talk to anyone related to the field that you are going to school for. Chances are that if they cannot directly offer you an internship, they may well know someone who can. I have been able to refer a handful of my classmates to Ventura as interns. Network, network, network.”
Other Activities: “I enjoy making art, mostly drawing and painting, both traditionally and digitally. Before settling on my current career path in engineering, I dual-enrolled at Kendall College of Art and Design when I was a junior in high school.”
Ferris Core Value Michael Relates to: Opportunity. “I am where I am today in my career because my company has consistently
given me opportunities to prove myself as a competent employee, and I always try to
seize it the best I can. If it were not for that, I’m not sure where I would be in
life.”
MEET THE INTERNS HOMEPAGE