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Professional Golf Management Student Travels to New Zealand for Internship

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: Adam Schafer

Adam SchaferHe is: A senior from Laingsburg, Mich., studying Professional Golf Management.

Internship: Schafer was a Professional Golf Management Intern at Cape Kidnappers Golf Course, located in Hawkes Bay, New Zealand.

Schafer’s paid internship lasted seven months.

What he enjoyed: “My time spent in New Zealand was something I will never forget,” he said. “My favorite experience was traveling around the country and meeting new people from across the world.”

What he learned: Schafer spent his time in New Zealand learning about the golf industry, as well as learning about himself.

“I learned more than I expected going to New Zealand. Not only did I learn about the resort side of the golf industry, I learned what it is like to step out of my comfort zone and live in a new country,” Schafer said.

Core Value: Ferris’ core value that Schafer’s internship emulates is “opportunity.”

“I don’t know if I will ever have the chance to live in a different country, and I am very grateful for the opportunity that the Professional Golf Management program and Ferris provided me with,” Schafer said.

His future plans: Schafer will be graduating in December 2014. He will spend his last semester serving as President of the Professional Golf Management Student Association.

“Upon graduation I will hopefully be employed as an assistant golf professional at a private golf course where I will continue to work to one day reach my ultimate goal of becoming a head golf Professional,” he said.