Graceland University Hosts First On-Campus Internship Fair

The philosopher, poet and novelist George Santayana once said, “The great difficulty in education is to get experience out of ideas.” So, how does one gain such experience with a college education? Graceland University is attempting to answer that question and make it a part of students’ “Graceland Experience.”

Graceland is offering students opportunities to participate in internships, which have been said by employers to be the single most highly coveted factor for weighing potential hires. Internships offer students the chance to take their classroom knowledge to a work environment and gain direct experience in their area of study.

This has become such a focus that the Career, Academic and Personal Counseling (CAP) Center at Graceland University hosted the first internship fair on campus Thursday evening, Oct. 22. There were 13 university departments and 13 outside employers in attendance at the fair to speak with students and accept resumes and applications.

The event was well attended by students. The CAP Center offered students resume help in the weeks leading up to the fair and most came prepared and hopeful for the chance to get noticed.

Junior Maddi Borison is a sports management and business major who was interested to learn about local recreation-related internships. Borison said of her experience at the fair, “I was surprised by the amount of opportunities that I found there. I’m grateful that Graceland is actively working to offer me the chance to gain experience in my field before graduation. I know it will give me an edge when I start applying for jobs.”

“This event was key in raising awareness about the benefits of doing an internship,” said Catharine Craig, Director of the CAP Center. It was also an opportunity for all students to see just how many resources and connections we can offer on campus and through our Graceland network.”

In addition to internships, Graceland is working to incorporate additional experiential learning opportunities into the classroom and the entire “Graceland Experience.” You can read more about what Graceland is doing in this January 2015 Horizons article about Experiential Learning.