Sophomores Survey Careers by Shadowing Alums Fall Break Externship Program Sends 24 into Real World

Author: Caroline Stauffer

Whether discussing the art of fly fishing with Dan Rather, observing a photo shoot of muffins or leafing through campaign portfolios, students who participated in Middlebury College's Fall Break externship program gained a tremendous amount of experience in a two-day period. Traveling to Washington D.C., New York, N.Y., Boston, Mass., Burlington, Vt., and Middlebury, 24 sophomores participated in the Career Service Office's (CSO) externship program.

The externship program began two years ago, when only six students participated. It has since grown exponentially, sending students to spend part of or an entire week shadowing Middlebury alums during fall and spring breaks. According to Susan Walker, associate director for internships, the number of applications doubled this year compared to last spring. A total of 43 sophomores applied for 26 externships. One sponsor took two externs and three offerings were unfilled, so a total of 24 students participated in the program. Last spring, 19 students applied for 24 spots and 15 students were selected, leaving eight offerings unfilled. Walker noted that the most popular externships were in the fields of finance, communications and publishing. Opportunities in large cities also proved to be more popular than those in Vermont.

"The goal of externships is to give you a more defined sense of the area you're interested in so you don't end up stuck, working in an area you hate for any extended period of time," Erin Bell '06 said.

Students were randomly selected for each position through a lottery. The application process consisted of simply submitting one's name electronically. Once selected, students submitted a resume and a statement of purpose. This system created a variety of opinions.

"My problem with the system is that it is based on a lottery and all you have to do is put your name in," Abigail Mitchell '06 said. "I think people who have a greater interest in that career or exploring that career should be given higher priority."

"I don't think people realize the reason behind the 'blind' application process and were actually kind of bitter about not getting an externship," Bell said. "Since it's only a two-day experience, it would be silly to have a big formal process with a jury to decide on the applicant. Also, the point of externships is to give those who have absolutely no experience as equal a chance at a position as someone with a more qualified background. That way, people with experience don't just amass more experience and the people with no experience don't stay that way. This is great for kids like me who don't have many connections. It's a lot harder to get your foot in the door. Externing really is a great networking experience."

Bell's externship was at the Lowe and Grob Health and Science Agency in Boston, which markets medical and scientific products."Basically, I shadowed my sponsor, leafed through campaign portfolios and met with various other employees at the agency. So I was able to get a sense of just where exactly I'd fit in with an agency - I'm thinking about the research sector more seriously now or maybe working as an account executive. I asked tons and tons of questions and even acquired a bit of a marketing vocabulary," she said

Sophomore Feb Jake Kuiper's externship led him to reevaluate his career aspirations.

"Prior to this externship, my interest in journalism was beginning to fade a little bit," Kuipers said. "When I met with sponsor Catherine Herrick, it opened my eyes to this new world of journalism. I am now completely enthusiastic to get into the career field of magazine and possibly tele-zine journalism."

"The coolest part of the experience was sitting in the control room behind the executive producers of Evening News Tonight while it was being shot," he said. Kuipers left CBS with a tremendous amount of respect for the people who work there. "Those guys are under a tremendous amount of pressure, and they don't screw up," he said.

Another milestone of Kuiper's trip was meeting Dan Rather in the 60 Minutes Office. "We talked about fly fishing," Kuipers recounted.

Students did not, however, have to travel to a major city to participate in an externship. Hattie Bildsten '06 spent two days with Alice Lawrence, production director at Eating Well Magazine, in Charlotte, Vt. "I chose to work with Eating Well because, although I am an International Studies major, I think that I want to work with a magazine or publishing company," Bildsten said. "It's difficult to make decisions like that, though, without any experience, and as short as one weekend may be, if you are assertive and ask questions and get involved, its easy to get a general idea of what people do at work every day."

Bildsten described Eating Well as "an elegant health and food magazine produced by a surprisingly small staff." She became acquainted with several different processes of magazine production, from photography and artistic design to copyediting, solicitation of advertisements and organization of content. One of her first experiences was a photo shoot of muffins. "We witnessed the glamorous photography of six different types of muffins. The intricacy of the lighting, angles and texture of each shot amazed me, as we saw each photo on a computer screen and listened in to the photographer's critiques of each one," she said.

Overall, Bildsten appeared thrilled with her experience. "CSO was so helpful and so nice not only with the externship but with other internships as well," she said. "More students, especially sophomores and first-years, should definitely take advantage of the resources there."