Penn State Students Pursue Internships as COVID Restrictions are Lifted

Story posted April 11, 2022 in CommRadio, News by Kennedy White

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Following the adjustment to the mask mandate around campus, COVID-19 still remains prevalent in our lives.

Adapting to a new lifestyle after over two years of precautions may be hard for some students.

The virus has impacted the way students engage with their school work and altered their mental health. Students can now shift their focus towards school work and some may be looking to apply to an internship.

Internships are a step towards landing a future job and can be beneficial to one’s resume. When the pandemic first began, many opportunities were canceled. Thus, making the search for an internship more competitive.

Temi Adepoju understands the struggle of the application process and the intense time as he waits for his results.

“When COVID first came out, I wasn’t really looking for internships at the time. I just started to look for internships within the past few months,” Adepoju (third-year — business management) said. “The only thing I am stressed about is the results. I am just stressed about whether I am going to get it or not and I’m still waiting.”

According to a 2021 study conducted by Center for Research on College-Workforce Transitions (CCWT) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, only 22% of college students took an internship, with half of those being in person-positions.

For some, the more difficult part comes from not even knowing where to begin. Finding an appropriate internship for your career path may be challenging.

“I think that COVID has definitely made finding an internship more competitive for students,” Claire Strucko (second-year — advertising) said.

“What I personally ran into was companies were looking for older people, such as junior and seniors with prior experience, and if you don't even know where to begin to get that experience it is hard to secure an internship when they are looking for that.”

Taking advantage of the resources that are offered to the students is important. Try by shaping your resume, networking with people and learning a new skill that could be seen as useful in the position you are applying for.

Kennedy White is a second-year majoring in public relations. To contact her, email klw5974@psu.edu.

About the Contributors

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Kennedy White

Sophomore / Public Relations

Kennedy White is a second-year from Hershey, Pennsylvania majoring in public relations at Penn State. She is an anchor and news writer for the CommRadio news department. She is also involed in Advertsing/ Public Relations club and involved with volunteer work for the Project:Paws club. If you would like to get in contact with her email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)