For some Northwestern students, getting a degree involves not only class time and final exams but also time in the workplace.
Journalism students complete Journalism Residency, education majors student teach, engineering students are offered co-op spots and a variety of internships are available for students in Weinberg and the School of Communication.
Three students working as interns through NU programs right now said their experiences have given them a valuable look at the working world as they experiment with the fields in which they want to work.
WEINBERG: FIELD STUDIES
Financial advisors around Chicago are reading Mark Shpizner's homework.
Shpizner, who interned during Winter Quarter at Merrill Lynch, a financial management and advisory company, compiled a 17-page research report on capital markets as a part of his internship through Northwestern's Chicago Field Studies program. After he finished the report, it was distributed to companies across the city.
Shpizner participates in one of the many local academic internships offered by the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences' Chicago Field Studies program, open to students from all schools.
For more than 30 years, the competitive program has arranged Chicago internships for an average of 15 students per quarter. The programs include Field Studies in the Modern Workplace, offered every quarter; Business Field Studies and Legal Field Studies, each offered one to two quarters per year; and two new programs - Field Studies in Social Justice, offered this spring; and Field Studies in Community Research, offered this summer, said Audrey Cutler, program assistant for CFS.
The goal of the program is to allow students to "see how the workplace functions on a larger scale," Cutler said.
Going into the experience, Shpizner said he saw an opportunity to get "a leg up on a summer internship." For the American studies major, working in finance has exposed him to a new area of study, he said.
2008 Woodie Awards
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