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Students at Northwest Missouri State University completed a variety of internships during their summer away from the campus – from practicing behavioral science skills at alternative housing centers to building knowledge in natural science and outdoor environments.
Northwest students practiced graphic design for tourism bureaus and marketing agencies. They interned at theater companies, athletic organizations, museums and recreational facilities. Some students crossed state lines while others went as far away as South Africa and Germany.
Internships help students develop professional skills and exercise what they’ve learned during their studies at Northwest. Career Services recommends that students gain hands-on experience outside the classroom and assists students with every step of the internship process, including searches and résumé reviews.
“Internships are a great way for students to get hands-on, profession-based learning experiences and build their résumés,” Travis Kline, Northwest’s assistant director of career services, said. “They are also a great opportunity for employers to recruit talent and increase awareness of their brand on campus.”
Career Services offers internship resources and tips to Northwest students and recommends completing at least one internship experience before graduating.
“Doing a summer internship is an excellent way for students to gain new skills and meet new people – both of which can be very helpful when they graduate and are looking for a full-time job,” Kline said.
A sampling of Northwest students’ recent summer internship experiences appears below.
Burroughs, a senior from Hannibal, Missouri, spent her summer interning at Quanada, a domestic abuse treatment shelter in Quincy, Illinois. She assisted the housing advocate with coordinating and overseeing the center’s food pantry and other donations, such as clothing and basic household items. She also provided direct support to clients, including answering hotline phone calls, helping clients find resources and escorting them to their prior residence when they needed to retrieve belongings.
“It solidified that I am in the right major,” Burroughs said. “I feel that the experience I gained from this internship has allowed me to make better connections in my coursework and feel more confident in my skills. Many of my classes focus on listening and learning how to communicate with others, so I feel that by having this internship I have learned how to make these connections more meaningful for me and the person I’m talking to.”
In addition to bolstering her confidence, Burroughs says Quanada and its team of employees helped her realize the importance of advocating for others and helping those in need of support.
“Domestic violence occurs whether we realize and see it or not, so having a multitude of different resources available to people is necessary,” Burroughs said. “Everyone at Quanada was easy to talk to and willing to answer any questions I had about their role at the shelter house and what made them want to work with people experiencing domestic violence.”
As Burroughs approaches graduation, she is aiming to work as a homeless liaison within a school district.
“Homeless liaisons help students that are in houseless settings figure out what they need in order to obtain an education,” Burroughs said. “I feel that by working with the housing advocates and childcare advocates at Quanada, I’ve been able to better understand what an unhoused situation looks like and how that affects adults and children.”
Grant Shouse worked abroad with a farmer in Germany.
Shouse, a junior from Weston, Missouri, worked abroad in Germany during the summer. He worked with a farmer to raise potatoes and sugar beets as well as Dinkel wheat and corn. He also helped with equipment repair, irrigation and working the fields.
He was partnered with a farmer through Experience International, an agency fostering local and global opportunities for students, professionals and businesses to share skills and cultures through experiential learning, immersion and mentorship.
“It helped me because the only person I could count on was myself,” Shouse said. “It put me in a mindset that I really could take on a career when I’m by myself. It established that confidence I’ve been needing.”
Although he had little knowledge of German crops, Shouse enjoyed seeing agriculture in a different part of the world and experiencing a different culture and cuisine. In addition to taking advantage of sightseeing opportunities, he lived with the farmer’s family in a 13th-century monastery.
“I would absolutely recommend this to agricultural students,” he said. “I think it’s extremely important for anyone to go out there and see that farmers are no different than they are (in the Midwest). It opens your mind to how big the world of agriculture really is.”
Emma Huettner fed a loggerhead sea turtle, Harold, as an intern at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium.
Emma Huettner, a senior from Omaha, Nebraska, worked at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium.
She had responsibilities that included morning checks – which involved checking temperatures and other conditions in water tanks – cleaning tanks, feeding, working on diet preparation, siphoning cyanobacteria and detritus from coral propagation tanks, and assisting staff with other tasks.
Huettner said the internship helped her better recognize the wide range of marine fish species in addition to building problem-solving skills when an animal needs care or an issue arises with an exhibit.
“This internship taught me what it is truly like to be an aquarist,” she said. “To be in this field, an individual needs to be physically fit. There are a lot of labor-intensive activities that need to be done. Also, the individual needs to be prepared for a handful of scenarios that normally don’t happen daily.”
She hopes to work at an aquarium after completing her degree at Northwest.
Malerie Schutt completed an internship with Integrated Breeders in Hearne, Texas.
Schutt, a senior from Hermann, Missouri, interned with Integrated Breeders, a company in Hearne, Texas, that provides cattle reproduction services to grow herds.
Schutt handled cattle she had never seen in Missouri and had responsibilities that included semen collection, laboratory inventory, health testing on bulls, prepping heifers for artificial insemination as well as feeding and moving cattle.
“It gives me a direction of interest for my professional career,” she said. “I love the cattle and reproduction industry and what it offers.”
She also enjoyed opportunities to meet and network with people working in the industry from throughout the nation.
“I really appreciated their passion about the cattle industry and getting to talk to them about their operation and what they do,” Schutt said. “They appreciated that I came from Missouri and came from a different background. Being able to share different perspectives throughout the industry I thought was really cool. I still think about those conversations I had with the clients.”
Joslyn Scheer used her business management knowledge as a social media intern with Black Pony Brewing Company.
Scheer, a senior from Ashland, Missouri, worked as a social media intern with Black Pony Brewing Company in Maryville, where she managed and created content for the business’s Facebook and Instagram accounts, using social media tools to tactically plan social media posts and track interactions across their platforms.
After spending the summer with Black Pony and working closely with social media, Scheer believes that applying coursework to an internship is beneficial to the professional development of a business student.
“Business is very lectured-based, and you have to learn all the terms and the strategies,” Scheer said. “So being able to use that in the real world and get an actual real-world experience, like what being in the workforce would be like, helped a lot, and it helped me put into perspective everything that I have learned.”
Ticknor, a senior from Monett, Missouri, worked as an intern with the Iowa Cubs, the Des Moines-based Minor League Baseball affiliate of the Chicago Cubs.
Ticknor has gained professional-based experience at Northwest as a part of the KNWT staff and a camera operator for Cat Vision during Bearcat football games. He connected with the Iowa Cubs with the help of Adam Bochart, a Northwest instructor of mass media, and joined the baseball organization’s eight-person video crew.
“I made new friends, new connections,” Ticknor said. “I had two supervisors. Both of them were awesome, really welcoming and, if you messed up, (they said) ‘You’ll get it next time.’ That’s the type of vibe they went for.”
The internship allowed him to work with a variety of camera equipment, software and production methods. He also rotated through different broadcast production roles, including as a director and replay video monitor.
Additionally, his work with the Iowa Cubs afforded him opportunities to participate in the broadcast productions for a Savannah Bananas game featuring the barnstorming team from Georgia and Iowa Hawkeyes college baseball games.
“Having the Iowa Cubs on my résumé, they are one of the most well-known Triple-A baseball teams out there, and they’re really highly respected,” Ticknor said. “Just having that on my résumé and seeing who I worked with and what I did will help me greatly.”
After graduating from Northwest in December, Ticknor hopes to start his career in sports production and someday work in the NFL.
Brylee Yantz worked as a research intern with the University of Minnesota.
Yantz, a senior from Fairbury, Nebraska, spent the summer as a research intern with the University of Minnesota, where she managed invasive European buckthorn.
“I spend a lot of time outdoors immersed in plants and learning about forestry practices,” she said. “It’s been great to get extensive field experience in a forested environment, and I love learning new things every day. I also had the chance to make connections and learn about research projects from many different people working in forestry.”
Yantz worked with a field crew to collect data for research projects at sites around the Twin Cities. The research team measured wildflower blooms, surveyed cover percentages of different plant groups and removed leaves from invasive plants to learn about their survival threshold.
Last summer she worked with Pheasants Forever and the Natural Resources Conservation Service as a wildlife biologist intern. Internship experiences have helped her develop skills in unique environments, including forestry, and gather résumé and job-hunting advice from professionals in her field.
“Summer internships offer real-world experiences that have been super valuable when I’m back in the classroom during fall and spring,” she said. “It’s rewarding to return to classes and connect my experiences to the subjects being taught. Overall, my internship experience has helped me stay aware of the big picture when attending lectures.”
After graduating from Northwest this fall, she plans to launch her career as a wildlife biologist and continue to work with plants.
Kolin Westhoff completed an internship with Textron Aviation.
Westhoff, a senior from Hannibal, Missouri, completed an internship in aircraft service sales with Textron Aviation, an aircraft company based in Wichita, Kansas.
Westhoff spent the summer working on a data entry system for sales staff to input customer requests to track what features and modifications customers are currently interested in. Throughout the experience, he learned more about Textron Aviation and the sales industry.
“I did a lot of sales presentations,” Westhoff said. “It really put me out of my comfort zone, and they pushed us to expand our knowledge on what the company does and what aircraft they have.”
Through spending the summer with Textron Aviation, Westhoff built relationships with other interns and employees through a shared passion for aircraft and flying. They spent much of their free time together and flew from Wichita to Kansas City for activities.
“Away from home, in a city where you don’t know anyone, you can just meet new people and find something to do,” Westhoff said.
With a longstanding interest in aviation, Westhoff believes his time with the company provided him with a better understanding of what a career in aviation might be like.
“I knew I wanted to do something in aviation, so that’s what I put myself into and it gave me a taste of that world,” Westhoff said. “Without that, I couldn’t have learned how the processes work and what they use, and nothing beats real-life experiences.”
Maggie Begbie completed an internship at Great Lakes Sire Service in Bronson, Michigan.
Begbie, a senior from Glenwood, Iowa, interned with Great Lakes Sire Service, a livestock semen collection, processing, storage and shipping facility in Bronson, Michigan.
Each day of Begbie’s summer looked different as she gained experience in all areas of the business. She primarily helped collect bulls, process semen from a raw to conventional state, grade the samples and pack orders for clients.
“This is a great way to see if the job area that you want is truly what you’re looking for,” Begbie said. “Always take the opportunity to gain experience and learn new practices while making some of the best connections along the way.”
Begbie is grateful for the knowledge she has gained at Northwest and the advice of faculty to prepare her for the internship experience as well as her career.
“This gave me a great idea of what type of career I want to pursue,” she said. “It definitely made the information I learned in class click with the hands-on experience I got to have.”
Elaina Houston, a senior from Washington, Missouri, completed an internship at the St. Louis Municipal Opera Theatre, which is better known as The Muny.
Houston worked as a scenic intern with responsibilities such as designing props and working with a team of electricians to prepare and hang stage lights. She also helped build set pieces – some with moving elements – and ensured they were safe to use.
In addition to the hands-on exposure to her field of interest, Houston said the relationships and bonds she formed with other members of The Muny team made her internship an unforgettable experience.
“I made such good friends who made me feel so welcomed and got me over a lot of negative self-images I had of myself,” Houston said. “They would constantly check in on me, and we made such good memories together.”
Houston is graduating from Northwest in December and plans to begin her career in theatre.
Kelby Derr worked during the summer in game entertainment with the Kansas City Royals.
Derr, who graduated from Northwest this past summer, worked as an intern with the Kansas City Royals.
Derr said he learned the importance of networking at Northwest and used his skills to land his internship with the Royals as a member of its game crew. This fall, he is working as an intern with the Kansas City Chiefs.
He landed both positions through his connections in previous internships, including his work with the Kansas City Monarchs of the American Association of Professional Baseball during the summer 2023.
“In the classroom, I can hear the professor talk about everything, or I can listen to a guest speaker talk about the professional sports world, but just getting to see it and live in it helped me understand what they were saying more,” Derr said. “I didn’t really know what to expect going into it, but now I have a better idea of just how things function. A big part of some discussions in class were about networking and how that is super important in sports. I figured that to be so, but I didn’t truly understand how important it was and how much making good connections would matter.”
With the Royals, Derr was involved in game entertainment, offering him opportunities to be on the field and close to the action.
“I plan to just keep grinding, gaining experience and making connections within those two organizations so that hopefully I can work my way up within,” Derr said. “Potentially, I can use these experiences as a stepping stone to another professional organization in the future.”
Alexandria Gilbert, right, spent her summer as an environmental scientist intern.
Alexandria Gilbert was an environmental scientist intern at Felsburg Holt & Ullevig, a transportation firm in her hometown of Omaha, Nebraska.
As a graduate student completing her master’s degree in biology, she took on responsibilities that included preparing biological assessment reports, conducting wetland delineations, creating wetland maps and completing species surveys.
“I think the field experience I have gained this summer is incredibly valuable and applicable to a future career,” Gilbert said. “I think being immersed in real-world situations in a potential career field is very beneficial.”
During the summer of 2022, she worked as an intern at Nebraska Wildlife Rehab, where she cared for baby raccoons, opossums, ducks and other native wildlife. She helped nurse them back to health before releasing them back into the wild. During the summer of 2023, she worked as a research and development intern at Merck Animal Health and contributed to the development of poultry vaccines.
She hopes to have a career that focuses on research related to wildlife health.
“My internship experience furthered my understanding of concepts I have learned in the classroom,” she said. “It is one thing to learn from a PowerPoint but a whole other thing to apply classroom knowledge to the field.”
