Students Form Employment, Travel Plans for Summer Vacation

Summer is upon us, and for Boston College students that can mean many things.   
Amid the bleak economy, finding summer work this year may be harder.

Russ Ventura, an adviser in the Career Center, said the number of summer internship postings on the Career Center database has diminished.

"The amount of postings went down by 20 percent from what they were two years ago," Ventura said. "We saw last year that the actual database postings went down. However, there are more internships out there as students become more proactive and contact businesses on their own."

The Career Center has provided many resources for students to find summer work, hesaid. In addition to the internship fairs held during the academic year, the Career Center Web site also has links to databases in which students can search for summer work. "Most students go onto the internship databases and look for things they are interested in," Ventura said. "If they don't see any jobs they like, they take a proactive strategy and look for companies geographically. We suggest they contact the companies directly and ask for summer internships."   

Although the databases provide links to internships around the country, many of the links provide jobs in the greater Boston area. "A majority of the internships that are posted in our portal are from the Boston to New York corridor," Ventura said. Ventura said that students should also ask faculty in their respective departments about summer work. "We suggest for students to talk to faculty within their major," he said. "Many of the faculty members have contacts within their majors."

In some instances, faculty members have asked students to work with them on their research over the summer. This is what the summer has in store for Kim Rhodes, A&S '12. Rhodes, an environmental geosciences major, will be aiding in field work for Noah Snyder, a professor in the geosciences department. She will also be taking a biology class at Boston University. As a research assistant, Rhodes will assist Snyder as he conducts research on rivers in Maine.

Since this opportunity will allow her to gain experience in her chosen field, Rhodes chose to stay in Boston this summer rather than return to Virginia. "I wanted to get field work experience before going into the job market," Rhodes said. "I also wanted to learn more about what it's like to be a geoscientist, and I didn't just want to work at the movie theater again in my hometown."

While some students are seeking work in areas of study, other students see the summer as an opportunity to broaden their educational horizons. Meredith Koch, A&S '12, a biology major and math minor with a bioinformatics concentration, will be studying at the American School of Thessaloniki in Greece for five weeks. In addition, Koch will be working as an emergency department technician at the Stanford Hospital.

After hearing about this opportunity at the study abroad fair, Koch said she decided that the summer would be the best time to study abroad. "I can't study abroad during the year because of my major and two minors, so studying during the summer was a good alternative and most of the people in Greece speak English," she said.

Koch said she will be studying Greek art history and architecture along with the history of Thessaloniki. "Both hopefully will fulfill the core," she said. "I wanted to take a history class that was different and had a unique perspective, and the architecture class just sounds interesting and fun."

Other students have found work from sources outside of those offered at BC. John Sears, A&S '12, a German and Spanish double major and Arabic minor, found a job working as a translator for a cigarette company in Flensburg, Germany. "I am staying with my language partner and his uncle in Denmark," Sears said. "I will live at his uncle's house in Denmark, and I will have my own car to make the 15-minute commute to work in northern Germany everyday."

Since Sears will be translating for a campaign aimed at Germany, Spain, England, and Ireland, he said he will be able to use the skills and knowledge he has gained from his major courses at BC. "Three days a week, I am working for a cigarette company," he said. "I'll be doing translation work between German, English, and Spanish. The other two days a week I will be working at an upscale restaurant in northern Germany to practice my language skills."

Like many students, Sears said he chose his job in order to gain experience in his future career path while having the enriching opportunity to live abroad. "I like Europe a lot," Sears said. "I've also taken German business classes at BC, which will help me apply what I learned in the classroom to real life. Since I will also taking a German night class in Germany, I will be able to meet other people and better my German. But mostly it will give me good working experience in a variety of fields. I'll get experience abroad since after graduation I will most likely get a job abroad or be dealing with people abroad."