Often on television or in the movies, interns are viewed as an afterthought – an extra person in the office to go on coffee runs, make copies or run errands. For U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, it’s a good thing this is real life. From day one, USACE interns are in their respective departments contributing to building designs, dam safety inspections and more. This year, the program started Wednesday, June 5 and concluded on Wednesday, August 7.
While interns at the Kansas City District isn’t necessarily new news, this is the second year the district had a dedicated Summer Student Intern Program. Prior to 2023, each division had their own individual process for intern management. District leadership saw the way private industries fashioned their intern programs so they tasked W. Cady Ford, interior designer, and the newly hired Calista Brown, talent outreach coordinator, to provide a district-wide program.
“When I started creating the program, I thought about what I would have wanted during my internship,” said Ford. “I wanted to ensure we highlighted the breadth of what we do as a district, the opportunities available to USACE employees and ensure they got to see what we do in action.”
During the interns’ time at USACE they have the opportunity to experience their offices of interest, of course, but there is so much more – including professional development, socials, site visits, trips and brown-bag sessions on everything from resume writing to emergency management and travel opportunities. For a program as multi-faceted as this one, it is impossible for one person, or two, to do it alone.
“This year alone, the program was supported by over 60 individuals throughout the district,” said Ford. “I think that is a great testament to how invested the district is in this program and the development of our young professionals.”
This year, Brown served as the summer intern coordinator, taking the comprehensive foundation Ford put down and took it a step further, adding division representation for summer leaders.
“With her [Ford] vision, we now have a summer intern program manual that is referenced as we rebuild the program elements each year,” Brown said. “We will continue to make updates and improvements based on lessons learned. The program’s success this year is thanks to this team … [and] the valuable perspective from other divisions with the greatest number of interns in the program’s expertise and guidance at each stage of the program development.”
In addition to the program coordinator and division representation, the program also includes mentors. The volunteer mentors are encouraged to meet with their interns at least once a week to discuss questions, concerns and to establish goals. Additionally, they monitor the quality of internship each mentee is receiving and notifies the program coordinator with any concerns.
“I was a mentor; it was great to be able to show them all the wonderful opportunities at USACE,” said Robin Perusich, lead project engineer at the Kansas City Resident Office. “The interns that I worked with were really interested in all the things that were going on, they liked all the field trips … I hope we get to see them again. I’m excited about getting younger folks engaged in the great things USACE does.”
The 2024 intern class went to USACE projects in Kansas and Missouri, such as Tuttle Creek Lake and Stockton Lake and the KC Levee projects. They also had the opportunity to go on an environmental trip in Nebraska, where they visited the former Cornhusker Army Ammunition Plant and USACE neighbors to the north at the Omaha District office. According to Brown, field trips set USACE apart from our competitors and one of the field trips the interns enjoyed the most was a visit to Whiteman Air Force Base in Warrensburg, Missouri to see our work on the B-21 hangar and the former Oscar-01 Missile Launch Control Facility.
“It was a great experience - I got to meet a lot of people, learned about a lot of different topics I never pictured myself learning about,” said Jessie Perrin, a chemical engineering major and senior at Kansas University. “I had no clue what USACE did before I came here, my perception of USACE changed drastically; I really like our mission, I really like what we do and it really made me passionate about the work here.”
A Talent Outreach Program attends many in-person career fairs throughout the fall and spring to find students interested in summer student intern and recent graduate roles. The job announcements are shared with almost 150 schools, even ones USACE doesn’t visit. The interns hailed from universities in Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Indiana and Illinois.
“I would recommend this internship for anyone, it’s definitely worth your time,” Perrin said. “You get a lot of experience you wouldn’t get anywhere else, and you gain a lot of appreciation for what USACE does and the work the people do. I gained an appreciation for the behinds the scenes work of what goes into protecting our communities, as well as serving our communities.”
Interns like Perrin were able to experience the communities USACE serves thanks to the meticulous planning of the Student Intern Program leaders.
“These trips are what separate us from our competitors,” said Brown. “The interns were extremely interested in seeing the military bases and servicemembers. We tell them all summer that supporting our warfighters is A part of the USACE mission. Meeting our warfighters in person is something I would like to continue purposefully planning in the program.”
For now, however, it’s back to career fairs for the Talent Outreach department. A comprehensive, successful and positive experience will be in store for the 2025 Summer Intern Program.
| Date Taken: | 08.30.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 08.30.2024 09:39 |
| Story ID: | 479849 |
| Location: | KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI, US |
| Web Views: | 39 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, USACE Kansas City District Summer Intern Program Wraps Up Second Successful Year, by Cynthia Clark, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
