Gave me a chance to work in a new environment...
When I applied, I was just finishing up my associate degree at Springfield Technical Community College. I was sure that I wanted to work in the information technology field. The summer internship allowed me to get pertinent experience assisting the system administrators. Some of them had been working with the campus network, the largest in Western Mass, for decades. The internship also allowed me to stay in a dorm for the summer so that my job was just a short walk across campus. It meant I didn't have to find some means of transportation to get from my home to campus to take advantage of the opportunity. But the program didn't require you to stay on campus, so others with families or who lived close by could stay at home. I'd often heard that many internships were unpaid, and that people did them just for the experience. The internship program at Umass paid more than I was making at the supermarket where I worked part time to help with bills. This meant I didn't have to work two jobs to earn money and useful experience. All these reasons made the internship too good to resist. It lead to professional growth and gave me a chance to work in an environment I otherwise would not been able too. The internship helped lead me to my current job at Umass Amherst doing system administration and web programming. I would encourage anyone interested to apply and take advantage of the same chance that I did.
Aaron C., Summer 2003
