Thinking about summer (internships)

PSU recreation major Aril Commons, center, pauses for a photo on the beach with fellow interns Candice Morris from Alabama, on the left, Jill Singleton, from Texas. Commons’ summer internship at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was an experience she’ll never forget.

Thinking about summer (Internships)

The spring semester is barely underway, but career counselors tell students now is the time to start thinking about summer internships. Mindy Cloninger, director of career services at PSU, said students who want a summer internship should plan on attending Spring Career Day at PSU on Feb. 15.

“Internships make a big difference when employers look at applicants,” Cloninger said. “A student who has had an internship experience is definitely a stronger candidate.”

Although the foundation for a satisfying career may be laid in the classroom, internships provide experiences that can’t be duplicated on a university campus. Ask Aril Commons, a recreation major from Riverton, Kan., who last summer found herself organizing activities for military personnel at the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Commons, who was looking for an internship opportunity that would provide both good experience and possibly travel, discovered the Navy Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) Division’s Liberty Program. The MWR provides a wide range of services for sailors and their families at facilities around the world.

Commons was one of about 60 summer interns who gathered in Memphis, Tenn., for three days of training at the end of the spring semester. From Memphis, the students were dispatched to facilities all over the world. Most went to Japan, Commons said. She was one of five sent to the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The base at Guantanamo Bay is unique for a number of reasons, according to Commons. Not only is it the only U.S. base located in a country with which the U.S. has no diplomatic relations, but it also is the site where detainees captured in Afghanistan have been held since 2002. It is also a combined base where personnel from all branches of the military serve.

Commons said that as a civilian, she had no contact with the detainees, who were housed in a separate area of the base.

“I was working with the Liberty Program,” Commons said. “That is a program designed for single, unaccompanied sailors. My job was to plan activities and events – things for the active duty personnel to do in the off-times.”

One of the things Commons discovered was the importance of recreation and organized activities for sailors assigned to a base like Guantanamo Bay.

“No one is allowed to leave the base,” Commons said. “Because it is an isolated base, it can seem like there isn’t much to do.”

Commons said it is easy for bored military personnel to fall into bad habits of sleeping or drinking excessively.

“Sports were huge,” Commons said. “We had soccer and volleyball. Dodge ball was a really big hit and wake boarding and water skiing were popular. The night fishing trips were always full. I also planned a big Fourth of July scavenger hunt and we had a pool party.”

Commons said most of the sailors and soldiers who participated were appreciative. Some, she said, liked the activities but just seemed to want to talk with a civilian.

The internship at Guantanamo Bay was a valuable part of her university education, Commons said.

“When I got there, my supervisor was doing double duty,” Commons said, “so for the first two weeks I was kind of on my own. It was hard and good all at the same time. It made me self-reliant and self-motivated.”

Commons said she expects to apply the things she learned through her internship to whatever job she eventually does.

“Recreation is pretty broad,” Commons said. “I can imagine using some of what I learned in a lot of different settings.

Thinking about summer (Internships)