Xtra Credit

Internship Orientation Session with Carrie Allison Brooke

Thomas Green

I attended the first orientation session for the MCA summer internship position.   I am interested in working a summer internship for either a gallery/museum or a magazine/publication and Carrie was helpful in showing the students locations on the MCA website where you can find links to resources and internships that have been affiliated in some dynamic with MCA before.    

Carrie had a lot of information about the differences between being an intern and being a volunteer.  Namely, that if you are not getting any sort of credit for the position then you are just a volunteer.   Students must follow a number of certain steps in order to apply for the summer internship.  Prior to the internship semester you must fill out an Internship Application Form, Contact and interview with a site, complete an internship agreement form, and then register for the intership course with the registrar.

There are a number of requirements that are needed in order to complete an internship for credit.  One of the requirements is that the student works a minimum of 90 contact hours for the course of the summer.  Internships need to be approved by the school before you can get credit and you must pay for tuition just as if you were going to school.  It is wonderful that the school can charge you 2000k and take that money and hopefully pay Carrie Brooks to continue developing the internship program.   For you to get financial aid for the internship or for summer classes you must take a minimum of 6 hours.

There is also the Ferris Summer Internship scholarship that is offered for internships to two lucky people who get an internship with a company that is “profile,” meaning, a company that can do something for the school even after the student has finished working the internship.  It is important for the school to build such relationships so future interns will be able to gain experience while attending classes.   The Ferris scholarship provides $2500 to go towards travel, lodging and food while attending a for-credit, high profile internship outside of Memphis.  Rising juniors seniors, or graduate students who have a 2.6 GPA or above may apply for intenhships.