BA Internships

Since kicking off last year, the Bachelor of Arts internships have offered students the opportunity to apply the knowledge and skills they've picked up in class to real world projects; working with the businesses and community organisations to which they have been assigned to achieve some very important outcomes. They're a great opportunity to not only gain some experience, but to gain a better idea of what you can do with your degree, and where you'd like to go in your career.

Ahead of an information session this Thursday, we spoke to a couple of past interns to see how they found their respective projects.

Emma Pay

Emma completed a social impact assessment of Café 101. The café's lease is up for renewal in a few years and the owner needed evidence of both the positive and negative effects on the university community.

What got you interested in the internships?

I stumbled across them online, because I was doing a graduate diploma in arts in sociology. There was a course I was going to take and it got dropped and I was looking for something else to do, and I just stumbled across it on the Arts page, and it seemed like a really cool idea. I could count it as a paper towards the degree I was doing, so I just applied for one I thought was really interesting.

Can you describe the project you worked on?

Mine was a social impact assessment of Café 101 and Reboot, just showing what their importance and points of difference are, say, compared to the university cafes. Her lease is expiring in a couple of years time, so she wanted to have someone conduct a social impact assessment to prove the importance of why she is on campus, and why there are businesses that are privately-owned on campus, and what they offer that the university ones don't. It was something she'd never had time to do herself, and something she always wanted to do, so the Arts internship gave her a way of actually getting that done. So it was really good for her, and an awesome opportunity for me as well, because it was good being able to apply all the things I'd learned in class – to see how it can be applied and help a business was really interesting.

Because sometimes with Arts degrees it can be tricky to see how the theory applies to reality...

I think that all of us who were interns last semester really felt that. Sometimes all these things you're learning seem really interesting, but it's hard to conceptualise how you'd apply them in a real world situation, or how they'd be beneficial. I think people give BA a lot of stick sometimes, when these kind of things really showcase and prove that what you learn in a liberal arts degree is really useful and applicable. I think a lot of the businesses were quite surprised by what we could do, and the things that we brought up that they'd never even thought of.

It must have been cool working on something on campus.

It was good because it was something I felt was not only helping her, but students as well. It was a good boost for her business, realising how valuable they are on campus. It's kind of interesting – sometimes you think a café is just a place where you get food and come and go – but for a lot of people it's a really central part of campus; a social hub. They feel a real sense of community and belonging. Some survey answers were really interesting, that they went there every week to meet a friend for a catch-up, or picked their Lotto numbers with the other girls in the office. It was really interesting to see that a place like that is more than just a café.

Must feel very rewarding to see you've made a difference

Yeah, and it was really exciting to do something that was an actual real-world situation, as opposed to doing a case study, or something that there's already been research on. It was kind of cool to be able to do something and watch it change and help someone with an issue, as opposed to just doing another essay, or an exam. It's far more rewarding than usual uni work.

So you'd definitely recommend it to other Arts students

Definitely. There were a lot of logistical issues, but it was definitely really worthwhile; I'd recommend it to anybody. It gives you a chance to use all the skills you've learned, help someone in the community, and get some work experience out of it as well.

Tess McClure

Tess project developed computer games. As part of a non-profit company tied to the United Nations, she developed research behind non-conflict, non-violent, and most importantly, non-boring gaming. She presented her research, getting rave reviews, from both the computer developers and the non-profit company.

What got you interested in the internships?

I think I actually just saw a poster up somewhere and so I looked it up online and looked at some of the past interns and saw they'd been involved in some quite cool projects. So I thought I'd apply for it after looking at what was available that year – there looked like some quite exciting opportunities.

Can you describe the project you worked on?

I was working with the Disarmament and Security Centre, an NGO who work quite closely with the UN on military disarmament and nuclear disarmament advocacy. They're kind of a peace activist organisation. My specific project was doing some research and a giant report on a new arm of the organisation that they're starting up which is aimed at young people, and how to motivate young people to get involved with humanitarian-type stuff – especially non-violent conflict resolution, and how to use social media to do that.

What were your findings?

I had to do a bunch of work firstly summarising what's out there, and what other organisations are doing, and what's popular and what's not, and then assessing that and why some things work to motivate young people and others don't. I did a bunch of research on the activism of young people and ended up finding, or making the recommendations, that a lot of organisations are successful at either raising awareness with young people or at offering opportunities to take action, but don't really offer much in between that. It's quite a massive jump for a young person to become aware of an issue and to take empowered action on that. My findings were around those middle steps.

Does that fit in well with what you're studying?

Yeah. I'm not studying political science, so there wasn't the most obvious link – I'm doing English and history – but it was quite exciting to use the classic BA skills in a useful and tangible way.

Does that give you a better idea of what you can do with an Arts degree?

Definitely. I always have friends and family asking me what I'll possibly do with my degree. It's awesome to realise that your skill set is really valuable to professional organisations, and that that can be useful.

What were some of the highlights of the experience?

It's really awesome as an undergrad to get the opportunity to do independent research in an area you're really interested in. Also it's really amazing to get that work experience working with a really well respected NGO as an undergrad student. It's great to meet people and make connections and make contacts in that industry and that world.

Interested in an internship next semester?

Find out how you can apply the analytical skills acquired through your major to local company and community projects while earning Stage 3 academic credit. The next ARTS395 Internship Information Session is tomorrow (15th Sept) 4-5pm in A5 lecture theatre. An employer and a few past internship students will come to talk about their experiences. Please email artsinternships@canterbury.ac.nz to register your interest in attending this session.