An Internship Luncheon Celebration on Monday at Ohio State University at Mansfield (OSU-M) had community leaders and young interns talking about opportunities found in Richland County.
The luncheon was held to celebrate the interns’ experience and to demonstrate community involvement between North Central State College (NCSC) and OSU-M. As part of the event, Dean of the Ohio State University at Mansfield Dr. Stephan Gavazzi spoke and shared his gratitude to all the interns for participating in the Internship Program.
There were 115 interns, between both the OSU-M and NCSC campuses, who participated in the Internship Program this past school year.
“What we do here on campus is great, but it really wouldn’t be anything without these great students. We are really sort of an untapped part of the community here, so thank you students for being here today to share all your experiences with us,” said Dr. Gavazzi.
Other community leaders were in attendance to the luncheon, like President of Richland Bank John Brown. He was there to speak on behalf of Richland Community Development Group, who has taken part in the internship program. Richland Bank had two interns work with them this past summer: Nicole Britton and Anthony Arato.
“Richland County isn’t just for old people, it’s for young people too,” said Brown. “There are bright, young, capable people that can fulfill a real need in all of our businesses,” he added.
After Dr. Gavazzi and other community leaders spoke, the interns were encouraged to share thoughts for one minute. Every intern shared thoughts, memories, and shared a little about what they learned and experienced through their time as an intern.
Many companies and local businesses were represented at the luncheon, including Richland Bank, Mechanics Bank, Cooper Enterprises Inc., German Rupp Company, Habitat For Humanity, and Raemelton Therapeutic Center.
“I’m in Columbus now, and yes, there is a lot of opportunity but Mansfield is my home and there is opportunity here,” said Anthony Arato, a student of the Ohio State University in Columbus.
Stephanie Irving, a Psych-major at OSU-M interned with Habitat For Humanity, for the organization’s first intern. She said what impresses her most about her internship with Habitat For Humanity is what she described as a constant “give and give” relationship with the community.
Because of her background, she was able to make informational surveys that help Habitat For Humanity better serve families in need. However, she was also able to learn the manual labor side of what the organization does through their ReStore facility. These two different sectors of Habitat For Humanity have different supervisors, of whom Irving worked with both. The supervisors’ names are Veronna Drane and Greg Weigler. Both attended the luncheon with Irving.
“I hate to say this, but I enjoyed working with Greg more,” said Irving followed by laughter from the attendees. “It was just more fun doing the manual labor,” she added, with more laughter following.
Over thirty interns spoke of their experience with the Internship Program through OSU-M and NCSC. None had negative reports of their experiences.
“Richland County isn’t just for old people, it’s for young people too,” said Richland Bank President John Brown. “There are bright, young, capable people that can fulfill a real need in all of our businesses.”
