Internships set the foundation for a professional career, and the Kendall College of Arts and Science’s D’Arcy Fellowship is a paid internship program that is competitive and challenging with a selective process that matches students with employers.
This past summer, senior art major Amelia Som de Cerff interned with GasTech Engineering, which provides oil and gas engineering and equipment solutions. “I did a lot of the marketing and branding work for the organization,” Som de Cerff said.
“I made things that are being used by an organization in the real world, which was pretty darn cool.”
Students must interview before a panel of representatives from the college and the company, followed by a more formal interview at the prospective company. “This process also allows you to have a more structured internship experience,” she said. “They give you a faculty advisor who checks up on you over the summer.”
Som de Cerff was new to the oil and gas world, but she discovered the value of combining the mission of the company within her designs. While presenting her work, her boss asked why she incorporated certain design elements. “If I’m including things, however small they might be, they wanted it to be purpose driven,” she explained. “That’s something that I would like to carry wherever I go.”
She learned time management and how to tailor presentations to different audiences. “You can’t wait for people to be constantly feeding you ideas, which is what you get in a school environment,” she said. “I learned to take the initiative.”
Som de Cerff jokingly calls herself a “pretend adult,” but Joe Reeble, the CEO of GasTech Engineering believes she is ready for the workforce. “Beyond applying her uncharacteristically high level of talent, she excelled in leading effective executive level meetings, conducted design reviews and continually demonstrated to us that she is a product of an outstanding program at The University of Tulsa,” Reeble said.
Som de Cerff is most proud of the connections she made. She advises students not to make connections for the mere purpose of letters of recommendation, but learn to truly bond and appreciate coworkers. “One of the reasons that I really liked working for this company is the people were so cool,” she said. “The people make it a perfect place to work.”