My mom doesn’t support my internship

If your parents are like Kyle’s and I’s then your parents most likely are not jumping up and down about your unpaid internship. Kyle Smith is a junior advertising and public relations intern at University of Central Florida, and she just snagged an internship in New York – her dream since freshman year.

Prior to scoring an internship in New York, Kyle completed a virtual internship and she is also a public relations intern at Her Campus UCF. She is a Her Campus photog and Kyle also writes a weekly fashion blog. How does she keep up with it all?

I wondered if Freelanship would help a busy student like Kyle. Here is what she told me.

Why would freelanship help a student like you?

Well, first and foremost, I come from a single parent family so besides the fact that it’s hard enough for two parents to send their kids to school, one parent is even harder. And I’m not alone. I have a brother who is a year older than me also at UCF doing a double major.

Having two kids in college is hard, and internships are a great way to get experience except that they don’t pay you so it’s hard to manage your time so Freelanship would be perfect.

So pretty much my mom is very oblivious to internships. It’s not that she doesn’t want me to do them. It’s that she would just rather me have a paying job, which has no relevance to anything I want to do in the future, unlike an internship that will give me hands on experience.

I’ve been dying, since I was a freshman, to go to New York. This summer, I got an internship there and of course the first thing that comes out of my mom’s mouth, before she is happy for me, is: “HOW are you going to afford this?”

It’s not about the money. I’m going to do this regardless so

It’s just hard when you get an internship and you’re just so excited, and you want to do it then your own mother is not happy for you because she doesn’t understand it.

She just doesn’t understand it. Being an Ad/PR major - no one cares about your 3.4 GPA. They want to see your resume.  

It’s not even that she’s not happy for you, it’s that it’s not financially feasible, right?

Right, that’s the thing, for her, the finances are the first things that come up.Where are you going to live? How are you going to afford this? HOW CAN YOU GET AN UNPAID INTERNSHIP AND SURVIVE?!

And I’m not so worried about [the finances] because this [internship] could potentially get me a job in the future – just this internship. I get so frustrated. It just brings me down.

I told my mom:

I’m like I don’t know what to say. Call the Nicholson School of Communication. Speak to someone because they will tell you how important internships are. She just doesn’t know.

Do you think other students share your internship issue?

Yes, 100 percent. I just think when our parents went to school it was different.

Would you consider a virtual internship in New York just as valuable?

Yes, for sure.

Sign up at http://freelanship.com.

The first 1,000 to sign up will receive the first three months free.

Dr. Paul Jarley: First generation college student turned dean

He is a first generation college student, who has now spent 25 years in higher education –behind the big desk as a PhD graduate. Paul Jarley, the Dean of the Lee Business School at University of Nevada, Las Vegas, was the second candidate to meet with the new dean search committee at UCF and today, he is UCF’s College of Business Administration’s dean.

Among meetings, interviews and, well, his job Jarley blogs. He writes about current matters and informs students of changes that affect them, but in a way Generation Y can relate – through witty, Snooki references.

“I love to write. I especially like to write pieces, which challenges people’s view of the world and encourages them to think and act differently,” Jarley said in e-mail. “The blog is about how students can get the most out of their college experience and the challenges higher education faces in providing students with the knowledge, skills and experiences to compete in today’s world.” 

Personal:

Birthplace:  Norway Michigan, a small town about 100 miles north of Green Bay Wisconsin.

Education: Bachelors in economics, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor; Masters of public policy, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor; PhD Industrial Relations, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Fun, obscure fact: I once owned a white leisure suit. Every generation has the right to be badly dressed, but only for about five years.

Business

Basic philosophy: There is no substitute for actually knowing your customers, employees and stakeholders and listening to their needs and aspirations.

First job: As a stock-boy in a small grocery store growing up. I was sixteen.

Favorite quote:  It’s a three- way tie.

• “Fortune favors the bold,” Roman Poet Virgil;
• “The reason so many people miss opportunity is that it tends to be dressed in coveralls and looks like work,” Thomas Edison;
• “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results,” Albert Einstein.

Accomplishment you are most proud of: Achieving a state of positive restlessness among faculty, students and staff, regarding the nature and the quality of the student experience at the Lee Business School and how we might create a unique environment, which will differentiate us in the marketplace and in the minds of high achieving students. I know I just said a mouthful of dean-speak here, but changing an organization’s culture is the most difficult thing to do.  We still have a ways to go, but we have made great strides in getting people to talk about and help create a different student experience without eroding our research mission.

Definition of success: Earning a living doing what you love.

Future goal(s): Helping redefine the business model for American public research universities.  We have to find a financially viable and engaging way to expose all students to the benefits of being taught by research active faculty, who are shaping the future of professional practice and the world around them.  It is this type of student experience that will ensure we graduate people ready and able to ensure the U.S.A.’s position of leadership in the world.