{"id":11298,"date":"2014-09-01T05:00:49","date_gmt":"2014-09-01T09:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/creative.clemson.edu\/clemsonworld\/?p=11298"},"modified":"2014-09-01T05:00:49","modified_gmt":"2014-09-01T09:00:49","slug":"experience-internship-right-campus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/experience-internship-right-campus\/","title":{"rendered":"The Experience of an Internship, Right Here on Campus"},"content":{"rendered":"

Josh Groppe likes to build apps. But not just any apps. Apps with a purpose, apps that will provide something valuable to the user.The past year and a half, he\u2019s had a chance to do just that for Clemson. \u201cI wanted to continue to learn about mobile app development, and I love Clemson. This internship allowed me to bring two of my passions together,\u201d said Josh, who has been interning with the Clemson Mobile Innovation Team for four semesters now.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Groppe is just one of hundreds of students who have jumped on board a relatively new campus internship program that puts students into a job on campus that allows them fantastic, paid, on-the-job experience. The program is called University Professional Internship\/Co-op Program, or UPIC (pronounced \u201cyou pick\u201d).
\n\u201cThese UPIC internships are mentored and intentional. Students are working side by side University professionals to develop their skillset,\u201d said UPIC Director Troy Nunamaker.
\nAnd students are recognizing the opportunity \u2014 and the impact. When UPIC began in 2012, they hoped to have 500 internships by 2016. In 2014, they will have more than 600 positions available \u2014 more than double their original target for the year. \u201cThis internship gives them the experience of what it\u2019s like to work on real projects in a real work environment,\u201d said Sam Hoover, manager for the Mobile Innovation Team within CCIT and Groppe\u2019s UPIC supervisor.
\nPart-time internships consist of 160 hours a semester, and the pay is more competitive than a typical campus job \u2014 $10 per hour the first semester, then $11 and $12 for subsequent semesters. UPIC funds half the student\u2019s salary and the department hiring the student funds the other half. Full-time co-op positions are also available. [pullquote align=’right’ font=’chunk’ color=’#3A4958′]For a student like Groppe who\u2019s putting himself through school, having a well-paid internship within minutes of his classes and within the scope of his planned career path is an incredible opportunity.[\/pullquote]
\n\u201cI pay for school and my bills. So having this job helps me with life. I couldn\u2019t do everything else without it,\u201d Groppe said.
\nUPIC leaders manage the HR aspects of the program and help the departments promote and fill their open positions. To get a position approved, the department has to apply for the opportunity, assign a supervisor and provide the UPIC staff with intended learning outcomes.
\n\u201cThe best part has been building my ability to perform in a team and do it well,\u201d said Summers Binnicker, a double major in financial management and marketing. Binnicker has spent the past three semesters working on a marketing team \u2014 almost entirely of students \u2014 within the Regional Entrepreneurial Development Center. The team works with entrepreneurs to help develop business and marketing plans, do market research or simply provide any resources they need to make their idea a reality.
\n[pullquote align=’left’ font=’chunk’ color=’#3A4958′]\u201cI always considered myself an individual worker, but in this environment we have to divide and conquer responsibilities. Plus, I have had to learn how to present or decipher information and translate that into a product that has value to the entrepreneur we\u2019re working with,\u201d she said.[\/pullquote]
\nGroppe echoed Binnicker\u2019s sentiments. \u201cThere\u2019s value in talking something out, in really working and thinking as a team. When it comes to school I tend to go it alone. But I\u2019ve learned there\u2019s tremendous value in working and talking through a project with someone else.\u201d
\nHaving to tie the internship back to key takeaways has been vital for both UPIC staff driving the program and students participating.
\n\u201cThe format of the program really keeps you accountable. The reflection questions we have to answer really make me stop and think, \u2018What did I really learn?\u2019,\u201d Groppe said. \u201cI might forget these if I didn\u2019t write it out.\u201d
\nAs Groppe and Binnicker prepare to graduate and begin looking for full-time work, these internships and experiences are going to place them ahead of the competition. In fact, according to the Career Center, Clemson students are 13 percent more likely to gain full-time employment if they have completed an internship. So what started as a simple idea \u2014 increasing the number of on-campus internships for students \u2014 has turned into much more. And its impact is growing into much more for students like Groppe.
\n\u201cI like knowing that what I\u2019m learning (in the classroom) has real-world application,\u201d he said. \u201cThat drives me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Josh Groppe likes to build apps. But not just any apps. Apps with a purpose, apps that will provide something valuable to the user.The past year and a half, he\u2019s had a chance to do just that for Clemson. \u201cI wanted to continue to learn about mobile app development, and I love Clemson. This internship […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":11300,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[533,1605,3157],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-11298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-web-exclusive","tag-career-center","tag-internships","tag-upic"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2014\/09\/UPIC.upg_.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11298\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11298"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=11298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}