MMS 2001 Diversity Intern Story

Hispanic Times Magazine, Sept 22, 2001 by Elizabeth Baier

First, they came.

The interests, educational fervor and professional foresight of four geographically and ethnically diverse college students brought them to work together as this summer's Minerals Management Service (MMS) Diversity Summer interns in Camarillo, CA.

Each year MMS participates in the Department of the Interior's (DOI) Minority Internship Program by selecting four students to work in their Pacific Region office. For ten weeks, the students worked alongside professionals and gained firsthand experience in their respective fields.

The DOI participates in the program through a cooperative agreement with national educational organizations such as: Student Conservation Association (SCA), Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU), and Minority Access Inc.

(MAI). After conducting their own application processes, each organization presents its most qualified applicants to DOI agencies around the country for consideration. The agencies then determine which applicants are best qualified for the job, conduct a phone interview and offer the prospective candidates a position.

This year's students were MAI's Rochelle Bryant and Jasper Nance, SCA's Talisha Clark and HACU's Elizabeth Baler. Each student was paired with a mentor and worked in an office suitable for his/her course of study.

"The ultimate goal is to expose students to potential careers in the Federal government as opposed to the private sector," said Carey Roberts, HACU National Internship Program (HNIP) Associate Director. "Many times, these internships lead to permanent employment which is a plus for all of us because it increases the number of (minorities) in the government."

Eighteen-year old Rochelle Bryant was born in Akron, Ohio and resides in Terrell, TX where she goes to school. She is a sophomore at Southwestern Christian College studying chemical engineering. She worked in the Region's Office of Field Operations. Bryant gained practical experience in mapping span locations previously researched by engineers, assisting with the completion of the State of the Pipeline Report and maintaining the pipeline database.

With only one year of college behind her, Bryant had the fortune of getting an early insight into various career possibilities. She worked closely with a group of petroleum engineers and witnessed firsthand some of the type of work she might get to do once out of college.

"As a future engineer, my experience with MMS has been enormous," said Bryant. "I am grateful to MMS for having given me such an opportunity to explore my career and help me better understand how the federal government works."

Jasper Nance was born in Lakeview, SC and resides in Orangeburg, SC where he goes to school. He is a junior at Claflin University, where he is studying sociology. He interned in the Office of Environmental Evaluation. Nance's duties included manipulating the Technical Information Management Systems database to verify the accuracy of the User/Training Guide, compiling and updating the Region's Status of Leases Report and updating databases.

"This was my first internship and I think it was the best way to get my professional experience started," said Nance. "Getting your foot in the door with the government is not easy, and I was truly lucky to get this opportunity, not to mention excited about exploring the cultural and natural diversity of Southern California."

Talisha Clark was born in Washington D.C. and currently resides in Baltimore, MD where she attends college. She is a senior at Morgan State University majoring in Computer Information Systems. Clark's projects included developing the intern WEB pages, customizing WEB reports for MMS Internet and Intranet WEB servers and performing WEB maintenance including troubleshooting and hardware and PC problems.

"Having the opportunity to intern in my major has given me valuable knowledge and practice I will be able to use in my professional life," said Clark. "For my kind of career, it's important to quickly put to use the textbook information before you forget it all, and working on the various computer projects at MMS gave me just that experience."

Elizabeth Baler resides and goes to school in Miami, FL. She is a junior at the University of Miami studying journalism and international studies. She interned in the Office of Public Affairs. Baler's duties included writing and editing press releases, organizing and digitizing regional slides and press clippings and documenting the internship experience at MMS for publication.

As a future journalist, it's good to know a little bit about everything," said Baier. "The writing and photographic skills I obtained helped enhance everything I've learned in school so far."

The public affairs experience she gained will also enable Baler to work on either end of the newsgathering process-- in a newsroom writing about the news or in the private or public sector disseminating the news.

Then they saw.

In addition to working in their respective field offices, the interns accompanied MMS professionals to various sites for field studies.