Students navigate canceled, remote summer internships

Holly Souther
Tue, 21 Apr 2020 03:34:50 +0000
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Ohio State students are facing the loss of internships or the move to a remote format for this summer. Credit: Ris Twigg | Former Assistant Photo Edito

As summer plans remain uncertain due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ohio State students are facing the loss of internships or the move to a remote format.

Most states are dealing with the impact of stay-at-home orders of varying degrees of intensity — including Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s order, effective through May 1 — and students and employers say they are adjusting to the circumstances in all aspects, including in the realm of internships.

According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate hit 4.4 percent in March as businesses began to close — an increase from 3.6 percent in January.

Jacquelyn Shafer, producer and editor of “Broad & High” at WOSU Public Media, said her department was able to keep their current and summer interns on staff and that the transition to working online has been interesting.

“We’re all adjusting to figure out how to work from home and work remotely and in my case, edit half-an-hour programs from home along with my intern — she’s in Boston right now,” Schafer said. “I can’t really speak on behalf of the other departments but I am grateful that WOSU has made accommodations for our interns.”

Schafer’s intern, Eunice Park, a fourth-year in industrial design and production assistant for “Broad & High,” said her internship responsibilities transitioned well to remote working, although she sometimes gets lonely.

“I am more on the production side, so I have been working remotely here in Boston. Overall, my experience has been pretty good,” Park said. “I know for other students, that hasn’t been the case.”

Although some internships have been able to transition to a remote position, others have been canceled indefinitely. Mia Bridgeman, a fourth-year in mechanical engineering, said she secured a summer internship at satellite TV company DISH in the fall and discovered the cancellation during the first week of online classes.

Bridgeman said the company initially said it would monitor the situation and that the internship was still happening, but less than a week later, she received a notification that it was canceled. She said it was surprising because although her internship was canceled in March, it would not have started until June 1.

“Anything could happen, obviously, but it was so out there,” Bridgeman said. “I was just really surprised they made a kind of decision so early, where other internships were making the opportunity to go virtual or making later start dates.”

A lot is still up in the air for students like Morgan Taradash, a second-year in world politics and French, and Nick Gilmore, a third-year in biochemistry.

Taradash said her internship at the Canadian Parliament was canceled over spring break, but she remains hopeful for continuing her internship next summer.

“It was heart dropping and I was so, so excited to go,” Taradash said. “It took a lot of work to get into the program and took a lot of work to maintain my status in it and make sure that it had all the right qualifications, especially getting a visa.”

Taradash said the program director told her that those who were accepted into the program this year would still be enrolled for next summer.

Gilmore said many of the internships to which he applied are on hold, and the internship he wanted most at pharmaceutical company American Regent, Inc., in Dublin, Ohio, was canceled.

“I got a call and they were saying, ‘Due to the craziness, we’re going to have to put all of this on hold. We can’t take any interns at the moment,’” Gilmore said.

Liz Webb, a third-year in public affairs and geography, said she has been dreaming about doing the Washington Academic Internship Program since she was in high school. She was set to complete the program this summer — before her senior year.

“I wasn’t shocked when I got the email because it’s just like watching, like how many things were getting canceled and just watching what’s happening with the pandemic, I figured it was coming,” Webb said. “It was still pretty upsetting to read the email, and I remember just being pretty shocked and not sure exactly what to do.”

Webb said WAIP offered a variety of resources and options, the biggest being that she was able to defer her internship for a semester. She said that deferment included scholarships students may have received through the program and the option to get housing deposits back.

Webb said she’s planning on deferring to summer 2021 and that though her graduation will be delayed, she believes it is worth it for the opportunities.

“We’re all learning a lot, and we have to be flexible and resilient with our plans,” Webb said.