The honors internship is one of the few the FBI sponsors. The agency selects interns based on academic achievement, area of study and work experience as well as who best fits the FBI’s current specific needs. Each field in the FBI nominates the small number of applicants that fit the profile of a successful candidate to work in their areas. Finalists undergo extensive background checks and drug-screening tests, and the director of the FBI gives final approval. In addition to a handson internship, VanDeventer also gained valuable research experience, publishing two papers in the Association of Firearms and Toolmarks Examiners Journal. Her first experiment studied how prolonged exposure to various bodily fluids affects the ballistic identification of bullets fired from the same gun. The experiment sought to answer legal questions about the effect of a bullet’s exposure to certain liquids. “There was little research to supply answers to those questions,” she says. “The purpose of my experiment was to establish a preliminary analysis to develop future study suggestions.” The history of serial number restoration on firearms is the subject of VanDeventer’s other published study. She researched different techniques and then conducted experimental comparison restorations with each process. Examiners will use the procedure she recommended to read and restore eradicated serial numbers on damaged or old firearms. “Obliterated serial numbers are restored in hopes of identifying a potential suspect and providing leads for the case,” she says. Not confined to the lab full time, VanDeventer filled the rest of her time doing what most 22-yearolds only dream about. For example, she attended private addresses by President George W. Bush, watched actors from CBS’s Numb3rs research upcoming TV roles and practiced shooting MP5 firearms as entertainment. “The most exciting thing about working in the unit was that no two days were the same. Whether I was test firing into the water tank, examining bullets under a comparison microscope or researching a paper, everyday was something new,” she says. Graduating in December of 2005, VanDeventer looks back at her time at OSU as a time of learning and growth and her FBI internship as preparation for a thriving future in a forensic laboratory. Sheila Dohmann Career Destination: Hollywood Nick Webb knows what it takes to be a successful intern. “Never say no. Always do what they ask. Try to make yourself needed. Make them unable to go on without you,” says the broadcasting senior from Harrah, Okla. In Webb’s case, he helped the Screen Actors Guild Foundation move into new offices the first day of his summer internship. “The foundation doesn’t want to lose me. There was some talk, kind of joking, of having me transfer to a college out there and having them pay for it,” Webb says. The Screen Actors Guild Foundation, the charitable arm of the Screen Actors Guild, provides services and benefits to SAG members, including career development, housing resources, casting access and health benefits. One of the foundation’s services is to record guild members discussing their careers. The foundation makes a DVD of the interview and then distributes it. Webb spent part of his internship managing distribution of the DVDs. He also answered phones, wrote articles and worked with the foundation’s scholarship program. He helped plan and worked a foundation event to benefit the Actors Resource Center, a facility where actors can attend classes and workshops and have access to computers, audio and video equipment and rehearsal space. Erika Contreras Nick Webb During the summer of 2004, Webb attended the L.A. Intensive, an educational program offered by The American Pavilion and designed to give film students a crash course in the movie business. The program accepts approximately 20 students each year. “We went to two television tapings, took tours of Universal Studios and Fox Studios and visited the Writers and Directors Guilds of America,” says Webb. “One of the people that talked to us was from the Screen Actors Guild.” Maintaining contact with the SAG representative throughout the year led to Webb’s internship with the foundation. He says he would not have gotten the internship without the assistance of Arts and Sciences Career Services where he learned what to do on the job and how an intern should act. “I cannot stress enough that if career services had not helped me out, I wouldn’t have been there.” The internship experience solidified Webb’s desire to work in the film industry. “I’ll probably finish out the year at OSU then go back out there,” says Webb. “I’ll try to find a job as a production assistant. I’ve made enough contacts, and I know where to look for jobs like that.” Cory Cheney Oklahoma State University 17
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