Series: Internship Experiences

This past summer, I accepted my first internship offer with the village corporation in Barrow,  the Ukpeagvik Inupiat Corporation (UIC). I was a Human Resources (HR) intern working in the Barrow office for a good two months before it was time to return to UAF for another year J. UIC offers various services for their shareholders, shareholder spouses, and shareholder descendants. That’s what I am, a shareholder descendant. It has always been an interest of mine to be involved in Shareholder Relations within the regional and/or village corporations I am a part of. With this internship, I have been able to explore and gain experience, I was employed in my hometown, and it was one of my first office-type positions.

I really enjoyed my time in the office and the tasks they had me do were pretty manageable. My supervisor and I had good communication, which is one thing I think is very important in not only internships, but for employment in general. A lot of the tasks I had involved people and jobs, that’s Human Resources, helping people and employees find jobs or assist them with occurrences in their current jobs.

During the two months I was working, I was able to fly down to Anchorage from Barrow and work in the Anchorage office. It was definitely a shift from small town office work to big city office work. I got to sit in on HR meetings, create PowerPoint presentations and files for the Shareholder Development Program, and work with a few employees that are HR Administrators.

This past week, I attended the Alaska Federation of Natives conference and convention in Anchorage, Alaska, and while I was there, I was able to work with UIC again. We were set up at a booth and gave prizes away with our spin-wheel and shared information about the corporation.

                My advice for you, as a perspective student interested in an internship, would be to see what internship opportunities are available. Browse around & research the type of work you could be doing, and go from there. Explore your opportunities and remember… do what you enjoy! J