The Texas Water Resources Institute’s water internship program, created in partnership with Texas A&M University’s College of Arts and Sciences, aims to provide students with hands-on experiences in the water profession.
During the program’s first full year, eight students have benefited from the internship, with more beginning this summer.
“We have had the great pleasure of working with many bright and enthusiastic young water professionals,” said TWRI Research Specialist Ed Rhodes. “Working with these eight amazing interns over the past year has been a great experience for us as professionals and for them as budding professionals.”
Interns assist TWRI’s water team with regular water quality monitoring, learning how to collect data and analyze it.
“The feedback I’ve gotten from every intern has been that the experience opened up a whole new kind of set of understandings related to water management, water quality monitoring, working on teams, going out in the field and water quality analysis,” said Wendy Jepson, Ph.D., director of the college’s Environmental Programs and Environment and Sustainability Initiative and a previous associate director at TWRI. “They’ve built their tool kit through the internship.”
Gaining real-world experiences
Programs like the water internship allow students to build upon knowledge they’ve gained in class and apply it in real-time. They also learn how to work in a professional environment.
“They learn professional skills on the job, such as showing up on time, being responsible to a team, making sure that they have learned the necessary tools to complete the task and being able to ask questions in a professional setting,” Jepson said. “All of those things that are theoretical to students are practiced in any internship. And I think one aspect of TWRI’s internship is, not only is it a great organization, but there are clear technical things they have to learn, and they learn on the job, which puts them into a category, especially if they go into consulting, that they have experience in this particular area.”
The students also help TWRI staff sharpen their skills and mentoring ability.
“Training a new batch of students each semester has helped keep us on our toes and serves as a great refresher for the basics of water quality monitoring,” Rhodes said.
“Seeing all the student interns go from starting with the technical instruments, to progressing throughout the semester, to confidently collecting measurements — that has been really fulfilling,” said TWRI Research Specialist Amanda Tague. “We have had some excellent students who have had great attitudes in dealing with the many uncertainties of fieldwork!”
