Hear What Our Interning EADP Students are Saying!

I really enjoyed my internship with the American Red Cross, Denton Branch. I learned more about myself and how I can improve certain skills that will make me more hirable in the job hunting world. I learned that I have to be patient to know and understand the next step to a project. I really enjoyed working in a diverse environment where there is lots to learn from different kinds of people.

I interned with a wetland restoration team that is part of the Engineering Research and Development Center with the Army Corps of Engineers. Some of the opportunities I experienced as part of this internship were: funding, GIS mapping, sampling, cultivation, and restoration. I was involved with sustainable wetlands as part of flood control including the Dallas Floodway Extension. Part of what I did was help to create a sustainable ecosystem at the floodwater retention ponds. In many cases we regulated water levels through pump systems, established aquatic plants and animals, and sampling/recording necessary information. I loved the internship and hope to continue in this field.

My responsibilities for Aidmatrix were grant writing and I also implemented a Continuity of Operations plan for Aidmatrix. I wrote grants to foundations in request for funds, which included researching the information. I also worked on the National Donations Management Network (NDMN). I met with Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters (VOAD) in North Texas that allowed me to make contacts with non-profits in the area. I enjoyed my experience because it exposed me to the non-profit side of emergency management and I also got to work on the state, local and regional levels. I also have a great contact list available, due to the wide range of work involved.

I completed my internship for emergency management at Naval Medical Center San Diego (NMCSD). The NMCSD is unique because it is not only a hospital, but a Navy base as well. Due to the fact that it is both of these, I not only had to learn Emergency Management for hospitals, but also for the military. NMCSD is the most technologically advanced Navy medical treatment facility. I independently completed 3 Standard Operation Plans (SOP), which were then added to the Emergency Operation Plan (EOP). The 3 SOPs developed were: Release of Patient Information, Sheltering Pets, and Evacuation Assistance. Working on these plans pulled together the knowledge that I learned at UNT and put it into day-to-day functioning. This internship with NMCSD and my education through UNT has prepared me to work in the world of emergency management. Everyone was more than willing to teach and help me understand things. I have developed friendships with civilians and military throughout the enlisted and officer ranks.

At the North Texas Tollway Authority, I have had numerous experiences with emergency management roles and functions. My duties have included updating the emergency management business continuity plans, creating training materials, conducting research on a various number of topics, special event planning and mitigation planning. Two large projects I worked on were updating the emergency management business continuity plan and also wrong-way driver mitigation. Updating the emergency management plan included looking for errors and adding detail where items needed to be explained more fully. With wrong-way driver mitigation I looked into various techniques regarding preventing wrong way entries onto the highway and met with vendors, other jurisdictions, and our newly created wrong-way driver task force.

I completed my internship for the Emergency Administration and Planning Program with Texas Health Presbyterian Plano Hospital. Completing my internship with the hospital turned out to be a valuable experience where I obtained information I can take with me on my career path in the field of emergency management. During my internship, I obtained knowledge and understanding of the Hospital Incident Command System. I was able to see firsthand the role of the hospital (healthcare industry) as a private sector in emergency management. In addition to learning the hospital’s role, I became familiar with the grant funding process with hospitals and homeland security. I attended many meetings in the hospital that pertained to emergency management which allowed me to network and gain valuable knowledge of the industry.

Overall, my experiences with the American Red Cross, Dallas Area Chapter were great! I had the opportunity to work with some very talented people and I learned a great deal from each of the staff members. The responsibilities that I maintained included monitoring tropical weather, and providing situational awareness regarding weather issues across the State of Texas. Additionally, I worked as a member of the chapter support unit. As part of this team, I took notes and created Situational Reports to provide awareness to national headquarters and to the Texas Division of Emergency Management. During this internship, I had the opportunity to play a key role in the operation of an agency that has state response authority. Being able to help so many people over such a large spectrum made this internship very enjoyable for me.

As a forthcoming graduate of the EADP program here at UNT, I would have to say that my internship at FEMA was the highlight of my college career. My internship gave me the opportunity to put into practice all the key concepts of emergency management that I had learned in my classes at UNT. My internship duties allowed me to sharpen my communication skills, technical writing skills, and problem solving abilities. I learned how to set achievable goals, allocate my time wisely, and interact with others in the workplace. I gained valuable knowledge about the technical side of Continuity of Operations (COOP) from the ground-up by working with the Regional Continuity Manager in the Region VI COOP Program. I assisted in a cross-walk of the Region VI COOP Plan, assisted in the preparation of a COOP Exercise, and participated in the bi-annual FEMA HQ Assessment.

Being a Disaster Program Coordinator Intern at the Medical Center of Arlington was a rewarding experience. I enjoyed it because I was able to see, in real life, what I had learned throughout the courses at UNT and was able to view this knowledge with a different, more applicable perspective. I am more of a hands-on, visual type learner, so the internship added clarity to everything that I had learned at UNT. During the first week of my internship, I was an exercise observer for a full-scale disaster exercise. This experience alone tied everything together that I had learned at UNT regarding disaster exercises and it enabled me to put a realistic picture on it. It’s like you have this wealth of knowledge in your mind that you have been studying and building for years, without ever having to use if for any ‘real’ purpose, then through the internship you get to see how this essential piece of the puzzle fits into the whole picture, making the photo understandable and complete.