While internships decades ago might have been barely passable as experiential learning experiences, today’s university interns participate in local non-profits that are increasingly creative while providing a solid focus on learning.

“The opportunities we provide are huge,” said Rob Zapple, vice president of the WHQR Board of Directors.

When asked about WHQR 91.3 public radio interns, Zapple mentioned a recent hurricane report broadcast by Roderick McClain, which was picked up for national broadcast by National Public Radio. McClain is a University of North Carolina Wilmington graduate intern.

The interns at WHQR, Zapple said, are “jumping into the deep end of the pool” in terms of the experiences and responsibilities given them at the station and, although tailored to an intern’s skills, they learn “all aspects of public radio,” according to Zapple.

The internships are part of a “wonderful collaboration” with the university’s graduate school.

Robert Roer, dean of the UNCW graduate school, said that the university works with a number of different agencies and works to create internships in a variety of areas such as psychology, social work, criminology and sociology.

The WHQR program is different than other internships because the students work within the radio station for an entire year. This program, in its third year, Roer said, allows students to become an “intimate part of the team for a full year.”

“The students really become integrated into the fabric of the station,” Roer added.

In post-graduate placement terms, the program has been a “win-win,” Roer said. After graduation, at least three former WHQR interns have taken paid positions at public radio stations in other parts of the U.S.

“It’s been a success – even with the limited numbers – it’s quite remarkable,” Roer said.

Although the WHQR Graduate Internship Program pre-dates the financial difficulties the station has been having, Zapple admits that under the economic stresses of the past two years, WHQR staff, board members and interns have all rolled up their sleeves and taken on a wider area of responsibilities, including duties in development, pledge drives, on-air and promotional work. The internship duties, according to the station’s website, are often dependent upon the needs of a particular department.

The university pays a small stipend, generally financed through the student’s department. WHQR hosts three per year, covering June to June, with a staff member supervising the student. Interns must either be currently enrolled in a UNCW graduate program or have graduated within the past 12 months. While MBA students are also eligible, many of the interns have come from the university’s master of public administration or the master of creative writing programs.

Zapple said that the skills in these departments fit well with the public radio station and the station interviews six to eight interns per year.

“We are trying to be as creative as we possibly can,” Zapple said about the use of interns and frequently find the interns “payoff tremendously” in their abilities, for example, to tackle outreach.

“The interns come in fully loaded and knowing how to use social media,” Zapple explained and they are able to “open our eyes and keep us updated.”

Because the graduate interns are so successful in getting out the word to the community about WHQR, Zapple has seen an improvement in communicating with WHQR listeners, particularly for recruiting volunteers.

“I don’t know how nonprofits of WHQR’s size can do without interns,” Zapple said. “This is a terrific collaborative program that works for the community and works for the graduate intern to help hone skills.”

And, at the end of the year, Zapple said, the WHQR interns will know “the good, the bad and the ugly of non-profits.”

John Hinnant, executive director of Wilmington Downtown Inc., finds creative duties for a mix of graduate and undergraduate student interns. This summer was the first time WDI utilized interns, bringing aboard three.

Hinnant worked with a Cameron School of Business student who studied the economic impact of WDI’s summer concert series. One UNCW Department of Communication Studies student interned to learn about event planning and helped with every activity surrounding the concert series, while another helped launch the WDI Ambassador program.

This fall, WDI is hosting two interns, including a graduate student in the master of public administration program to assist with preparing initiatives that WDI is exploring.

Also citing the economic times as one reason to utilize the UNCW internship program, Hinnant said the benefits to the students include “great exposure” to contacts and resources. However, Hinnant stressed the educational component of a WDI internship, which he reiterates during the interview.

“I ask, ‘What do you want to learn?’” Hinnant said. He wants the interns to get the most out of the experience and attempts to tailor projects around a student’s educational goals. From one communication studies intern, Hinnant requested a writing sample to focus the student’s work on various public relations documents. Because of the strength of the writing, Hinnant said the intern has been able to assist with increasing the non-profit organization’s outreach to the community.

Hinnant said WDI wants to ensure the program is beneficial for both parties, while providing “real-life experience,” guidance and instruction.

“Carve out what you want them to do before calling the university and setting up the internship,” Hinnant suggested to others wanting to explore the UNCW Career Center program.

Influenced by his own internship years ago, Hinnant wants WDI interns to walk away recognizing that they made a difference while understanding that often a job may not be as easy as it looks at the outset.

Having an intern’s report broadcast nationally or setting up for a concert may be considered creative work, but the assistance an intern provides to a non-profit can often be essential to its operations.

George Edwards, executive director of the Historic Wilmington Foundation, mainly recruits undergraduate interns. In an e-mail exchange, Edwards wrote that the interns’ work is so vital to the non-profit that the foundation “started a small scholarship program with the UNCW Public History program a year and a half ago,” which provides an award and a department-awarded scholarship to the public history student.

Two students have thus far received the honor; a third will possibly receive the prize in the spring. However, the foundation also attracts interns from other majors, including Cameron School of Business students.

The Historic Wilmington Foundation uses its interns in a similar fashion to WHQR and WDI. Edwards explained that the non-profit attempts “to have an intern involved in a substantial and important project for the foundation. I don’t know if the tasks are unique or innovative, but they are critical to the foundation.”

While extra money at the foundation is tight, Edwards wrote, the foundation sees the scholarship as part of its “responsibility to help produce the future leaders in the profession. The scholarship specially addresses this since not all undergraduates are looking to historic preservation or cultural resource management as a profession.”