Local interns come together to intern IT UP

By VICTORIA PALMA

CNA news intern

The Union County Development Association has been hosting an Intern Networking Program for interns called Intern IT UP in Union County during this summer that has offered an opportunity for area interns to network with local young professionals, community and business leaders, while learning about career development skills.

Mindy Stalker of the UCDA is in charge of the intern program and has been working with nine interns in the area throughout the summer.

“The goal of Intern IT UP is to give the local interns some exposure in Union County beyond that of where they work and where they are living,” said Stalker.

“My favorite part of this program is Adventure UC. We have so many outdoor features that we love to showcase to anyone that comes to Union County, this is a great way to make sure the interns know where these places are,” said Stalker.

For its evening social events, Stalker invites UCDA board members to participate as a way for the interns to connect with as many people as they can while they are in Creston.

“We developed the program with the goal of retaining young professionals and to give our local college students a reason to come home and connect to their community on a professional level and promote career opportunities,” said Stalker.

Participants in the program are interns at a variety of businesses in Creston including, KSIB Radio, BUNN, Union County Development Association, The Creston News Advertiser and Creston Automotive.

“The program has definitely helped me break out of my shell, it helped me make a lot of connections and friends that I would have never had and make connections in the community,” said Becca Ross, an intern for KSIB Radio.

Ross has been an intern for KSIB for two summers and has been involved with Intern IT UP two times as well.

Even though the intern program has a few interns that are from the area, the majority of the interns are not locals.

Taher Poonawala has been interning for Bunn-O-Matic this summer and will be an intern until the end of December.

“I am working on two software’s that i’ve never worked on in my life that will be very useful in the future because I can incorporate them into any assembly line company in the future,” said Taher, reflecting on his current project for Bunn.

Taher recieved his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering in India, where he is from and is currently in the engineering graduate program at Iowa State University.

“I got to meet people that I would have never gotten to meet usually, by being involved with Intern IT UP. I got to meet people that are so well integrated into Creston and now that Ihave spent three months in the area, I would to consider staying in the area,” said Taher.