Student Internship: Sidney Baker ’13

Sidney Baker '13

Baker uses a handheld GPS to mark waypoints on the map  where accessible Ash Trees are located.

1/25/13

Randolph-Macon College student Sidney Baker ’13, an environmental studies and biology major, has always loved the outdoors. This January Term (J-term) she has the opportunity to put that passion to good use.

Baker is interning at the United States Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service in Natural Bridge Station, Virginia. She is assisting with Ash Tree inventory at local campgrounds in order to better prepare the trees for an infestation of Emerald Ash Borer.

“Emerald Ash Borer are small insects that infest Ash Trees and have destroyed tens of millions of trees in the U.S., including several million in the state of Virginia,” explains Baker, a Lexington, Virginia native. “I am working with Kenneth Hickman, forestry technician and botanist, taking inventory of Ash Trees in several of the recreational areas in the Glenwood-Pedlar district of the forest. Using a handheld GPS, we mark waypoints on the map where accessible Ash Trees are located. We then generate a printable map through a software database called ArcMap, which allows us to see all of the marked waypoints. We are doing this so that in the future it will be easier to begin treatment on the trees to prevent Emerald Ash Borer infestation.”

Dawn Kirk, forest fisheries biologist, and Danny Wright, forest wildlife biologist, serve as Baker’s internship supervisors. Wright says that internships are extremely important and played a vital role in his career.

“Students have the chance to test their area of interest,” he says. “Internships also provide a boost of confidence that can lead to resume-building and reference contacts down the road. Anyone can look good on paper, but employers want to know who you are and how you will act to ensure that you get along with others and are productive. Internships can provide the opportunity for students to prove who they are and what they are capable of.”

“Sidney has been a wonderful asset to our program, even in the short time she has been here,” says Kirk. “Internships give students valuable experience and the opportunity to make contacts with professionals in the workplace. Interns are often able to tackle specific projects that take a focused amount of time and energy—projects that can help management make informed decisions, but otherwise wouldn’t get done.”

On campus, Baker is an active member of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority and has served as an officer on the Panhellenic Council. Her post-R-MC plans include graduate school.

“I’d like to attend school somewhere in Virginia to get my nursing degree,” she says. “My J-term experience has been wonderful. Every college student should experience an internship prior to entering the ‘real world’.” Environmental Studies Professor Chas. Gowan helped arrange Baker’s internship.

“Professor Gowan has been extremely helpful during my time at R-MC, not only as an advisor but in the classroom as well,” she says.

Internships
Internships are just one of the opportunities offered by The Randolph-Macon EDGE. Within the Center for Personal and Career Development, The EDGE is a four-year program designed to help students identify their career passions, compete for meaningful employment and apply to graduate schools.

For 30 years, R-MC’s Bassett Internship Program has been successfully placing students in internships both in the U.S. and around the globe. Coordinated with the Center for Personal and Career Development, the Bassett Internship Program works closely with students to help identify their interests and match them with an appropriate internship opportunity. Randolph-Macon’s alumni provide a strong network of support for students throughout their time at the college or in assisting them after graduation with career direction and opportunities.

Students may choose to pursue academic, paid, or volunteer internships in a wide variety of settings; recent internships have seen R-MC students gaining valuable knowledge and experience in fields including health care, finance, non-profit, communications and media, education, politics and law, and the arts.