Internships

At Trinity, internships are about more than literally—and figuratively—making copies. Internships help Tigers unleash talent that is tough to replicate.

For generations, Trinity has connected its students to career opportunities through internships across Texas, the United States, and the globe. Regardless of academic major or presumed career field, Trinity interns have discovered why the University has always prided itself on experiential education: because there’s no teacher like experience.  

Internships Through the Years

Trinity officially started placing its first “undergraduate interns” on its Tehuacana Campus as far back as 1896, when a $10,000 endowment helped 30 students prepare to become Christian ministers. The funds established a chair of Bible Study and Theology, who directed and oversaw these dozens of students as they helped educate men and women within the school’s precinct. Similar to this form of biblical instruction, parallel apprenticeships gained traction in the departments of civil engineering, and teacher certification, all with the goal of truly preparing students for careers, rather than simply to graduate.

This experiential spirit carried forward to the Waxahachie, Woodlawn, and Skyline campuses. As the school introduced several new professional programs and expanded its graduate program during the first decade in San Antonio, each program carried with it an apprenticeship requirement.

When Trinity began offering the country's first comprehensive program in home building in 1952, the school featured lectures by visiting craftsmen and a junior summer apprentice experience with professional supervision.

Likewise, Trinity’s Urban Studies program, already revolutionary in many ways, also required students to serve a nine-to-twelve-month apprenticeship in a private or public community agency.

In 1991, this experiential model of education came full circle with the Master of Arts in Teaching degree, a program that replaced the traditional sequence of undergraduate teaching methods courses and changed the locus of study from Trinity classrooms to one of six professional development schools in the area. The program required candidates to complete a full year of a teaching internship in a public school setting in addition to classes designed to complement their field experiences. In true Trinity style, these teaching candidates were taught to teach, simply by teaching.

Modern Internships

Today, Trinity’s Center for Experiential Learning & Career Success (CELCS) is a powerful resource for students looking to gain career experience before graduation. The department reviews resumes, hosts career fairs, and matches hundreds of students to internships every year.

Over the past four years, CELCS statistics show that more than 60 percent of graduating seniors have completed at least one internship during their time at Trinity, amounting to at least 1,042 Trinity interns over this time period.

These internships span an impossibly large set of career possibilities, and aren’t always confined to a conventional office setting.

In April 2018, for example, more than 90,000 fans flooded San Antonio for the 2018 NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four. Hailey Wilson ’19, a communication major, was one of 10 students from Trinity University’s sport management and communication programs who interned with the NCAA social media team during the event.

These interns gathered photo, video, and other media assets to help the NCAA publicize the festivities happening off the court, including concerts, fan events, slam dunk contests, and even flaming wing eating contests.

 

Later that summer, Antonio Pedraza III ’19 hopped on a 5,000-mile flight to Spain for Trinity’s Madrid Summer Program. As part of the six-week experience, Pedraza and 17 classmates interned for Spanish companies, took classes led by Trinity faculty, and spent their evenings immersed in Madrid’s vibrant culture. Pedraza and his classmates were also called on to on help an official San Antonio economic delegation open a door for Spanish investment in San Antonio.

Trinity’s Entrepreneurship Department also runs Students+Startups, a unique program funded by the 80|20 Foundation that matches Tigers with startups in the middle of San Antonio’s exploding tech and startup scene. In 2019, Students+Startups actually admitted two businesses run by Trinity undergraduates, meaning that Tigers got to both work as interns and hire interns through the program.

Internships at Trinity aren’t just for entrepreneurs and people in STEM fields. The Arts, Letters, and Enterprise (ALE) internship gives humanities students the opportunity to apply their degrees to real jobs. Students without business degrees learn how to find success in the business world. ALE interns have been placed at the San Antonio Symphony, ArtPace, and the offices of politicians such as John Cornyn and Diego Bernal.

Allison Hawk ’88, a St. Louis PR veteran who has hired an intern through ALE, says it’s easy for Trinity ALE interns stand out from the rest of the field for employers.

“At Trinity, the liberal arts is a problem-solving discipline,” Hawk says. “When I see someone with that on their degree, that catches my eye because I know they’re willing to learn, they’re willing to grow, and they’re willing to stretch out of their comfort zone.”