Angela Schukar (left) and Sheri Anderson (middle) began as interns at Nature Technology and are now full-time employees. Lisa Schukar (right), a student at Southeast Community College, is currently an intern for the corporation.
Given the current state of the economy, it can be especially difficult for graduating seniors to find jobs out of college. To help make them more marketable after graduation students often search for experience that will make them more qualified when seeking future employment.
Companies at the University of Nebraska Technology Park are helping students gain work experience in their field by offering internships. These internships also ease transition by bridging the gap between the academic environment and a future work environment.
“Internships are a great way to get your foot in the door,” said Lisa Schukar, current intern at Nature Technology Corporation (NTC), a company located inside the Technology Development Center at the University of Nebraska Technology Park. “It has provided experience that looks good on a resume and will help me find a job when I graduate in March.”
Schukar, a senior laboratory science technology major at Southeast Community College (SCC), said her internship duties build on her education. Day-to-day tasks include assisting with basic laboratory skills such as washing laboratory pipettes and dishes and helping with research.
“There is so much to learn,” Schukar said. “I love each procedure. I think it is amazing that you can take an enzyme, split its DNA and make it do whatever you want.”
Schukar learned about the internship from SCC and from her twin sister, Angela Schukar. Angela is an employee at NTC who became a full-time employee after her internship with the company.
“An employee left, which opened room for me to work full time after my internship,” Angela said. “In late December, I was hired as a lab tech.”
Both Angela and Lisa enjoy working with each other at the lab. “I think it is great,” Lisa said. “I don’t hesitate to say what is on my mind or ask a question.”
Sheri Anderson and Angela have similar stories. Anderson was a previous SCC student intern at Nature Technology and became a full-time laboratory technician after graduation three years ago. “I wanted to work at a little lab,” she said. “The internship and job have been perfect for me, and I love the family environment at the lab.”
As laboratory technicians, their duties include preparing solutions, overseeing fermentation, DNA processing and quality control checking. NTC is a discovery-based bioengineering technology company that provides solutions for biopharmaceutical development.
According to NTC, biopharmaceuticals are the fastest growing and most promising of new drug entities because living cells are designed to function in a specific manner.