A fist-bump from President Barack Obama. A hug from First Lady Michelle Obama. A lick from the White House dog, Bo. Christina Ford recounts her summer internship at the White House — an experience she nearly surrendered for fear of rejection.
“I was thinking about not applying to this internship because I thought it was so hard to get,” said the 21-year-old UF economics and political science junior. “I hadn’t really done anything extraordinary.”
With 48 hours left to apply, Ford had a change of heart.
“You know, I’m really going to regret it if I don’t at least apply,” she said. Despite the last-minute scramble, Ford landed an internship in the Office of the First Lady.
Her involvement with political clubs on and off campus, however, was not so spur-of-the-moment. Ford is the Florida College Democrats chief financial officer and the UF College Democrats treasurer.
She joined the UF organization her freshman year, which she said was her best decision at college.
Heather White, director of the UF Career Resource Center has noticed an increase in young students seeking internships and career advice.
This is a change from five years ago when students waited until junior and senior year to start looking for help. White encourages students to find valuable experience.
“It’s about transferrable skills and experiences,” she said.
In addition to getting involved early, White said networking also gives students an advantage.
“It’s important to put yourself in situations to meet, correspond, interact with people who have similar interests and maybe future plans — career plans — to facilitate these kinds of opportunities,” she said.
A version of this story ran on page 5 on 8/28/2013 under the headline "UF student spent summer internship at White House"
