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In STEP with Students: Intern Profiles

The Student Titan Employment Program (STEP) offers University of Wisconsin Oshkosh students quality educational experiences while providing faculty and staff members with needed assistance in areas such as media services, student-faculty research, supplemental instruction, library assistance, instructional technology and academic computing support, and Web page development and maintenance. Read profiles of students engaged in STEP internships below.

Tom Hanaway

Role: Social media intern

Department: Journalism

Major: Journalism

Year: Recent graduate

Hometown: Greenleaf, Wis.

Journalism major Tom Hanaway creates camaraderie amongst students, faculty and alumni of the journalism department through the use of social media.

“This internship is really expanding my education. These kinds of skills can’t be learned in just any class. I’m learning how to effectively communicate through sites like Twitter, how to write blog posts and how to be a representative for a department. I’m basically gaining the social media skills that most companies are hungry for.”

Angela Picotte

Role: Animal Caretaker

Department: Halsey biology department

Major: Art education

Year: Senior

Angela Picotte, an art education major, takes her love of animals to a new level by working as the caretaker for a colony of almost 100 ground squirrels at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh.

“In the Halsey colony, there are around 100 Ground Squirrels (which look like big chipmunks) that are bred and sold around the world to different research facilities. There are also white rats, Mongolian gerbils and occasionally mice," Picotte said. "As an animal caretaker for the biology department, I am responsible for many jobs. I clean animal cages, feed and water animals, monitor animal health, keep up with mandatory sanitary conditions within the colony, as well as help with paperwork dealing with the colony.”

Brianne Bartlett and Amanda Schroeder

Brianne Bartlett

Role: Psychology research assistant

Department: Psychology

Major: Psychology

Year: Freshmen

Hometown: Greendale

Amanda Schroeder

Role: Psychology research assistant

Department: Psychology

Major: Psychology

Year: Junior

Hometown: Kaukauna

Brianne Bartlett and Amanda Schroeder, psychology research assistant in the STEP program, worked together to clean and evaluate equipment found in the psychology storage rooms.

“My favorite part of the job is really just getting the experience working with my major and getting to work with Dr. McFadden,” said Bartlett.

Shroeder explained that she had to decide whether or not the psychology equipment was worth keeping. After do so she created a booklet containing all of the equipment names and what it was used for.

David Hietpas

Role: Technology assistant

Department: Polk Library

Major: Computer science

Year: Senior

Hometown: Freedom, Wis.

Computer science major David Hietpas works with Polk Library to create a new online service for students—an easier way to discover reading in other places than their textbooks.

“The application I’ve developed is providing Polk Library with new resources to help reach and benefit the student body. The application I developed was the Leisure Reading website."

Gina Buzzanca

Role: Costume shop assistant

Department: Theatre

Major: Nursing

Year: Junior

Hometown: Mequon, Wis.

As part of the Student Titan Employment Program (STEP) at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, nursing major Gina Buzzanca stays connected to her love of theatre by creating costumes for UW Oshkosh performances while keeping up with her demanding classes.

“I help sew and alter the costumes under the direction of my boss. I also help organize the storage and often clean and sort things.”

Nadeesha Thewarapperuma

Role: Transportation intern

Department: Sustainability office

Major: Economics, environmental studies

Year: Senior

Hometown: “I am originally from Kandy, Sri Lanka, but spent a few years growing up in Oshkosh.”

“I work under the supervision of Dr. Michael Lizotte, the director of Sustainability. As a transportation intern for the department, my job is to collect information regarding commuter (faculty, staff and student) driving habits. The research will be used to draft a transportation plan for UW Oshkosh.”

Shino Iwashita

Role: Japanese instructional intern

Department: Department of foreign languages and literatures

Major: Elementary education and English as a second language

Year: Senior

Hometown: Kumamoto, Japan

Shino Iwashita is the voice behind the computer screen for the department of foreign languages and literatures, recording vocabulary lessons for the Web in Japanese as part of the Student Titan Employment Program (STEP).

“Being an education major, this internship allows me an opportunity to learn to develop teaching material, such as using technology to learn languages. Also, it has been educating to me to learn how to contribute in a language classroom.”