Reclamation’s Pathways Students Profile their Summer Internship Experience

Written by: Doug Hendrix

Lower Colorado Regional Office and Hoover Dam Pathways students gather for a group picture to celebrate their summer work activities. Photograph provided by Eric Willson, Lower Colorado Region. On Thursday, July 25, the Lower Colorado Region’s (LCR) Equal Employment Opportunity staff hosted an end-cap ceremony for this year’s cadre of Pathway’s Interns. Each student was encouraged to share their perspectives on how their career aspirations and training meshed with Reclamation’s functional work unit needs.

This summer, 24 students from local and distant university locations, such as University of Las Vegas, College of Southern Nevada and Illinois State University, were selected to participate in an eight-week internship opportunity to test their skills and acumen in water management, accounting and financial administration, cultural anthropology and a myriad of other professional fields – hosted annually each year at the Lower Colorado Regional Office, Yuma, Phoenix and Southern California Area Offices and at Hoover Dam.

“Our Pathways Summer Internship Program provides Reclamation with a dynamic opportunity to recruit and work with promising college students as they begin their educational training and career development,” said Anh Rhodes, lead recruiter for the Region’s EEO office. “As an added bonus, this program also makes it possible for college students to convert their internship experience into permanent jobs in the civil service following completion of their degrees.”

Virtually every student participating in this year’s program noted how valuable it is to get real-life career experience while pursuing their degrees. During the internship, the future professionals were teamed with a host from the Regional or Area Office or Hoover Dam and then immersed into one of the Region’s organizational divisions, such as the Boulder Canyon Operations Office, Human Resources Office, Engineering Services Office, etc. They were then charged with using their academic training and skill sets to solve everyday problems or develop new techniques for implementation within their assigned work unit.

Poster Presentations

As part of each student’s presentation, the interns were divided into teams and charged with collectively developing a poster presentation that assessed how the Reclamation’s workplace environment could be improved if everyone embraced age diversity and celebrated the life experiences of all of the multigenerational workers.

Interestingly, one of the posters developed by the students depicted Hoover Dam as a puzzle – noting that each piece of the dam is important and crucial to its structural integrity – and noting that each worker at the dam has a crucial role in its operation, regardless of age, grade or career tenure.

Pathways Program Eligibility

To be eligible to participate in Reclamation’s Pathways Program, students must remain in good academic standing (typically maintaining at least a cumulative GPA of 2.0 and above, as specified by their educational institution); be enrolled in their university on a half-time student basis; be at least 16 years of age; a U.S. citizen or U.S. National; and meet the qualification requirements of the position. Following completion of the internship, the students may be converted to a permanent or term position within 120 days of successful completion of the program.

Students desiring more information about the Pathways Program should contact Anh Rhodes at (702) 293-8135 or via email at arhodes@usbr.gov.

Published on August 28, 2019