Amanda Boelke, left, and Steven DiGiantommaso are summer interns at Naval Criminal Investigative Service Headquarters in Washington, D.C. The Appalachian State University criminal justice majors are among 29 college students from across the nation who landed internships with the federal agency. (Photo courtesy of NCIS)

June 6, 2006

Internships Prepare Criminal Justice Majors for Future Careers

BOONE—A summer internship is anything but boring for Steven DiGiantommaso and Amanda Boelke. The Appalachian State University criminal justice majors landed 15-week internships at Naval Criminal Investigative Service Headquarters at the Washington Navy Yard in the southeastern section of the district.

DiGiantommaso is working with NCIS’s Personnel Operations and Services office updating and developing personnel databases. Boelke is interning with NCIS’s cold case homicide unit. The internships are a requirement for their graduation at the end of the summer.

About 65 college students applied for summer internships at NCIS’s Headquarters and the Washington Field Office, according to Cheryl Marsh, student internship program manager. Twenty-nine students received internships in the D.C. area, she said.

DiGiantommaso and Boelke have received rave reviews from their internship supervisors, Marsh said.

Boelke is the daughter of Art and Rose Boelke of West Jefferson. DiGiantommaso is the son of Jeff and Carol DiGiantommaso of Winston-Salem. The students will complete their degree requirements in August.

Internships are beneficial for students and their prospective employers, said Mona Brandon, internship coordinator for the Department of Criminal Justice and Political Science.

“It really gives the student the experience and ability to know what is expected in the workplace,” Brandon said. “They are better prepared and they do better in interviews because they have been in the work environment. A lot of agencies realize that internships are one of the best ways to evaluate a potential employee.”

 “It is a big foot in the door,” Marsh said of the federal agency’s internship program. “We are constantly vetting students who are on board.” Marsh said about 115 of the agency’s 2,400 employees are former interns.

Brandon helped nearly 100 criminal justice majors find internships last year. She also works with them to polish their interview skills and resumes.

Students from Appalachian have interned with state and local law enforcement agencies, the State Bureau of Investigation, the N.C. Division of Community Corrections and the N.C. Department of Juvenile Justice, and with federal agencies such as the U.S. Probation Office, Secret Service, Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Protection, U.S. Marshals Service, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

“We want our students to have the opportunity to really find out if the criminal justice field is a career they want,” said Brandon “When you spend an entire semester as an intern, you leave knowing if it’s the career you want or not.”

Boelke is helping others in the NCIS’s cold case unit analyze information regarding unsolved homicides. The information is entered into a database used by experts, such as polygraph specialists and forensic psychologists who are working to solve the cases.

“I really enjoy it, Boelke said of her work with NCIS. I feel like I am accomplishing something every day.”

Her goal is to gain a full-time job with NCIS. “You couldn’t ask for a better working environment,” she said. Boelke is also looking at opportunities with other federal agencies and the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation.

Both DiGiantommaso and Boelke underwent extensive background checks and completed a 15-page application before securing their internships.

“It was all worth it. It all came through,” DiGiantommaso said of the intensive application process. He credits the support he received from his professors in terms of recommendations for the internship, and assistance from Brandon in preparing for the interview process.

DiGiantommaso became interested in a law enforcement career because of an uncle who has 30-years experience as a police officer on Long Island, N.Y. “He is someone I have looked up to for a long time,” DiGiantommaso said.

He would like to land a career in federal law enforcement, but may also pursue a graduate degree in criminal justice after completing the internship.

The job search has begun for Appalachian graduate Marieke Ricketson, who completed an internship this spring with the Department of Homeland Security/U.S. Coast Guard Sector Baltimore.

Ricketson is the daughter of Capt. John C. and Brenda P. Ricketson of Old Lutherville, Md.

She was the first college student to receive an internship with the Coast Guard’s Baltimore office. She graduated in May with a degree in criminal justice.

Ricketson participated in a variety of activities, including weapons of mass destruction and radiation training, Coast Guard patrol training exercises, foreign vessel inspections and mock boardings and visited different agencies involved with Homeland Security, including the Center for National Response in W.Va., with the Coast Guard’s Atlantic Strike Team.

“It was a really good opportunity to go into the workforce ahead of time and to see what’s expected of you in terms of professionalism and qualifications that you need for certain jobs,” she said of her internship. “My internship not only focused on the Coast Guard. The captain sent me to different federal agencies and private contractors that the Coast Guard works with. I had the opportunity to see what qualifications you need in each aspect of the job.”

Preparation for high-end internship placement has become a hallmark of Appalachian’s criminal justice interns.

Boelke says her double major in criminal justice and psychology gave her the skills to be part of the NCIS investigations team. “A criminal justice course in forensic investigation helped me develop a different way of thinking – to think outside the box and look at all the possible options of a case,” she said. A research assistantship in the Department of Psychology also helped Boelke hone her research and analytic skills.

Because of Appalachian’s great track record, agencies call Brandon seeking interns, the internship director said. “Agencies expect that Appalachian students are going to be prepared,” Brandon said. “The bar is already set by the time the intern gets there.”