15 Aug Building CITC’s Future Leaders

New summer internship encourages college students to get their foot in the door at CITC

by Cadence Crow, CITC Communications Summer Intern

Kendra Klotz had never worked in an office before, so her summer with CITC’s new internship program has been a crash course in daily office life.

For young adults like Kendra, it can be hard to get a foot in the door when entering the workforce. Many entry level jobs require some type of hands-on experience, but having full-time classes doesn’t always make it possible or easy. CITC’s internship program puts young adults first, as they build their resumes and explore the fields they’re interested in.

This summer, three interns joined CITC and ANJC through the program.

“We’re really helping people get connected to practical career paths and build connections within our organization so that once they graduate, they can come and work for us full time,” said Kaity McAdams, CITC’s Learning and Development Manager. “We want our interns to really get to know the organization on a deeper level. What we don’t want to do is have them go work for communications and deliver coffee and re-title all our files. We want to make it a more robust experience.”

Department placements within CITC are based on what each applicant is interested in and whether a department has the capacity to provide a meaningful experience. Once they’re placed with their departments, the interns check in with HR on a bi-weekly basis to ensure a valuable experience.

For the program’s first year, the support shown to the interns has been remarkable.

“We’re doing bi-weekly get togethers and they range from beading classes, lunch with leadership, and meeting with Elders,” Kaity explained. Interns not only get work experience but are also able to engage in cultural activities during their time here at CITC.

When asked to describe the program in one word, Kaity used “potential.”

“Our interns have so much potential to become incredible full-time staff when they’re done with their degree programs. And we have a lot of potential to help contribute to turning our super cool young Indigenous people back into our community,” Kaity explained. “Even if our interns don’t come back to work for us and they go work for CIRI or their own corporation or any other tribal entity, we got to help be a part of building up that person’s potential.”

Over the next two weeks, meet this summer’s interns as they share their experiences–starting with Kendra Klotz, who interned with CITC’s Human Resources team.

Kendra Klotz: Finding Clarity

Kendra interviewed for her CITC internship from her dorm at Haskell Indian Nations University.

“When I saw this job, I thought this would be a good opportunity to grow in that experience because my major is business administration.” Kendra remembered.

Going from having no experience in an office setting to coming to work every day has helped Kendra get ahead of her class. On a day-to-day basis, Kendra’s work is crucial in the operations of the HR office. She helps prepare new hires for their first day, keeps employee reports up to date, and aids the Learning and Development team. Engaging with HR duties convinced her that this is what she wants to do after university.

“It’s helped me decide that business is the career I want, and which realm of business I want to go into.” Kendra explained. “I know I want to come back here for next summer. I feel I’ve learned so much, and it’s really helped clarify the career path I want to go on.”

Although this is only the first year CITC has done this internship program, Kendra is eager to come back and continue to apply her education in the office. It’s a testament to how important internships are in the development of the workforce.

Kendra summarized her summer at CITC as “educational.”

“I’ve learned so much through other people who have majored in business and people who haven’t. I’ve been seeing how it’s been for them and getting advice from them,” Kendra expressed. “Especially Michelle [Pattison, senior director of CITC Human Resources]. She has her MBA and that’s what I want to go for in the future as well. It’s very good to look up to her.”

Check back soon for more stories from this year’s summer interns! To learn more about internships at CITC, visit our Career Development page. For additional youth opportunities, explore Youth Education at CITC.