by Stephen B. Collins '74

There's a reason they call it commencement. Perhaps no one word captures the sense that education is preparation for life more than this one, which turns an ending into a beginning.

Over the past 10 years, as the job market has become more competitive, Colby seniors who commence careers or graduate study are increasingly aware that academic preparation, particularly for liberal arts graduates, needs to be augmented by experience. As Colby's career services operation has grown during that time, so too have the numbers of students seeking work experience through paid and unpaid internships. Internships, whether for Jan Plan credit, résumé enhancement or just to satisfy curiosity, are the currency of career preparation in the competitive '90s.

Said Linda Cotter, associate director of off-campus studies and academic affairs and the coordinator of Colby's internship program, "The whole concept of internships has exploded compared to 10 or 12 years ago when I was in career services." Employers have become increasingly sophisticated in how they can make productive use of interns, how they can use internships as recruiting and screening tools and how they can measure the value of internships on applicants' résumés, Cotter said.

Director of Career Services Cynthia Yasinski is blunt when she assesses their value to students: "Internships are probably the biggest thing that separates the successful from the unsuccessful job seekers," she said. "They're more important than grade point average."

Yasinski says internships give students inside knowledge of a business or profession. On the job, students learn what they like and, sometimes even more important, what they don't like. Some students graduate with three or four internships on their résumés. She said, "It's very unusual and very unlikely for a student to say on his or her first internship, `This is it!'"

For Erika Sayewich '92, it worked both ways. Having worked at Colby's Writer's Center for three years helping her peers with writing projects, Sayewich thought she wanted to be a teacher. She arranged an internship at The Madeira School in McLean, Va., as a dorm helper and writing tutor for her senior-year Jan Plan. "Madeira is a great school," she said, "but I found myself wanting to see more direct results from my work."

Back in Maine she talked her way into an informal internship at the Augusta and Portland law firm of Pierce Atwood Scribner Allen Smith & Lancaster. "They were really great," she said of the firm's staff. "I had no real knowledge of law going in." After commencement, a job as a paralegal in the Washington, D.C., firm Covington & Burling gave her experience in a career field she liked and a chance to live in Washington. Last fall Sayewich entered the University of Virginia Law School. "Now," she said, "as a first-year law student I have absolutely no life, but I think I made the right choice."

Yasinski says the first year in college is not too early to start considering career choices and internships. She encourages parents to help by getting their children to talk about careers with friends and with members of the extended family. Students should consider acquiring extra skills along the way for maximum career flexibility, Yasinski says. A second language, computer skills, economics and/or accounting courses --and especially writing skills-- are important, she says. "Whatever the field is, you need to express yourself well."

In the current career sweepstakes, spending the summer working construction for spending money may be expedient and spending January skiing and partying even more short-sighted. "Sometimes students don't think, `I can make an investment in my future,'" said James Meehan, Wadsworth Professor of Economics. "The students who are serious start early, are persistent, do internships, volunteer for experience, learn what they want to do and what they don't want to do. Most of these students end up finding a job--not necessarily the perfect job, but a job they're reasonably happy with."

Meehan said that, "with a liberal education, there's not a ready-made slot for you." Colby students should graduate with good writing and communications skills and outstanding analytical abilities, but sometimes research and creativity are required to merge those with a suitable career. Internships are part of that research, he says, speaking as a mentor to Colby students and from personal experience with his daughters.

Two years ago Meehan's daughter Shana graduated from Hartwick College in Oneonta, NY. As a specialist in the economics of industry Meehan knows all about corporate down-sizing and the declining numbers of white-collar jobs in an era of flat growth and increased global competition and the effects they have had on new graduates entering the work force. But as the parent of a new liberal-arts college graduate he didn't know what to expect. Meehan decided that internship experience was important enough that he would support his daughter economically so she could accept an unpaid position with a congressman in Washington, D.C. Whether it was economics savvy, parental guesswork or a combination, Meehan reports that he backed a winner when he put money on his daughter. It was less than a month before Sharon had a job at a trade organization in addition to evening and weekend hours at a mall retail store. Not only is she making it inside the Beltway, she's putting money away for her future, just like her dad counsels his economics students to do.

"In a tough job market, the role you play as a parent is increasingly important," Meehan said.

	The Butler Did It At Colby in 1872 there was no place to go. Dorms were rustic; steam heat had been installed only in the previous year, and residence halls lacked indoor plumbing. In fact, the only bathroom facilities on campus were located in a primitive, decrepit structure that survived despite repeated requests by students for replacement. And so on the night of May 14, 1872, six students set fire to the campus privy. Little was left except for the bare stone walls. The authorities investigated and subpeonas were issued, but mysteriously, the case was quickly squelched. The fugitive leader of the Privy Arson Gang was Nathaniel Butler Jr. '73, the son of a Colby alumnus and long-time Colby trustee. The incident did not damage Butler's future with the College, however. In 1895 he became Colby's 12th president.	Class Action A now dead but long-honored tradition at Colby, False Orders, called for men of the sophomore class to lampoon some member or institution of the College. By 1900 False Orders had taken the shape of a publication called The War Cry. In 1903, for the second consecutive year and against the orders of College President Charles L. White, the sophomores interrupted the annual freshman Reading to announce and distribute the new issue of The War Cry. Outraged, White, who a few months earlier had banned dancing at College parties, suspended every man in the class of 1905. The result of that action was the Student Strike of 1903. Freshmen, juniors and seniors in the men's division demanded the reversal of the suspension and threatened to boycott classes and commencement exercises. In solidarity with the men, the women of the Class of 1905 declared that they were equally deserving of punishment. The strike had more bark than bite; after a flurry of meetings and the appointment of a trustee commission, life returned to normal. In the end, commencement was held and the sophomores missed a few days of classes.

Job Fare Even a quick glance down the roster of Jan Plan field experiences this year makes clear that Colby students are taking full advantage of the College's ambitious program of internship placements. The Office of Off-Campus Study, led by director Jon Weiss and associate director Linda Cotter, organized 253 field placements in 30 states and 13 foreign countries during the recent January Program. Some examples: *Rebecca Nash '97 of Wayzata, Minn., developed an eco-tourism project at Corcovado National Park in the Peninsula De Osa, Costa Rica. *Erin Carmichael '95 of Essex Junction, Vt., worked with the Vermont Department of Corrections to develop a leisure-time program for offenders. *Colin deBakker '97 of Hudson, Mass., assisted in a research project at the New England Regional Primate Research Center at Harvard Medical School. *Erin Duggan '97 of Chappaqua, N.Y., completed a media internship at the NBC News program Dateline in New York. *Jason Kidwell '95 of Augusta, Maine, worked in the public relations department for the Baltimore Orioles. According to Jason Mahoney '95, his internship at the law firm of Morris, James, Hitchins and Williams in his hometown of Wilmington, Del., provided valuable experience as well as a chance to evaluate his chosen career field. "I am considering attending law school, and this experience will allow me to make an educated decision," he said. "If I decide that I do want to attend law school, this work experience will help me get into a good school."