Dining Services has created a long-term manage­ment training internship for sophomore business management majors. The program is structured to fully immerse students within a business so they can see all aspects of it.

The internship lasts two to three years with the intern receiving increasing amounts of responsibil­ity. This progressive structure was designed in the hopes that, by the end of the intern’s senior year, he or she knows how to independently man­age an operation.

Dining Services Director Margaret Empie and Student Employee Coordinator Tom Hubbard worked together to develop this program.

“Dining Services is a whole business,” Empie said. “We have the opportunity to pro­vide some real hands-on experience to students.”

Different from the current Dining Services stu­dent manager position, this internship would give students experience in many areas like marketing, management and finance. Empie and Hubbard said interns would be treated more like professional staff members.

Interns will help with daily operations, long-term goal setting and learning the long-term implications of activities and decisions.

“I hope they gain an appreciation on a daily basis for what it takes to run a business and how all the pieces fit together,” Hubbard said.

The interns’ different responsibilities may include helping with inventory and menu planning, work­ing as student managers in various dining places on campus, conducting student manager meetings and working to develop and execute a new food court concept in the Mensa.

Students will work with Empie and Hubbard to cre­ate a program that fits their own interests.

They feel this is a great opportunity for students to have their first managing experience before leaving Wartburg.

“Textbooks are fine,” Hubbard said. “But practical experience is wonderful.”

Participants in the program are expected to work a minimum of 12 hours per week. It is a paid internship, but students will also be able to get academic credit for participating in the program. Students won’t be able to have any other jobs during this internship.

“I hope students can leave this program, walk into a business and, from their past experience with this internship, get promoted and rise quickly in the busi­ness,” she added.