Kristoff Ayala-Strachan, a senior at Saint Augustine’s University (SAU) majoring in political science, learned last spring about a summer internship opportunity with the City of Raleigh through an email from the Professional Development and Career Services Center (PDCSC). He quickly applied. Later, he went to a Career Fair sponsored by the PDCSC and noticed recruiters from the city there.

“They told me about this internship, and I said I already had applied, and they were like, ‘What?’ ” Strachan recalled. “And they went on their laptop and said, ‘Oh, you do have an application with us.’ ”

Strachan got the internship. He spent the summer of 2024 helping with a drive to convert the city’s vehicle fleets from gas to electric and educate city employees about the new vehicles.

Noah Wheeler, a senior majoring in computer information systems, was eager to land an internship with SAS, one of the nation’s leading computer software companies. She was ready when she saw a SAS recruiter at a Career Fair – thanks to the PDCSC.

“Having a Career Closet and Dress for Success lets us know how to present ourselves so when we do get those interviews, we can show up with our best selves,” she said. Those programs, operated by the PDCSC, provide students with professional attire at no cost and coach them on how to present themselves as a professional.

Wheeler got an internship with SAS. She spent the summer of 2024 as a technical support intern. Her responsibilities included helping college professors nationwide navigate the company’s software.

If it takes a village to succeed, as the saying goes, count the Professional Development and Career Services Center as a crucial part of SAU’s village. It’s probably no accident when students land summer internships or good jobs after graduation. The PDCSC has several programs to help students transition to the working world.

“The overall goal,” explained Michele Johnson, Director of the PDCSC, “is to prepare students to be work leaders and to be driving forces in whatever company or internship where they choose to work.”

The PDCSC does not do it alone; churches donated clothes for the Career Closet and Dress for Success programs. Another service the center offers is mock interviews conducted with representatives of local companies who come to SAU to volunteer their time helping students. The mock interviews are taped and later critiqued.

The PDCSC also helps students prepare resumes and offers one-on-one counseling.

The PDCSC tries to get students to “invest in themselves and to remember that presentation is everything,” Ms. Johnson said.

The university gets pretty good buy-in from local companies and students themselves. The last Career Fair, held Sept. 19 at Shaw University in collaboration with that institution, attracted 60 organizations ready to interview SAU and Shaw students, including Duke Health, Red Hat, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the City of Raleigh, Skool Kast, and several state agencies and universities.

Participation from students in PDCSC activities is close to 100 percent, Ms. Johnson said.

In the Summer of 2024, the PDCSC documented 39 students gaining summer internships. In addition to SAS and the City of Raleigh, companies where they worked included Disney, the U.S. Department of Energy, Wells Fargo Bank, Deloitte, the prestigious accounting firm, and Medtronic, the multinational healthcare technology company.

SAU honored students recently with Oscars Achievement Awards – our version – for their accomplishments this past summer.

Associate Vice President of Global Marketing and Communications Demarcus Williams highlighted the awards in a recent edition of Bird’s Eye View – SAU’s online news and information show. “We want to acknowledge the achievement of more than 20 students who worked at several major corporations as well as local and state government jobs,” Williams said. “The purpose of this is to highlight the importance of students using the services at the Professional Development and Career Services Center.”

Wheeler and Strachan represented Oscar award winners on the Bird’s Eye View show. Wheeler is the 74^th Miss SAU, and Strachan is the president of the Student Government Association.

Both said they made the most of their opportunities. Wheeler said she was selected to participate in an internal log analysis, an important project for SAS. Strachan was chosen to introduce guest speakers at one event.

Strachan recalled the day the City of Raleigh interns introduced themselves at the beginning of the summer. Although all the other students were from larger, more well-known institutions, he was not intimidated.

“ ‘I’m from the historic downtown university, Saint Augustine’s,’ ” he recalls saying. “I had a point to prove. …I was as voluble as anyone else there. I may not come from a school with the numbers or the resources of other schools, but I could still contribute.”

Click here for more information about PDCSC activities, or contact Michele Johnson at rmjohnson@st-aug.edu.

The list of summer internships for SAU students in 2024 is below.

Internships 2024

Postgraduate