By the time they graduate, 46 percent of McDaniel students have worked at an internship. This learning that comes through experience gives students a head start in their careers – and often an opportunity to find out what careers interest them.

Tales of two very different internships follow. Senior Laura Thierer worked at the Maryland Department of Transportation last summer and Junior Alex Katcoff is a ball boy with the NFL Ravens.  

Laura Thierer at MDOT

Would you notice suspicious activity if you saw it? As a summer intern at the Maryland Department of Transportation, Laura Thierer ’06 was responsible for creating a pamphlet with terror warning signs for people who use public transportation. And it came in handy.

“One day, someone left a package on a seat in the Metro,” Thierer said. “A passenger recognized that it was suspicious. Luckily, it turned out to be nothing.”

During her two-month stint, Thierer, a Political Science major and President of the SGA, helped create a volunteer Chesapeake Bay security program called “Maryland Water Watch,” which debuts next spring. She visited security points in Maryland such as the Fort McHenry Tunnel and the office of the Maryland Transportation Authority Police. Most memorably, Thierer met Governor Bob Ehrlich at a Board of Public Works meeting in Annapolis.

“It’s very easy to get involved in internships here,” said the petite brunette with wide, eager eyes. “The professors are not just my teachers and advisers, they’re people I can turn to anytime. McDaniel has been above and beyond what I expected.”

Thierer says Political Science Professor Herb Smith encouraged her to take the internship.

“Laura is a high energy, determined, and above all, intelligent activist who gets the most out of classes and internships,” Smith said. “She is one of McDaniel's best and brightest.”

Thierer is applying to law school and hopes to work for the state as a prosecutor dealing with family law.

“I think freedom is our number-one commodity, and I want to give back as a citizen for all I’ve been blessed with,” Thierer said as she placed her hand over her heart.

Job with Ravens is more grit than glitz

Long before fans are seated in the stands, hours even before the most zealous pre-game tailgaters fire up their grills, Alex Katcoff ’07 is inside M&T Bank Stadium rubbing shoulders with the Baltimore Ravens.
 
Actually, he’s in the locker room making sure players have their shoulder pads and every other piece of equipment they need. And he’s rubbing away the waxy surface on brand-new footballs, prepping them for the kickers under the watchful eyes of officials.
 
Katcoff, a junior Business Administration major with a minor in sports management, is the only college student to snag a job as ball boy with the Baltimore Ravens this season. During every home game, he can be spotted on the line of scrimmage, ready to throw a “K-ball” to an official when a player wants to kick or punt. Behind the scenes, he is learning a lot about a career with the NFL that involves more grit than glamour.
 
“You can’t be slow. I was caught off guard my first game, more or less being a fan on the field, when the official starting yelling, ‘I need a ‘K’, I need a ‘K’,” says Katcoff, who earns $50, plus tips from the kickers, per game. “I threw the ball and it went over his head.”
 
Being literally on the ball is important to the job, agrees Equipment Manager Ed Carroll, but having integrity is equally crucial. “We’re dealing with millionaires here. They have lots of jewelry worth lots of money and everyone who enters the locker room must be trustworthy,” he says, adding that all the other ball boys are members of his family.

Katcoff, who has assisted McDaniel’s Equipment Manager Ken Nunnelee since freshman year, scored his position on the team as ball boy after performing well as an equipment assistant during the Ravens’ summer training camp. He called Carroll about 15 times before winning one of a handful of internships at this year’s four-week session.
 
“After two years of him calling me I talked to Ken and he spoke very highly of Alex,” says Carroll. “I waited until 2005 because I wanted him to be mature enough to handle himself in this environment.”
 
At times, the locker-room environment is super-charged with strong words, strong emotions and strong smells. “I work 14-hour days and I haven’t had a day off since July 24. When I get tired and something bothers me, I cuss. I wanted Alex to be mature enough to handle it,” says Carroll.
 
Katcoff is more than handling it. Despite the grueling days of training camp—and having to hold his breath while collecting players’ underwear and athletic supports for the laundry—he relished the chance to travel with the team to Atlanta and New Orleans and to get to know guys like running back Chester Taylor, who gave him tickets so his parents could see their first regular season home game.
 
Highlights of his experiences with the team also include the times when he was asked to lend his 6-foot-3-inch frame to a practice session, lavish meals and hotel accommodations on the road during training camp, and playing real Ravens against virtual Ravens in the Madden 2004 video game. Nothing beats being part of the action during a home game.
 
Katcoff says he might want to pursue a career as an equipment manager. Carroll cautions he may want to do something more glamorous with his college degree. Although he was awarded a Super Bowl ring along with the rest of the team in 2001, Carroll says there is little glory in the job. “Certainly, if that’s what he wanted to do I would support him,” he says. “But I think he needs more time in the business to see if it’s really for him.”