NATCHITOCHES – Northwestern State University student Joseph Adams completed a summer internship that provided him with practical experience that directly impacts his studies and career goals. The Lindale, Texas, native interned at RoyOMartin where he was assigned to improve the functionality of one of the company’s internal webpages.
“I heard about the internship from Jessica Stewart, who is an HR generalist at RoyOMartin and is one of the employees heavily involved in the internship program,” Adams said. Stewart talked to Dr. Curtis Penrod, director of NSU’s School of Business, who suggested Adams apply, which led to a successful interview.
Adams is in an accelerated Bachelor of Arts to Master of Science program offered through the Louisiana Scholars’ College at NSU, the state’s designated honors college. Through that program, Adams will earn both an undergraduate degree in liberal arts and a master’s degree in Computer Information Systems in five years. Working under two fulltime staff programmers, Adams’ work included elements of database administration, application development and systems design.
“I did not have any idea what to expect going into the internship, as all the projects I have worked on before I have done either as a class project or a personal project, which is an entirely different scale than working on a project in a corporate space,” Adams said. “It was an eye-opening experience to see how all of the different aspects of Information systems that I have been trained in interact to form a single, cohesive environment. The biggest takeaway I received was that working in a fully realized environment is totally different than developing a code environment from scratch.”
Penrod said he was confident about recommending Adams for the internships.
“He is pursing the joint Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts/Master’s in Computer Information Systems and has been an excellent student in this program. He is currently working for us as a graduate assistant and is a hard worker with a great attitude,” Penrod said.
Adams said the experience heavily enhances his classroom experiences at NSU.
“I now have personal experience in how the concepts and structures I am learning about can be applied in realistic scenarios in a workspace,” he said.
The most important skill that my work at NSU and the Louisiana Scholars’ College gave me prior to the internship was the ability to critically think and analyze problems and have the ability to research and consider many possible solutions before picking the best one.”
Adams plans to continue to development with the goal of a career in database administration and data analytics.
“I feel my internship represents a huge milestone for my career goals and provides me with a major source of inspiration for my career and the type of professional I want to be post-graduation,” he said.
NSU offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees in Computer Information Systems.
Students pursuing a Bachelor of Science Computer Information Systems program learn business and technology skills. On the technology side, students learn foundational skills in programming, database systems, hardware/networking, web development and systems development. Students then choose to specialize in areas such as application development, web development, networking and systems management, and cyber security.
Students like Adams who are pursuing a Master of Science in Computer Information Systems gain an in-depth knowledge of concepts within different computer information systems areas, learn how these topics relate to the success of organizations, and learn how to implement an organization’s mission. Students choose elective courses allowing them to focus on areas most pertinent to their career goals and demonstrate mastery of information technology concepts through a research project or thesis.
Information on NSU’s Computer Information Systems programs is available at https://www.nsula.edu/cis/.
