Lyndon State College Students Intern in “The Kingdom” and far away

To:
From:
Lyndon State College News Release
For Immediate Release
March 1, 2010

Lyndon State College students going to school and not stepping foot on campus or taking a traditional class.

Lyndon State students are working hard and playing hard for academic credit all over the country. Danielle Nunez is going to school at Wintergreen Resort in Wintergreen, VA, supervising the children’s snowsports program. Craig Salvagno is going to school in the marketing department at Heavenly Valley Ski Resort in South Lake Tahoe, CA. Lyndon State recreation majors are earning 9-15 credits without ever setting foot on campus the whole semester.

Lyndon State College recreation students are getting real life experience while they are in college. These students have been working with recreational professionals throughout their degree program. Internships are an important part of the capstone for the Bachelors degree. Each year, senior recreation majors find an internship in their area of interest. These internships are self-designed according to their personal goals and the needs of the organization that they are interning for. Professor Cathy Deleo says, “This is an opportunity for students to specialize in their field.” Students intern in positions as varied as Terrain Park Ranger to Marketing

Assistant, in the snow sports industry and other recreation fields.
Students are required to keep a journal and develop a special project during the internship. A special project is something for students to work on that would not have been accomplished without them. This is specific to each internship location’s specific needs. To qualify for the program, an internship must be at least nine credits with 50 hours of work earning one credit. This semester there are 11 students interning from Vermont to California. Here’s what the rest of them are doing:
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Three students are interning at Burke Mountain in East Burke, Vermont, as terrain park rangers, working under LSC alumnus Jeff Scorpino who is the director of terrain parks for the resort.
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Two students are working at a new resort to the program, Boreal Mountain Resort in Truckee, California. They are working as terrain park crew and grooming.
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One student is working in the food and beverage department at Deer Valley, a premiere ski resort in Utah.
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Another LSC student intern is working lift operations at June Mountain in Mammoth Lakes, California.
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At Keystone Resort in Summit County, Colorado an LSC student is working with the NASTAR racing program.
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Last but not least, one student is working for karmaarmy.com, a social networking sight for registering and reporting stolen sports equipment. This website is owned by North Pole Designs, a recreation marketing firm.

Many of these resorts seek out LSC recreation interns each year. Lyndon State College has a well respected Recreation Management program. The LSC Mountain Recreation program has produced many leaders of the ski industry. Many of the interns are working alongside LSC graduates or at resorts that have already hosted Lyndon State recreation interns. The Lyndon State College Department of Mountain Recreation will continue to train recreation industry leaders for the future.