With the school year beginning, students may take advantage of many new internship opportunities.

Internships can help students get their feet in the door of opportunities that could help them get their dream job after college. Students can find internships locally in the area or even nationally around the country.

“You learn so much and meet so many people,” said Amariah Maes, senior sports and exercise science major, said. “If you get the chance to leave Canyon, for a while, do it.”

Maes is currently interning at Disney World in Florida. She works in Pandora: The New World of Avatar, which is in Disney’s Animal Kingdom. She currently works on the Na’Vi River Journey. Her job consists of interacting with guests and making sure that the travelers who ride the attraction are safe as they are loading and unloading from the ride.

She heard of the internship through one of her sorority sisters who loved the experience she had, so Maes decided to try it out for herself. Maes mentioned that one of the things she loves about her internship is that it opened her eyes to a world of business.

Other students may need to find an internship as a requirement for their degree plan. Senior broadcasting electronic media major Ryan Money prepared himself a little early with a summer internship and he now has two internships that are helping him with his internship class.

“I already had in-field experience,” Money said, “An internship is the next step to show that I have worked for someone besides the school in my field and so that is why I wanted to get one.”

Money is currently interning for the Amarillo Bulls hockey team and 806 Sports. Money said that he would like to work in sports broadcasting so he applied on Buff Jobs for the opening for an internship for the Bulls. For this internship, he interacts with people by attending events like parades and High Noon on the Square in Amarillo, informing people about the season and ticket prices. They also have raffles that give people a chance to win tickets for their games.

Aside from the public relations aspects, Money also helps with drafting players, looking up their information and spreading the word about these players on social media.

Money said his internship with the Bulls opened another opportunity to work for 806 Sports, which is a radio broadcast that focuses on sports in the area. Money also believes that being able to work hard can really help in the long run of getting more opportunities.

“Have a good attitude and just be as positive as possible and be better than the next person and it will show,” Money said.

If students are looking for internships, jobs, or even ways to prepare for both, the Office of Career Services can help students discover their next step.

“I worked with students and internships,” Experiential Education Coordinator Steve Sellars said. “We have lots of resources to help students prepare and look for internships.”

Sellars is one of the many faculty members in Career Services that helps students find internships as well as job opportunities. Some of those resources include résumé workshops, mock interviews and different job fairs that students may attend. If students want to attend a job fair, the first of the semester will be on Oct. 5 from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. in Legacy Hall located in the Jack B. Kelly Student Center.

Fairs like this give students a chance to connect with employers not only for jobs but for internship opportunities as well. Career Services also offers a Buff Jobs database, which was recently upgraded to a new program called Handshake.

“It has a Facebook-type of feel to it and I think students are going to be able to navigate and find opportunities a lot easier,” Sellars said.

Although the database is another helpful tool for students, Sellars does encourage students to consider other ways of finding jobs or internships.

“It takes some effort and it takes some planning,” Sellars said. “Start early and then partner with us.”