Meet the Interns: Department of Urban Planning
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 HUNTSVILLE, AL (June 17, 2010) -- Last week, we began a series of articles about the young men and women who are giving up part of their summer in service to the City of Huntsville. Participants from many cities and backgrounds across America have come to the city to become one of the twenty-two interns of the City's Intern Class IV. The interns work in many different departments in order to receive first-hand experience that is beneficial to their career goals and to learn about the structure of the local government.
Each week we will focus on the interns in one of the departments of our city government, especially what they hope to gain from the experience, their experiences in the internship so far and their future goals.
Last week, we began the series of articles with the interns in the Office of the Mayor and this week we continue with the interns working with the Department of Urban Planning.
This year, there are four young men and women in the Department of Urban Planning: James Vandiver, a senior at the University of Alabama in Huntsville; Jamie Lewis, a graduate of Alabama A&M University; Carla Davis, a second year graduate student at Alabama A&M University; and Andrew Munya, a graduate with a Master's Degree from Alabama A&M University.
Vandiver is majoring in Civil Engineering, and plans on going to Georgia Tech for a Master's Degree in Urban and Regional Planning. He hopes to eventually work for a municipal or regional government in transportation planning. This internship, he said, was "the best opportunity for me to gain valuable experience and do something that I enjoy."
When asked how the internship has been going so far, he replied, "Except for dodging summertime thunderstorms while in the field, quite well." He said he has enjoyed meeting the employees in the Planning Division and working with them, as well as having an office with a view of the city.
Lewis graduated with a BS in Urban/Regional Planning and a minor in Marketing, and hopes to obtain a Master's Degree in Community Planning from Auburn University. This summer she is continuing an internship with the city that she began in the spring semester in order to gain more practical, real world experience. She said, "This internship has been a wonderful experience as always, giving me the opportunity to truly note the duties of being a planner, especially in a public sector work setting."
In her career in planning, she hopes to create plans for a city or metropolitan area to grow economically through the use of local businesses and existing infrastructures. For her, this internship "has been a reality check," showing her the challenges of accomplishing the goals, and has given her experience that she needs and the ability to work well in an intense environment with service users, staff, and other professionals.
Davis, a major in Urban and Regional Planning with a concentration in Environmental Planning, decided to apply for the internship because she knew it was the best place to gain hands-on experience in the Planning Department, especially with Geographic Information Systems (GIS). She said her experience so far has been "extremely interesting, very informative, and exceptionally beneficial."
Her long-term goal is to secure a career with the Corps of Engineers as an Environmental Planner. Thanks to this internship with the City of Huntsville, she believes she will be well-versed and experienced in many differing areas of planning.
Munya has a Master's Degree in Urban and Regional Planning with a concentration in Transportation Planning. He hopes to gain first-hand, practical knowledge about the process of urban planning and is extremely excited with the work he is doing in a planning project evaluating possible complications. He said, "Doing the internship is like laying a solid foundation for my professional career, where future success and achievement will spring from," and that the best perk of the program is the "satisfaction of knowing that this is just the beginning and not the end of a great professional career."
"All of the interns are providing valuable information that can be used to further the planning efforts of our department, and bring a fresh outlook to the planning initiatives they are involved with" said Marie Bostick, the Interim Director of the Department of Urban Planning. She is very pleased and impressed with her group of interns, since they have "braved excessive heat to gather data and they are still smiling!"
These young men and women are dedicated to making a difference in the City of Huntsville through their service in the local government, and this is only the beginning of exciting professional careers for all of them.
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Stephanie Volz, an Intern with the Office of the Mayor, wrote this article.
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