From California to Texas, Georgia to Pennsylvania, and back to Missouri, 12 master’s candidates in Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s college student personnel administration (CSPA) program are completing competitive national internships, gaining real-world professional training and elevating their job prospects.
“This year, the college student personnel administration program set a record for the number of students who obtained competitive internships across the nation, which reflects the quality of our students and academic program,” said Pietro Sasso, PhD, assistant professor and graduate program director. “Our students are increasingly sought after regarding their competencies around advising, assessment, social justice and student development— the ‘core four’ of our program. These placements elevate our students in the job market post-graduation and provide them a national scope regarding the large scale of American higher education.”
Mariah Young, of Edwardsville, and Morgan Short, of Decatur, are both enjoying placements in Texas. 
Young’s primary responsibilities include assisting with the preparation, facilitation and evaluation of the freshman orientation program at the University of North Texas in Denton. Meanwhile, Short is assisting with summer camps and conferences at the University of Texas at Arlington.
“My internship experience is enhancing my academic journey and career preparedness by enabling me to take what I have learned in the classroom, and apply it to real situations both professionally and personally,” Young said. “I am learning how to be more efficient and proactive, and I’m gaining more problem-solving skills. I’m also learning how to engage with a diverse population of students and families, which is the most rewarding part of my experience.”
“This experience has already helped my growth as a new professional by throwing different obstacles at me and challenging me in new ways,” added Short. “I’ve learned how to take a risk and get out of my comfort zone. I have learned a lot about working within a rather large institution and what that looks like from the residential side of student affairs. I have a strong passion for student success and bridge programs, 
because these two areas helped me tremendously in my undergraduate career. I see myself working within that specialty upon graduation.”
In Georgia, LaShata Grayson is seeing her passion and talents combine in ways that confirmed her choice to pursue a degree in college student personnel administration. She is completing an internship at Augusta University, working with student organizations, and fraternity and sorority members.
“As I am doing the work of a young student affairs professional, it is all clicking together from what I have been learning in the CSPA program,” said Grayson, of Gary, Ind. “My primary roles for this internship are to develop a leadership program or retreat for fraternity and sorority members, oversee college Panhellenic recruitment through the summer, develop academic policies and a judicial board for fraternity and sorority members, and more.”
Grayson, a former elementary educator, notes the incredible privilege student affairs professionals have to develop and shape lives.
“The thought of planning programming for developing college students has always made my heart smile and been a passion of mine,” she explained. “Many student affairs professionals have impacted my life in more ways than they may know. I want to provide that same impact on college students.”
“I truly believe I am in a cohort full of game changers in this field,” she added. “My internship experience has been the icing on the cake as I develop into a better version of myself. Taking the first step of beginning this program and advancing my education was scary, but it is only the beginning for me in student affairs.”
For more information on SIUE’s CSPA program, visit siue.edu/education/edld/cspa.
Photos: SIUE college student personnel administration graduate student Mariah Young, of Edwardsville, is completing a summer internship at the University of North Texas.
CSPA student Morgan Short, of Decatur, is assisting with summer camps and conferences at the University of Texas at Arlington.
LaShata Grayson, of Gary, Ind., is solidifying her passion for student affairs during a summer internship at Augusta University in Georgia.