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[ Music ]
>> Steven Martinez: [Background Music] So here at OCAST we believe
that the internship program is a really fantastic program,
for a number of reasons, right.
And first of all, it's a great program because it injects innovation into a company.
And then it also plugs the brain train for the state of Oklahoma.
And what we mean by that is that the internship program helps retain some of Oklahoma's best
and brightest students within the borders of Oklahoma.
Another reason why OCAST -- why we think it's so --
such a good program is because it helps the students --
undergraduate students develop more of a well-rounded background,
so that way when they're ready -- when they're done with their university work,
they're ready to enter the real world, they have --
they're a little more competitive than maybe the other students that are in the [inaudible].
>> Adam Polcha: The main benefit that I have had from this internship with OCAST and [inaudible]
and University of Tulsa is that it takes me out of the classroom setting,
where with straight math equations, and understanding kind of the defining principles
that control all these physical concepts that we're dealing with.
>> Surendra Singh: The intern program is so wonderful, and I think it's one
of the best programs in the country, because it helps the students,
it helps the company, and it helps the university.
It helps the students get multiple job offers because they have this experience right
after they graduate, which is very valuable to the companies, because they want to see along
with the education that the student has some practical experience.
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>> Steven Martinez: The benefit of the internship program is that you bridge that gap,
is that the program help -- bridges that gap from theoretically how it works
in the real world to actual real life setting in a business, with a mentor,
working on a real project that the company is excited about.
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>> Stephen West: And it's been an absolutely wonderful experience here.
The -- something -- it's -- the experience is a lot different from what you learn in school,
the learning experience is, 'cause you actually --
the hands-on is much more meaningful than just, you know, learning about something,
getting told, and then not really getting to do anything with it.
>> Lyndsey McNeil: In school you do a lot of things by hand.
This you learn to work with the different machines that are more likely to be in labs,
which is really -- I like it, and it's really helpful.
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>> Adam Polcha: It's given people a chance to see my value to a company,
or to a graduate program outside of my GPA.
>> Sean Bauman: The OCAST intern program, as we've participated
through Oklahoma City Community College, their biotechnology curriculum has been wonderful.
I believe we've participated in that program for the -- about the last 10 years,
and for the most part every year we have one to two interns.
And what that does is that gives us an opportunity basically
for an extended job interview.
And currently we have three former interns that are employed here.
And at various stages we've had others.
Some have decided to go on and pursue higher degrees, and we support them in that endeavor.
>> Steven Martinez: The internship program is a very valuable program too
for businesses and for interns.
So for businesses, they get funding to help pursue an R&D project.
So if they want to implement something new, something innovative,
or if they want to improve their already established products and processes,
they get access to funding to pursue those sort of endeavors.
They also get access to a highly skilled individual, an intern, an undergraduate student.
So the benefit -- so the benefits to the company are they get funding from OCAST,
and they get an extra set of hands working on a really interesting, innovative project.
>> Brandt Cassidy: The interns come well-trained in laboratory technique, but there are a lot
of other areas that being a mentor to them I can explain how the business works,
why we do things the way we do, why it's important to have a quality system in place --
a lot of the other areas that they would not necessarily get in the school setting,
that they would get in a business setting.
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>> Adam Polcha: The mentorship that I've gotten here has been infinitely valuable for me.
>> Steven Martinez: Universities who are interested in engaging in the intern program,
or even businesses who are interested in engaging in the intern program,
well OCAST's role is to kind of play that connector piece.
So we will connect you to a student,
or to a professor who can help with that proposal development.
If you're in the university and you're a professor, and you have students that are --
you think would be great for this internship program, you can reach out to OCAST,
and we can help make referrals or recommendations to a business who is in need
of an intern, and who has an interesting project for them to work on.
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