The Online Reflector

Junior marketing major Joan Sojka has had three internships in her years at the University of Indianapolis—one with the School of Business at the University of Indianapolis, one with Indiana Fever basketball and one with the Indianapolis 2012 Super Bowl Host Committee.

Sojka’s first internship with the School of Business started in October 2009 and ended in September 2010 at the University of Indianapolis.

During this internship, Sojka worked with others to implement a database system for their internship and student tracking process.

She also re-wrote properties of the database and related it to the School of Business and wrote a manual that instructed others how to operate the system.

Sojka said she learned a lot from this experience.

“I went into the internship with four other people, and I probably had the least experience in computer databases out of everyone,” she said. “I went into it thinking I’d be sort of a liaison between marketing and information systems. But conflicts happen, so I had to learn to take the lead.”

Sojka said that the internship team disbanded suddenly, so she had to learn how to customize the system herself.

Sojka’s second internship was for Indiana Fever basketball, which she found through her job for the Pacers ‘Loud Crowd.’ For Indiana Fever basketball, Sojka worked in a game operations position for the summer of 2010.

According to Sojka, she was in charge of the entertainment aspect of the game, such as keeping children entertained when they were uninterested in the game. Her group also coordinated when people could go onto the court, such as for pre-game shows and halftime games.

“We would explain what to do and time limits people had on the court,” Sojka said. “If someone wasn’t exactly sure what to do, we would give them gentle suggestions on what we’ve seen work best in the past.”

Sojka also went around the city of Indianapolis with the Fever mascot Freddy Fever and Pacers’ mascot Boomer.

“I got to be the [mascots’] words,” Sojka said. “I would answer questions for them and create boundaries for the children.”

Sojka is currently doing an internship with the Indianapolis 2012 Super Bowl Host Committee as an intern for the Super Scarves Community Initiative Coordinator, an internship she got with the assistance of Director of the Center for Business Partnerships in the School of Business Ron Dow.

“Some people are good workers, but they’re selfish,” Dow said. “[Sojka] is a good worker, and she keeps her ego in check.”
According to Sojka, it is an intense internship.

“There’s a lot of pressure,” she said. “There are countdown clocks all around the stadium. So any time you say ‘I need some more time to do this,’ someone is always there to remind you ‘you only have this amount of days left.’”

Sojka is involved in the Super Scarves Community Initiative, whose goal is to make blue and white Colts-colored scarves for all 8,000 people involved in the Indianapolis 2012 Super Bowl Host Committee.

According to the Indianapolis Super Bowl’s website, this is a chance for those who cannot physically volunteer in February 2012 to still be involved with the Super Bowl.

“Indianapolis is a close and community-oriented city, especially considering how large the city is,” Sojka said. “It’s a big deal for us to be involved personally, and these scarves help achieve that.”

Sojka believes experience is the best part of having an internship.

“I’ve learned things from internships that you can’t learn sitting in a classroom,” she said. “In internships, you get to learn what you like, what you don’t like, what you want to do and what you don’t want to do.

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Senior archaeology major Carolyn Lewis has always wanted to study archaeology.

“It is one of those lifelong things,” Lewis said.

The reason she came to study at the University of Indianapolis was because of the archaeology program. The California native attended a field school for four weeks in July 2010. The program was through the University of Indianapolis’ sister school, Galen University. It consisted of excavating an ancient Mayan capital, Baking Pot. The team found houses mounds, ancient Mayan dwelling places. While inside the house mounds, they discovered cobblestone and limestone floors. At other house mounds, there was jade, blades and skeletons.

“They put skeletons in the houses in order to make the house worthy of living in,” Lewis said.

In the fields surrounding the house mounds, pottery, bone, flint and burial plots were discovered.

According to Christopher Moore, instructor of geology, this is fairly rare because you cannot excavate a North American social system.

Throughout her dig, Lewis got hands on experience with the local wildlife. Lizards would scamper across the work site and fire ants would pour out of the ground like a volcano if someone struck a fire ant hill.

“When I was digging a site, I struck a fire ant hill with my pick. I was covered in fire ants from my ankles up past my knee,” Lewis said. “It was painful.”

According to Moore, students who are adventurous, and have an interest in cultures outside the United States can benefit from a field school abroad.

“Carolyn has common sense, is level-headed and knows what she wants.,” Moore said. “That is what students need to have to fully benefit from a field school abroad.”

Lewis encourages students from all majors to try a field school.

“Doing a field school abroad lets you experience both American archaeology and European archaeology,” Lewis said.
Lewis admits that digging a site is hard work, but in the end it’s worth the work when you find an artifact.

According to Moore, college is the best time to travel because in a couple of years, when one is working and has a family, getting away is not easy.

“Field school allows students to experience both anthropology of the past and present,” Moore said.

Lewis also is involved in extracurricular activities related to archaeology. She is the Undergraduate Lab Coordinator at the Indiana Prehistory Laboratory and is examining artifacts from Sapelo Island, Ga. with Moore. Lewis was also the president of the Archaeology Club this past year.

When Lewis graduates in May, she wants to work for a cultural resource management program. This would involve conducting archaeological research before construction projects funded by the federal government are begun. Lewis would protect arts and heritage of past cultures for future generations. She is also thinking of teaching archaeology in higher education.