1 March 2010 Icy internship awesome way to spend summer

It’s almost been a summer on ice for one Lincoln University student.

Maree Calder has spent 12 weeks on the inaugural internship at the International Antarctic Centre, at the halfway point in her Sport and Recreation Management degree studies at New Zealand’s specialist land-based university, Lincoln University.

Maree says her summer internship at Christchurch’s world-renowned Centre has been a “dream experience”.

“I am planning to major in Tourism Management and this internship has taken me right to the heart of a top international tourist attraction. It has given me a first-hand look at all its aspects … everything, from the penguins to the car parking to the ticketing, to the café and retail shop, to finance and administration. In fact I have worked in 15 different areas at the Centre.

“It has been an awesome experience and I am so grateful to Lincoln University and the Centre for putting together this internship.

“I have been privileged to be able to see everyone’s roles and functions and to be part of, not just observe,  the day to day operation of the Centre. This has been especially fortunate over the busy holiday season when we have had the whole range of visitors, from individual tourists to family groups to cruise ship tour parties and all sorts of others in between  -  as well as functions in that period.” 

For Maree, who is a former New Zealand national age group trampoline champion and New Zealand representative,  the internship produced an additional interest.

She says she went into the internship with previous experience in administration and was keen to focus on the conferences and functions aspect of the Centre’s activities, as she would like to get into this area of work when she graduates. A bonus was discovering the marketing side  -  the way the centre promotes itself.

“I guess when people think of the Antarctic Centre they think immediately of penguins. While the Penguin Encounter is a very important attraction and I loved working with them the Centre offers the public a wide  package of experiences  -  from Hagglund vehicle rides to the Snow and Ice room with its sub-zero temperature and simulated Antarctic storm, to displays where you take a close look at the insulated clothing worn in the Antarctic.

“What has the internship meant to me?  Experience in the real world to match the theory I’m learning through my degree studies. It has given me a nice mix of the two. In addition it was  valuable in introducing me not only to what I do like, but also in allowing me to find out what I don’t like and it’s better to know that now, rather than find out later when I am down the track in my career.”

The success of the first internship has delighted the Director of the Antarctic Centre, Richard Benton, who believes the internship concept is off to a good start.

“The internship concept has been an exciting step for the Centre,” he says. “To contribute to the education and career development of a representative of the on-coming generation has given us much pleasure. There has also been an immediate pay-off because not only has Maree been part of our work team while she has been here, but under the internship arrangement she has to provide us with a report. To have an insight in this way into how others see us can only be good for our own development and progress at the Centre.”

Richard regularly travels overseas observing innovations, trends and best practice in tourism facilities and operations and he will be adding Maree’s report to the pool of information he gathers to keep the Centre at the forefront of New Zealand tourism attractions.

It’s no coincidence that the International Antarctic Centre won the Champion Host category for Medium/Large Enterprises in the 2009 Champion Canterbury Awards and has won numerous other awards justifying its claim as the world’s best Antarctic attraction.

“Three-quarters of the world’s scientists going to the Antarctic come to Christchurch as their gateway south,” says Richard. “Christchurch is the gateway to the Antarctic  -  no other city can claim that as we can. It is a unique point of difference for this city.”

Dr Stefanie Rixecker, Dean of Lincoln University’s Faculty of Environment, Society and Design, in which Maree is studying, says the purpose of the internship is three-fold  -  to provide tourism undergraduates with work-based experience over the summer break; to provide the students with experience of what it would be like to work in a large tourism operation and to possibly influence their career path; and to give students experience that will help them gain employment in the tourism industry once they have completed their Lincoln University programme.

Criteria for selection included academic achievement, quality of written application, and demonstration of key attributes needed for the position.