Off-campus internships build skills while developing talent pipelines for local businesses
Students are gaining practical experience, honing their skills, and finding career opportunities in Southwest Virginia and beyond.
When students land internships with local employers, they gain an opportunity to test-drive career options, develop important skills, and establish relationships with people who may ultimately help them get hired after graduation.
When local companies hire interns, they in turn gain fresh perspectives, additional support from highly motivated and educated workers, and the opportunity to mentor and shape the next generation of professionals.
Through the Region 2 Internship Collaborative, Virginia Tech’s Center for Economic and Community Engagement is strengthening this mutually beneficial talent pipeline in the New River Valley, the Roanoke-Alleghany region, and the greater Lynchburg area. The program bridges the gap between students and businesses by highlighting and supporting local work-based learning opportunities.
“Through internships with employers in the region, students can learn valuable skills and also build connections that can encourage them to stay and help address the workforce needs of the region,” said Brenna Valle, who helps lead the regional collaborative for the center, part of Outreach and International Affairs.
Take Noah Renne. The polymer chemistry major found her perfect opportunity at one of the collaborative’s local career expos, where she connected with Chemsolv, a Roanoke-based chemical distributor that offered two internships this summer. She said meeting employers in person to present her resume yielded a higher-quality internship than others would have offered.
“I really like the amount of time that I get to spend in the lab in such a positive and constructive environment,” Renne said.
Work-based experiential learning experiences such as hers — as well as the university’s Campus internEXP program — offer wage-matching through the Virginia Talent + Opportunity Partnership. This program, administered by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, helps build regional internship opportunities.
Cecelia Chan, a clinical neuroscience major, also was hired at Chemsolv.
“I love the professional, yet comforting environment the staff at Chemsolv provide,” Chan said. “I always feel welcome to make a mistake and say, ‘I don’t know what to do.’ They teach me how to do things in a professional manner and what happens at each level of the organization.”
Growing new skills
Alexander Yurista, who has a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering, recently embarked on a new journey into horticulture. Over the summer, Yurista has been participating in a horticulture program and working in the greenhouse with Michael Evans, professor in the School of Plant and Environmental Sciences. He’s also working as an intern at Pulaski-based startup Pod Farms.
“I came into my internship at Pod Farms having gardened a little bit, but I didn’t know much about hydroponics. What I’ve learned about in the classroom has had a direct application to what I am working on at my internship. I’ll learn something in the greenhouse, and then the next day at my internship we’ll talk about it in a meeting,” Yurista said. “What I’ve learned from my classes and my internship have inspired an interest in horticulture and a desire to continue working in this field.”
Using 3D printing, Pod Farms developed and patented a modular hydroponic system for growing plants that can be used in commercial grow operations and community grow centers, as well as by home hobbyists.
Toni Sperry, president and founder of Pod Farms, said Yurista has been fantastic to work with. “We’re hoping to keep him excited and engaged so we can continue working with him. We have plans to expand our business and go into larger-scale manufacturing and are really passionate about talent retention in this region and finding someone to work with us long-term,” she said.
Recruiting talent
In Roanoke, ETS Recruit has two Hokies helping with marketing and the recruitment of doctors and other medical professionals across the country.
Both Priya Patel, an operations and supply chain management major, and Blair Emery, a marketing management major, are students in the Pamplin College of Business. They said that building real-world communication skills will be invaluable to reaching their career goals.
“We do marketing calls every day, and it’s important to communicate well. I think that’s one skill you have to have in the real world, and with all our technology, that is a skill that not a lot of people have down,” Emery said.
Patel and Emery also agreed that working in an office every day was a big transition from university life. “I know this is reality and this is what I'll be doing after I graduate, so it’s been good to have that experience,” Patel said.
Their mentors are quick to point out that it’s not only the interns who get something from their time in the office.
“It’s great to have a fresh set of eyes. Frankly, we have been doing this for over two decades, and there are some things that we are doing that are stale or that don’t make sense anymore and I love to learn a better way from a 20-year-old,” said Ben Kennedy, a medical recruiter at ETS Recruit. “And hopefully, we’re building up our future pipeline of employees. It would be our dream to have these highly qualified students join our team.”
Linking students and employers
Internships are central to the university’s approach to undergraduate education. Providing more opportunities for paid internships and co-ops is one of the key goals of Virginia Tech Advantage, a universitywide initiative that includes support for career preparation.
The Region 2 Internship Collaborative will hold two Roanoke Valley speed-networking style events to match students with employers that have internship opportunities available for spring, summer, or fall 2025. On top of potentially getting an internship position, students can expect meaningful interactions, free food, and cool giveaways.
The events, whose locations are still to be determined, are scheduled for
- Oct. 8, marketing and communication employers
- Nov. 14, life sciences employers
Students, advisors, and local employers can sign up for the Region 2 Internship Collaborative newsletter to get updates about these and other upcoming events and to learn more about the people working to retain talent in our region.
“These local events create a dynamic platform for meaningful connections, ensuring that both students and employers benefit from the rich potential within our community," Valle said.
Related resources
Other Virginia Tech programs that help students find internships and similar career-related experiences include
