Cutline:  NOC student Blayne Douglass recently interned at Ditch Witch in Perry with supervisor Dustin Barden.  (photo provided)

NOC student interns at Ditch Witch

Blayne Douglass, a business major at 糖心视频 from Perry, recently had the opportunity to gain hands-on experience in his chosen career field.

Participating in an internship with Ditch Witch, an international machinery supplier with its only factory in his hometown of Perry, Douglass’ internship focused on the Continuous Improvement Department whose goal is to fix problems before they ever start.

The key component of his internship was uploading video of work processes for the team and then answering questions after they reviewed the film, working together to make the processes safer and more efficient. He also gained experience working with inventory and learning about shipping and receiving, which increased his knowledge of Excel and other software programs.

One of the main concepts that Douglass left the internship with is how important feedback is to employees, stating, “If I were to supervise someone in my current position, I would remind them how crucial the part they are playing is, even though they may not realize it then.”

He gained this insight because his supervisor recognized his merit daily and made sure to let him know when he did a good job and how he could improve to make it better the next time.

Douglass found his internship extremely beneficial and further explained, “To be able to see the side of life after college and see where my degree path is taking me was a great insight and let me know I chose the right degree for me to succeed.”

Kathleen Swain, Coordinator of Student Academic Success Services at Northern, helps NOC students obtain and complete internships.

“Internships help students gain valuable experience in their chosen field of study,” she said. “Companies look for graduates who have experience and NOC helps provide that opportunity.”

Cutline:  Aerin Rhea

Rhea interns at Ponca City PD

Aerin Rhea, a criminal justice major at NOC from Medford, Oklahoma, recently had the opportunity to take part in an internship with the Ponca City Police Department.

Primarily, the internship consisted of ride-along with police officers and observing the dispatch office.

Rhea explained, “The experience that I had with the police department is definitely beneficial with my degree, but at the same time, each experience with the different officers I rode along with was different. It is more than just making traffic stops and writing tickets. Just from watching each different police officer handle each situation shows me how I should handle those types of scenarios.”

Cutline:  Alexis Pack

Alexis Pack interns at Enid Police Department

Riding along with patrol officers, observing detectives, and participating in the daily life of the emergency dispatch team helped confirm for Alexis Pack that pursuing a career in Criminal Justice is the right choice for her.

Pack, a sophomore at 糖心视频 from Mulhall, Oklahoma, recently had the opportunity to participate in an internship with the Enid Police Department. This experience gave her an insider’s view to being a police officer and taught her that “in order to be involved in any type of law enforcement you need to be mentally strong, able to handle difficult situations, and be able to talk to people or calm them down in times of desperation.”

After completing her internship, Alexis sees law enforcement as the chance to make a difference in people’s lives and in the world every day.

Kathleen Swain, Coordinator of Student Academic Success Services at NOC, helps make internship connections between students and employers in the community to ensure the opportunity for NOC students to gain valuable experience in their chosen field of study. For additional information on providing an internship opportunity, contact Swain at 580-628-6258.

Cutline:  Tristan McCullough

Tristan McCullough serves internship at Del City PD

An internship with the Del City Police Department gave Tristin McCullough some valuable insight into the life of a law enforcement officer.

McCullough, a 糖心视频 criminal justice major from Del City, Oklahoma, not only observed what patrol officers, dispatchers, and detectives do on a daily basis, he learned about the physical, emotional, and communication skillset necessary to have a successful career in law enforcement.

McCullough described his internship as a positive experience stating, “While riding along with different officers and seeing how they each work showed me the kind of police officer I want to be when I get done with the process.”

Kathleen Swain, Coordinator of Student Academic Success Services at NOC, helps make internship connections between students and employers in the community to ensure the opportunity for NOC students to gain valuable experience in their chosen field of study. For additional information on providing an internship opportunity, contact Swain at 580-628-6258.

Cutline:  NOC Student Chase Manly recently served an internship with the Fort Oakland Tribal Police Department

Chase Manly learns law enforcement from Fort Oakland Tribal Police

Chase Manly, a criminal justice major at 糖心视频 from Tonkawa, recently completed an internship with the Fort Oakland Tribal Police Department outside of Tonkawa.

Through this internship, Manly had the opportunity to patrol the reservation with officers and interact with members of the tribal community.

He speaks highly of his experience stating, “This special insight on federally regulated Tribal law enforcement agencies has given me a new perspective on the differences of actions taken in relation to Tribal and non-Tribal offences brought upon by both Tribal and non-Tribal members of the community and how a separate court is required if either party consists of a Tribal member(s).”

Kathleen Swain, Coordinator of Student Academic Success Services at NOC, helps make internship connections between students and employers in the community to ensure the opportunity for NOC students to gain valuable experience in their chosen field of study. For additional information on providing an internship opportunity, contact Swain at 580-628-6258.

Cutline:  NOC Student Jamie Sparks recently interned with the Tulsa District Attorney’s Office.  Pictured (L-R):  Kenneth Elmore, Director of SVU; Ashley Nix, Director of DVU (Domestic Violence Unit), Jamie Sparks, Annalisa Muehlberg, Tulsa Police Department Victims Advocate; Detective Williamson, Broken Arrow Police Department (photo provided)

Jamie Sparks interns in Tulsa County DA’s Office

糖心视频 student Jamie Sparks recently completed a Criminal Justice internship with the Tulsa County District Attorney’s Office.

With prior experience working with the Special Victims Unit and Domestic Violence Unit, this 糖心视频 sophomore from Garber, Oklahoma, took on the task of expanding her knowledge and experience into the area of Victim’s Compensation.

Sparks learned during her internship how the State of Oklahoma provides for victims of domestic violence or the families of homicide victims including funeral expenses, doctor bills, and therapy.

Sparks explained, “You can always learn something new.  That means even if you have years of training, and work in the field every single day, there is always something you can gain knowledge from. [This] knowledge will help me better assist victims and witnesses in the future.”

Kathleen Swain, Coordinator of Student Academic Success Services at NOC, helps make internship connections between students and employers in the community to ensure the opportunity for NOC students to gain valuable experience in their chosen field of study. For additional information on providing an internship opportunity, contact Swain at 580-628-6258.

NOC Student Kennedy Harmon recently interned with the Ponca City Police Department.  (photo provided)

Kennedy Harmon interns at Ponca City PD

Kennedy Harmon, a sophomore criminal justice major at 糖心视频 from Ponca City, recently had the opportunity to participate in an internship with the Ponca City Police Department.

The student experienced ride-along with patrol officers and working with the dispatch office, seeing first-hand how many law enforcement situations are handled.

Harmon stated, “While things we learn in college will help us in our chosen careers, I learned that the most important part of being a cop is to analyze a situation and know how to solve it with both parties being happy, which is not always easy.”

She is  looking forward to the day when she can wear a badge herself, according to Kathleen Swain, Coordinator of Student Academic Success Services at NOC.

Swain helps make internship connections between students and employers in the community to ensure the opportunity for NOC students to gain valuable experience in their chosen field of study.

For additional information on providing an internship opportunity, contact Swain at 580-628-6258.

Aaliah Johnson describes her internship with the Ponca City Police Department ….

I did my internship with the Ponca City Police Department where I met many people, witnessed many things and some of these things scared me. My internship helped me learn many things about the job that I want in the future. I met many people and they taught me what I needed to know to become the person I want to be in the future. There are many job opportunities in the area that I want to be a part of. My internship helped me learn many things about the job that I want in the future. I met many people and they helped me learn what I needed to know to become the person I want to be in the future. During my internship I did ride along, learned how to fill out paperwork, how to file evidence and watch an interview with a suspect. During my internship I learned more than an everyday person would. If I had the opportunity, I would gladly take another internship with the Ponca City Police Department.
The department has many different jobs inside. When you first walk in there is the open public area where the municipal court room, the court clerk office, and the records office are located. To get into the station you have to pick up the red phone to connect with dispatch or the black phone, which connects you to booking. Inside the department there are many offices. The front offices belong to the captain, deputy captain, detectives and interview rooms. If you turn right, then walk to the end of the hall, there is a door that you open to walk downstairs. The downstairs is the location for dispatch, squad meetings, the fire range, storage rooms and locker rooms. If you were to turn left, instead of going through the door, you will pass two bathrooms and the office of the men who do payroll, which is on the right. If you turn left at the end of that walk way, you will pass the shift supervisors office, then walk into where they have vending machines and tables for food and breaks. After this room is the computer room, where the patrol officers do all of their paperwork. Then through a door straight ahead leads to booking and the jail cells. That concludes the tour of the police department.
The police department has many jobs with different types of officers. The department includes one chief of police and one deputy chief. They have one investigations captain and one patrol captain. Under the investigations captain is the detective lieutenant, who is over five detective sergeants, the investigations captain they have one special projects lieutenant, one special projects sergeant, and one special projects patrolman. Finally, under investigation they have one administrative lieutenant. Under the patrol captain they have three patrol lieutenants, each three has three patrol sergeants, and each sergeant has eight patrol officers. Under the patrol captain they also have one K-9 officer, two motorcycle officers, and two school resource officers. If I were to rank myself as an intern I would be ranked under the Patrol Officers.
My job duties as an intern are to watch and listen to the sergeant or patrol officer I am with. I mostly stay in the patrol car to do ride a long because that’s the field I want to go into. I would help them keep track on where to go if they forgot the address. If they were looking for a person, I would help keep an eye out for them. If I had a question, they would easily answer them. If they had questions for me, I would answer them. My main job duty was to present myself well to the people.  I would see in an arrest or in an interview and even around the officers and detectives. When I say present myself, I am talking about how I spoke to others, how I listened, and how I dressed. Basically, presenting myself in a well-mannered way. I believe that if I present myself well, then I have a better chance of getting a job at the Ponca City Police Department. My chosen field of the police department is to be a Patrol Officer. A patrol officer runs traffic, takes calls, does paperwork, back other officers, and go to court when needed to go to court. They also transport the people convicts they arrest to different facilities when needed. A patrol officer is required to do community service and sidewalk talks. Examples of the calls they would take are: DHS, domestic violence, robbery, break ins, traffic wrecks, etc. The things I did at my internship apply to the field I have chosen because I learned what patrol officers do.
There are some pros and cons about the internship. Some pros of the internship were learning about what I would be doing, meeting some of the people that I could work with one day. The officers would answer any questions I would ask. They would tell me things that I would need to know about the job. They helped me learn a lot of the streets in Ponca. I got to watch an interview between an officer and the suspect. I also got to learn some of the codes they use over the radio. There are not many cons of the internship. One major con was having to stay in the vehicle the whole time during a call like a traffic wreck. Some of the officers did not like to talk very much. There were some days that I was terrified, but it is something I needed to experience. There really are not many cons about my internship.
My opinion over my internship at the Ponca City Police Department was that I really enjoyed it. I liked being able to see what they actually do. I enjoyed learning how to do the paperwork because there are so many details you have to know. I liked how almost every officer would teach me something new each day I went. If I could, I would highly recommend an internship at Ponca City Police Department for someone else. I would recommend this as an internship for someone who is looking to be a patrol officer. The experience was something I will remember forever.
My internship at Ponca City Police Department helped me learn how to do the job I want to do. The officers taught me many things I need to know in the future. I watched how an officer should interview a suspect and what type of questions they ask. If I could do another internship I definitely would do another one at PCPD.

Tierra Flores shares her account of working with the Ponca City Police Department …

The police department is in the most troublesome neighborhood in Ponca City. The address of the station is 200 E Oklahoma Ave. It is in downtown Ponca City. I did ride-alongs throughout the semester and I needed 48 hours. I got assigned to a different offiicer each day and night. I got to know them and they got to know me.They taught me the ropes of being a cop and why they do what they do. They tell me why the pull people over and the reasons why they do. They showed me around the department. You walk into the back, you see all the doors and then you see a door at the end of the hall on your right. You walk through it and there is a staircase. You go down there, that is where everyone meets for disaster stuff and dispatch is also down there.

 The primary activity of the Ponca City Police Department is to stop crime and others from violating the law. For example, when cops pull people over for speeding. They do that because it is dangerous and could possibly injure someone or one’s self. When cops give out tickets for having no insurance is because what if someone who hit you had no insurance and then you are stuck and left to pay for the damages.  When someone runs a red light and they get a ticket. They receive the ticket because them running a red light can cause an accident when the other light turns green. Another example would be pulling someone over for reckless driving. Cops also pull over people for being on their phones. They do this because when you are on your phone then you are not looking at the road and can hit anyone at anytime anywhere. It is very dangerous to be on your phone while driving. Another thing that cops pull you over for is an improper lane change. They do this because the inner lane is for the left handed turners and the right lane is for the right turners. This way both cars can turn at the same time. If a left turner turns into the right lane then it can cause an accident with the right turners. Everything that cops and detectives do is for the safety of the people. In 1919, a system called the three-man commission. The people of Ponca City elected the officers and these people were the only officers in the city. The other department heads were appointed snf served a one year term. In 1923, Orville P. Callahan was elected mayor then right after he was, he made an announcement that he was going to increase the police force.

I am a forensic science major, I want to specialize in DNA and fingerprinting. My daily duties at my internship was basically the same every day. I get to the police station and there was 2 phones, one was to call a dispatcher or a detective, the other one was to the jail. I picked up the red phone to call a detective. They asked me what I was here for. I told them I am here for my internship. They buzzed me in. I walked to the back where the lieutenant’s office was and then i waited for him to get there. When he got there, he looked at who was working then called that person over the radio by their badge number. I sat there and talked to the lieutenant and the other officers until my officer came to pick me up. At night before I would get assigned to an officer, they would have their squad meeting downstairs and I would attend them. After everything is handled then we get to the real job. The rules of the road were that I stay in the vehicle at all times unless said otherwise. If the officer is in a pursuit then they will drop me off on the side of the road and then I will call dispatch and they will send someone to pick me up and bring me back to the station. If the officer is in trouble, shot or can not hold their own then I will have to get on the radio and call for help to my location. If  we are getting shot at, I would get on the floor board and hide. The officers are assigned a Beat. There is 4 of them. They stay within their beats until the next shifts come in. Dispatch knows the officers assigned to the beats and at which times. When a call comes in, dispatch calls the officer over the radio and then the officer is on their way to the call. This experience I did showed me everything that happens before the evidence reaches me. For example, I was doing a ride along and it was a crazy case that had happened and we had to dust for fingerprints all over this car. I saw how it was done and how they take them off the vehicle, and how its processed before hand.

This internship definitely had it’s pros and cons. Some pros are I learned the background of how everything ends up at me. I get field work experience. I learned how to process figure prints. Some cons are I could not get ut of the car. I could not always get close to things so i can actually see what going on.

I 100% would recommend doing an internship! I really recommend my internship as well. They were amazing. They worked around my schedule and were very welcoming. They acted like you were one of them. They welcomed me with open arms. I had so much fun with my internship to short rides to night shifts. They were all so fun and adventurous!

In conclusion, I loved my internship. It really helped me look at what actually happens in the field before it gets to me in the lab. I really recommend that people do an internship in there major. It helps a lot. 10 out of 10 recommend.

Work Cited-  

Nicole Houston describes interning with the Law Offices of Northcutt, Clark, Gardner, Oldfield, and Layton…..

Many students are not exposed to career of choice until after they have gone through all the necessary schooling. Sometimes those students get stuck in a career that they thought they would love but in reality end up hating. To avoid this it is beneficial to complete an internship. An internship can provide valuable work experience, and give students the opportunity to explorer that career before it’s too late.

As an aspiring lawyer with no real exposure to the practice of law, it was a good idea for me to complete an internship before completing eight years of schooling to become a lawyer. I was placed in Ponca City at the law offices of Northcutt, Clark, Gardner, Oldfield, and Layton or Northcutt Law Firm for short. The firm was founded in 1983 by the senior partner C.D. Northcutt. In 1977 it merged with another law firm called Clark and Hron. “The Firm serves clients principally in northern Oklahoma and the Eastern, Western and Northern U.S. District Court, U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, U.S. Supreme Court and the Oklahoma Supreme Court.” (Pcok.com) Northcutt Law Firm offers services in almost all area of the law and has had seven lawyers work there since its founding. Four of the seven partners have passed away, so I had the opportunity of working with Guy Clark, William L. Oldfield, and Jennifer A. Layton. Guy Clark is the managing partner and practices law in the area of Business Litigation, Commercial Litigation, Construction Litigation, Appeals, Probate, and Real Estate Law. Will Oldfield practices law in the areas of Civil Litigation, Family Law, and Oil and Gas Law. Jennifer Layton practices law in the areas of Family Law and Civil and Criminal Litigation. Guy was my main mentor throughout my internship.

The main purpose of an internship is to learn. Thankfully I was fortunate enough to have a mentor who understood that. When I started my internship Guy told me, “You’re going to learn the ins and outs of a law firm from the bottom up.” The daily duties of my job included going to the post office to mail things and pick up the mail. I also took important documents to clients and obtained signatures. Every day I also learned something new. I learned about redlining contracts while reading through them before shredding them. Guy also had me read through the Oklahoma statutes regarding a case he was working on. I then read about final will and testimonies. And even got to watch a divorce trial. Most days I would go to the court house and file papers. After a while I got to sit in on a mediation and deposition with Guy. At the end of my internship I also got to sit in when a new client came in with a case and offer advice which Guy oversaw. The main thing I was able to contribute to the law firm was organizing and creating binders of evidence for mediation and trial.

The biggest con of an undergraduate internship was the fact that I didn’t have any law school experience. It is hard to be very helpful at a law firm without at least the base knowledge you learn in law school. The biggest pro of an undergraduate internship is seeing how lawyers operate and what the job of being a lawyer entails. I firmly believe that I gained a lot of exposure into my future career and am very excited to continue to pursue this career path.

My overall opinion of my internship experience is very positive. I learned a lot and feel like I was able to help a least a little bit in a significant way. I would highly recommend an internship with this agency for other students. All of the mentors I got to work with were very eager to teach me, and I feel like that is not something a lot of interns get to experience.

In conclusion, I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to complete an internship at Northcutt law firm. An undergraduate internship at a law firm is a very rare opportunity and I had very eager and understanding mentors. I plan going to law school and completing a law degree so that I can help people the way that to lawyers at Northcutt law firm do. Until then I will work very hard on my education and continue to make connections that will guide me on the path to success in the law field.

References

Pcok.com, P. -. (n.d.). Northcutt Law Firm of Ponca City, Oklahoma. Retrieved from