UpDate - Vol. 11, No. 1, Page 8
September 5, 1991
Summer in Newark; A second, practical choice for some students

     Summer-that ideal time for students to travel and experience
new and exciting adventures. Some choose to backpack through
Europe, drive cross-country, live and work at the beach or a
mountain resort, while others simply visit the family, working to
save money for the fall semester.
     Then, there are those who choose to stay in Newark.
     To some of them, it wasn't that bad. In fact, there are
advantages. Nacho night at the Deer Park was less mobbed and
parking was easier to come by. It also was interesting, educational
and financially profitable for several students.
     Animal science major Kate Callahan kept busy working on a
special problem with her adviser John Dohms, an immunologist and
associate professor of animal science and agricultural
biochemistry.
     Callahan received three credits for doing experimental lab
work. Many of her experiments included purifying proteins so they
could be used in later experiments.
     She said this job gave her real laboratory experience and more
direction for her future in environmental science.
     A veteran worker at Main Street's Corner Deli, Callahan
moonlighted, making subs several hours a week to pay her bills. She
admitted that her alternate summer plans were to go home to
Maryland or maybe to a dude ranch in Wyoming.
     Senior Jason Parks ended up in Newark this summer by accident.
An economics and political science major, he was hoping to work at
a bank full-time through a University co-op program. "When that
fell through, I needed a job fast," he said.
     He commuted to Chesapeake City, Md., to Schaefer's Canal
House, a fine dining restaurant, where he wore a tuxedo to serve
food. "It's a very wealthy crowd,"he said, "with many of the
customers coming right off yachts."
     Though he earned money and learned how to deal with many
different types of people, he said he would've preferred to live at
Rehoboth Beach with friends.
     Hotel and restaurant management major Laurie Costa worked at
a paid internship at the Marriott Suites Hotel in Wilmington.
     "I dabbled in many areas at the hotel, so I got a good
overview of the business," she said. Some of her work involved
accounting, learning the computer system, front-desk guest
procedures, guest relations and sales.
     "The best part of the job was meeting so many people from all
walks of life," she said, "and if I continue in this field, this
will have served as an invaluable experience."
     Costa would have traveled across the country and seen the West
Coast had she not accepted her internship. But she admitted that
she enjoyed living on her own, as more than just a student. She
noticed that with the students gone, Newark was more quiet, the
stores closed earlier and the townspeople seemed less inhibited.
     Another student who chose to live and work on campus was
international relations major Karl Schwab.
     Schwab worked as a student security aide for University Public
Safety. Since he plans to apply to the police academy when he
graduates, he thought his job would be an excellent first-hand
experience that would provide him with a background in the field.
     His work included building security on campus and odd jobs. "I
was like a go-fer, that they send to do whatever they needed," he
said.
     His first choice was a summer at the beach, but he said,
"Maybe next year I'll work at the beach as a police officer."
     On the academics side, psychology and philosophy major Robin
Cautin received a science and engineering scholarship for a summer
research project. She spent a lot of time in the library, at a
computer and reading various books, articles and journals.
     Cautin worked with Roger Kobak, assistant professor of
psychology, who is researching student adjustment from high school
to college. Cautin's work consisted of research, experiment design
and determining how it relates to and is significant to the
discipline of psychology.
     Cautin's work will culminate in a senior thesis when she
graduates with a degree of distinction. "The program I'm in doesn't
require that I graduate with a degree of distinction," she said,
"but that's my personal goal. This has been an excellent
opportunity to immerse myself in an area of interest. I'm really
enjoying it."
     She was not allowed to have a part-time job because all of her
efforts were supposed to be geared toward her research, however, a
stipend was enough to support her expenses through the summer.
     Cautin said she was grateful for the exposure to the field and
is keeping her options open for the future as far as becoming a
full-time researcher.
     If she could've been anywhere besides Newark this summer,
Cautin would have traveled through Europe, "But on someone else's
money," she joked.
     Senior Sue Brown took nine credits at the University during
summer sessions. She kept busy attending classes and studying but
also worked at McKinly Laboratory several hours a week. As a
biology and geography major, her experience doing varied tasks in
the lab helped her to realize what type of job she would like to
pursue after graduation.
     "On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I cleaned out hamster
cages, handling about 100 hamsters a day."
     She also did inventory and preparation for up coming lab
classes which involved mixing chemicals, putting together a
skeleton model to make sure all of the bones were intact.
     Brown would have liked to have had an internship somewhere in
the Midwest this summer or to have been on a beach, anywhere. But
she doesn't regret spending three extra months in Newark, because,
as she explained "I had a very productive summer overall."
                                        - Gabriela Marmo