By Rumasa Noor

Internships play a key role in getting jobs because they help students get experience in their respective fields.

Inroads is a non-profit professional leadership development organization that prepares students for corporate leadership. The purpose of this organization is to increase ethnic diversity in corporate America.

Sophomore Estefania Mora got an internship through Inroads at Traveler’s Insurance Company, where she worked in the Subrogation department.

“It was a great way for me to meet everyone in different levels,” Mora said. “I met people from the finance department, IT department, subrogation. I met people from every other field, and I also met other interns that were in different internships than I was. It was a nice way for me to see other people and talk to them about their experience.”

Mora mentioned that Inroads also is involved in community service during the summer.

“They not only care about getting you a job, they want to make you a better person and help you gain skills like communication skills, personal skills and leadership skills,” Mora said.

She also had a chance to talk to the CEO of Traveler’s Insurance, which a lot of other people don’t get to do.

National Association of Black Accountants invited the speaker Jesus Vasquez, a senior manager and a UW-W alumnus, to speak at its weekly meeting. At the meeting, Vasquez gave an introduction to Inroads and how it can help students to get internships.

“I think that a lot of the opportunities they say that you should do more than one internships, but our program says stay with that sponsor company with the intent that when you graduate, you get a full time placement,” Vasquez said.

Inroads was founded in 1970 with only one office in Chicago, with 25 college student interns and 17 corporate partners. It now has more than 35 offices, nearly 2,000 interns and more than 200 corporate partners. Seventeen UW-Whitewater students have gotten internships through Inroads.

Eligible students for Inroads internships must have a GPA of 3.0 or above and major in Business, Science, Technology, Engineering, Math, or Liberal Arts. Students with career interests in the fields of Management, Sales, Health Care, Accounting, Banking, Insurance and many other fields can take advantage of inroads.

Deadline to apply at Inroads is May 31.