Internship Postpones Graduation for Student
Posted Monday, June 28, 2004

Jan. 12, 2004 By DIANE GASPER-O'BRIEN
Hays Daily News

Brian Carlson thought he had his college career planned. He expected to graduate in another year from Fort Hays State University with a bachelor's degree in information networking and telecommunications.

That was before he was offered an internship last month with Cisco Systems, the world's leading producer of Internet equipment, in the Raleigh, N.C., area.

Carlson, a junior from Manhattan, started working at the Cisco Technical Assistance Center in the Research Triangle Park last week.

The recurring internship will provide a job for Carlson for three consecutive terms, running January through August, ultimately postponing his college graduation until December 2006.

But he thinks it will be worth the wait.“It definitely will be worth the experience I will be getting down here,” Carlson said. “When I get back, I'll have the practical experience of actually rebuilding customer networks, working in the real world.”

Carlson will join other interns in assisting engineers with troubleshooting customer networks at the technical assistance center, where Cisco does all its research and development for new products.

“This is one of the dream internships for an information technology student who is planning on being an Internet protocol engineer or network design engineer,” said Mark Bannister, chairman of the INT department at FHSU. “Brian will have amazing learning and professional opportunities.”

“I think this will position Brian very, very well with placement, whether with a major national corporation or to go to graduate school,” Bannister added. “It also will provide him with background and confidence.”

After interviewing applicants nationwide, Cisco hired Carlson — who will receive college credit for his internship — and five other students for the cooperative education program that also includes electrical engineer majors.

Carlson first became interested in the Cisco program while taking a night class at the Manhattan Area Technical College when he was a senior at Manhattan High School.

Until then, he had planned to stay in town and major in engineering at Kansas State University.

“After taking that class, I knew that's what I wanted to do,” Carlson said.

So he said he started browsing the Web to look at different universities in the area and ran across FHSU's program. FHSU has had a Cisco regional academy since the fall of 1998.

“I read over their curriculum, and it looked like a program right down my alley,” said Carlson, who checked out FHSU and began school there in the fall of 2001.

“Now, (INT) is one of the faster growing programs on campus,” Carlson said. “They have added a security curriculum and a wireless curriculum — two huge areas that are driving the industry right now.”

Carlson already has passed several Cisco certifications and will continue working on others during his internship.

He learned about the internship and applied in November. After an initial screening interview by telephone, Carlson was called for a second interview that included 10 engineers who asked questions for about two hours.

Then, a couple of weeks before Christmas break came the call offering Carlson the internship.
It was a hectic two weeks for Carlson, who had to withdraw from his spring semester classes, cancel his residence hall contract and find a place to live in North Carolina.

Now, he's settled in and plans to make the most of the opportunity.

“Working down here applies to everything I've learned in my classes,” Carlson said. “The experience at FHSU really gears you toward this sort of a job, and here, I have access to everything that Cisco has made in the last 10 years. It's a great opportunity.”

Bannister agreed.

“Cisco Systems' selection of Brian Carlson reflects very positively on the Fort Hays State University (INT) department,” Bannister said. “It's an excellent opportunity to lay a foundation for an excellent career, and he'll represent FHSU very well".