Page 46 - September/October Outdoor Oklahoma Magazine

a meager hourly wage and lodgings are provided, it’s
certainly a sacrifice for some interns to “take the job”
and must give up their work study positions or other WILDLIFEDEPARTMENT.COM
part time jobs, which may yield higher pay. We hope,
in the end, that the internship experience has provided
a worthwhile and enriching experience that pays divi-
dends far exceeding the wages. Likewise, the value pro-
vided by the internship program and received by the
PRC is priceless.

PROGRAM’S FUTURE AND IMPROVEMENT
While the PRC internship has arguably been a great
success, every Department program benefits from a bit
of self-reflection. Looking back to the early days, we Interns collect data at the PRC.
have made a lot of changes and improvements. One
of the enhancements that likely had a positive impact uate degrees in the biological sciences are awarded to
on interns and the PRC alike is the performance eval- women nationally (NSF 2019), female representation with-
uation. Starting in approximately 2013, all PRC interns in state fish and wildlife agency employment is far lower.
underwent a performance evaluation at the culmina- The PRC internship is by no means a shining example on
tion of their internship experience and were provided the topics of diversity and inclusion, however 38% of PRC
the opportunity to give feedback on the program while interns to date have been female, whereas the ODWC
receiving feedback on career development. This has Fish and Wildlife divisions are 21.5% and 7.5% female,
evolved into a more sub- respectively. While we
stantive and consistent haven’t officially tracked
feedback loop of com- “ The PRC and its program provide interns with the racial makeup of PRC
munication, training, and a unique team atmosphere, opportunities to interns, it is likely that we
re-evaluation. Intern feed- interact with anglers and to collaborate on a have work to do in recruit-
back has been directly large-scale data collection effort. Being a part of ing interns that better rep-
implemented in improve- something like the PRC, even for just one season, resent the racial makeup
ments to the program. was undoubtedly a steppingstone in my career.” of our constituency.
A consistent issue chal- We hope that the future
— Alexis Whiles, Fisheries Technician, ODWC
lenging state agencies, of the PRC Internship
with ODWC being no Program lies parallel to
exception, is the ability to recruit and hire a diverse work- that of the PRC itself and will continue to yield success.
force- one that accurately represents the hunters and fish- It’s hard to imagine how we could operate the facili-
ers making up our constituency. Often females and racial ty without the program. Hopefully the internship pro-
minorities are under-represented in the ranks of fish and gram will continue to serve as a recruitment pipeline for
wildlife agency employment. While 60.5% of undergrad- future Department employees and we’ll do our best to
give them some solid training on the fundamentals of
INTERESTED IN A PRC INTERNSHIP? customer service, fish and wildlife management, scien-
College students or those who have complet- tific data collection, and other concepts aligned with the
ed a natural resources curriculum may apply for Department’s mission.
a Paddlefish Research Center internship. Appli-
cations are generally available
on the Department’s website in November, with Literature Cited: National Science Foundation National Center for
Science and Engineering Statistics. (2019). Women, Minorities, and
a submission deadline in January for a March- Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering: 2019. (Special
April internship. For more, scan the codes. report NSF 19-304). https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf19304/data

44 OUTDOOR OKLAHOMA