Senior Internship Experience

The interpreting internship is the last component of Goshen College’s ASL Interpreting Program curriculum. This course is completed during the student’s spring semester of their senior year. The internship integrates the knowledge, values and skills students have acquired over their years of study. Through the internship, students are given the opportunity to experience the various tasks, situations and responsibilities that professional interpreters encounter. In these hands-on settings, students apply the knowledge and practice the skills necessary to perform their future jobs effectively.

While on their internship, each student will work as an interpreter alongside one or more on-site mentors. It is the role of a mentor to select appropriate assignments for their mentee and to discuss the intern’s goals and objectives for the assignments. There is some flexibility and choice in where students can do their internship assignments. Below are some of the cities where past students have gone:

  • Seattle, Washington
  • Washington, D.C.
  • Anchorage, Alaska
  • Toledo, Ohio
  • Phoenix, Arizona
  • Minneapolis, Minnesota
  • Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  • Nashville, Tennessee
  • Dallas, Texas
  • Baton Rouge, Louisiana
  • Boston, Massachusetts

Life After College

When students graduate from the ASL Interpreting Program, they have the skills and experience they need to become interpreting professionals. Most of our graduates are working as interpreters, though some are involved in different roles with the Deaf Community. In fact, 90 percent of our graduates find jobs as interpreters within six months of graduation, and 100 percent of grads from the classes of 2012, 2013 and 2014 are now working in positions related to ASL.

You might find our graduates:

  • traveling across the country interpreting the narrations at car shows for Buick, Pontiac, GMC and Chevy
  • in local Indiana public schools system interpreting at middle schools and preschools
  • in private practice interpreting in the Michiana region on assignment in doctor’s offices, schools, job training, etc
  • interpreting in a North Carolina elementary school
  • working as the program coordinator for Anabaptist Deaf Ministries
  • employed as a case worker with First Steps supporting Deaf parents and their infants (disabled)
  • interpreting in the school system in Alaska
  • working in Cincinnati as a freelance interpreter
  • interpreting for video relay companies
  • working at GC as an interpreter and department assistant
  • interpreting in local churches