For the past two summers, Bemidji State student Tom LaLond has held internships with the Rice Lake National Wildlife Service in McGregor, Minn. He has used his experiences with that internship to land a position as a U.S. Department of the Interior Student Ambassador for the 2012-13 academic year.

LaLond, a sophomore biology major from Aitkin, was selected by the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, which created the ambassadors program to increase awareness of internship opportunities available with a variety of federal agencies. LaLond is one of 22 ambassadors nationwide; in this role, he will work to enlist students and promote job and internship opportunities to their fellow classmates and on campuses around the country.

The Department of the Interior is looking to LaLond and the other ambassadors to promote a broad spectrum of occupations including biologists, fish and wildlife administrators, park rangers, education specialists, program analysts and public affairs specialists.

“I was very lucky,” LaLond says. “I have been working all year, doing outreach activities in one-on-one sessions with students and meeting with faculty in different departments.

“It’s going really well. I have gone into different classes and talked, and have had a good number of students come up to me and say ‘hey, I would like to do this.’ In the spring, I want to do some kind of outreach in the region and go talk to students on other campuses.”

To be eligible for the student ambassadors program, students must first complete an internship with one of 10 Department of the Interior bureaus. The Department of Energy, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office also participate in the ambassador program, which will expand in 2013 to include other agencies.

In today’s economic environment with increasing emphasis on the ability of college graduates to find work, LaLond says this internship is not only providing him with a tremendous experience during his undergraduate years, but also has him on a path to employment after he leaves Bemidji State.

“You’re maybe not guaranteed the best job, but a lot of times you are guaranteed a job, and you can move up really, really fast,” he said. “There is a lot of moving around and not necessarily doing what you want to do for your first couple of jobs, but if you get your foot in the door you’re basically guaranteed a pretty good job somewhere.”