German Intern Helps Out At Sam

Roman, standing right, worked with Enrollment Management staff Casey Smotherman, upper left, Satoya Williams, lower left and Gloria White-Ross.

My name is Roman Bredlow. For the last nine weeks I have been working here at Sam Houston as a summer intern. That might not sound very special, but I have been the first European to work at this position. Having been born and raised not in the wild, wild West but in the 3,500,000-person capital city of Germany named Berlin, I followed the advice of my college's internship counselor to be adventurous and apply to a place abroad.

Back in Germany I am currently studying International Business and Management at a Berlin business college named International Business School, which I enjoy very much. I wouldn't have thought business was so challenging and enjoyable. Since the international business major requires me to do at least one of my internships abroad I came here.

So… why Huntsville and Sam Houston?

Five years ago I was a foreign exchange student here in Huntsville and went to Huntsville high where I lived with Sam Houston Provost David Payne. I had a good experience and made some great friends. Also, since David was employed by the university, I became somewhat familiar with SHSU. So my decision to come back to Huntsville wasn't too difficult considering I could live with my old host family again for free.

So what have I been doing here at Sam?

My first five weeks I spent in the Enrollment Management department where I worked together with the Orientation Director Nancy Jeffcoat, well, Nancy Ilfrey by now. She did a great job of getting me integrated into the work and the process of orientation. I didn't really know what I was doing in my first week. We had to print thousands of sheets of paper to prepare the orientation folders. We answered calls all day trying to help concerned moms and students get signed up and the info they needed. But by my second week I did quite well with that part.

But besides preparing everything I also got to participate as an orientation leader and that meant work but also a lot of fun. The great thing about it was that I got to know a lot of people quickly and got to make some friends which is important if you come here from a different country and REALLY don't know anyone. I was actually surprised that one of my old friends from high school, Maritza Santos was even part of the crew.

So being in orientation we got to work an 18-hour shift every Thursday, starting preparation for the day at 6:30 a.m. and finishing with our last room checks for new freshman staying over at Sam Houston Village at 12:30 a.m.

It took me a while to get to know the little presentations we did throughout the day such as "the Bearkat Crawl", well, that one wasn't too difficult, the "Orientation Leader Dance" and the "SHSU Shout." But the other leaders did a good job of showing me what to do and making me feel part of the group. After a few weeks and after learning the ins and outs I even got to be in charge of some things for the day like announcing everyone at the big orientation opening. So all in all I really enjoyed the time.

My next office would be the Marketing office where I worked together with the Marketing Director Kris Ruiz. Right on my first day we started to work on the new university commercial that will be aired on MTV. So you can imagine how excited I was to help with that. Well, sadly I didn't get to be in it (smile), but it turned out to be really nice.

Roman with his host family - the Paynes, with a 40-pound watermelon raised in David's yard. From left: Grettle Payne, Roman, David Payne and David Payne Jr.

Over the next couple of weeks I got to take a closer look at the different things the university does to market itself to the outside. I saw how the university press works and they really produce a lot of things there, I saw how alumni events are planned and how much work goes into selecting the right kind of invitations since they are little pieces of art by themselves.

Besides that I also got to do some market research about different radio stations down in Houston and how they reach the student age population.

My last assignment was working together with Frank Krysyniak, director of public relations, where I wrote articles for the Today@Sam website. Over the next few weeks I will work with the President's office and Alumni Relations.

By the time in October when I'll return home I will have learned many important things. The American university scene is very similar to the one in Germany as in students working very hard on campus and off and also participating in many other events while also having a FUN time. Even so in Germany we don't quite have as many extra curricular activities offered.

It is interesting to see how Sam Houston has changed over the five years since I was here last time. A lot of very nice new buildings have been built, especially all the new student housing is impressive. And it looks like there is still more to come.

But then there are things that never change. The good old Tex-Mex food is still popular and popular with me, too. Ever since being to Texas I have started to look out for Mexican restaurants in Berlin and found some very nice ones

To sum it all up, I very much enjoyed the experience I had here so far. Not just relating to the culture of an American university but also seeing working and professional life here in the U.S. All this will be an asset to me in my career.

Roman, The Man himself.

I am looking forward to working in business one day and due to the ever-increasing internationality in the business world and continuing growth of companies into global players I see the possibility of myself returning to the U.S. again in the future to work.

And even though I hear people complain about it, I really don't mind the Texas heat. Yeahah!

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SHSU Media Contact: Roman Bredlow
Sep 1, 2006
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