The school year is over and campuses are quiet. Nonetheless, many South Dakota School of Mines and Technology students are making the most of their summer and will return with far more than they left with - valuable experience gained through internships, co-ops, and undergraduate research.
Bucking national unemployment statistics, School of Mines students are in demand and are working for more than 100 employers in 29 states, Europe, and Africa, earning an average of $16.48 per hour. In addition to wages, some employers provide housing stipends and relocation expenses that are not included in the salary averages.
"These experiences provide excellent opportunities for our School of Mines students to integrate their classroom learning with 'real world' experience in business and industry," School of Mines President Robert A. Wharton, Ph.D., said. "This is a prime example of the meaningful contributions our students make to their communities, our country, and the world."
Organizations hiring School of Mines students include Barrick Gold, Bobcat, NASA, Cargill, Nucor, John Deere, Kiewit, and others. In addition to national corporations, many students are expanding their education through experiences with South Dakota employers — 41 percent in fact. These companies and agencies include Black Hills Power, Daktronics, Sanford Underground Lab, Dakota Power, South Dakota Department of Transportation, Raven, and others.
"These experiences are extremely valuable not only to the students' individual career development, but also to the workforce development of the state of South Dakota," Darrell Sawyer, director of the Career Center at the School of Mines, said. "The availability of technically-skilled college graduates with relevant work experience is critically important to continued economic development in our state."
Seventy-five percent of School of Mines graduates gain relevant work experience through internships and co-ops by the time they graduate, giving them the skills employers are looking for as is evident in the 98 percent placement rate and average starting salaries of nearly $56,000 that graduates achieve.
