GOSHEN — The Goshen High School business students of the month are two teens working in banking and journalism.

Goshen senior Sandra Rodriguez was named as Interdisciplinary Cooperative Education (ICE) Student of the Month through the school’s Cooperative Education program.

Joining Rodriguez is junior Dana Folker, who was recently named Professional Career Internship Student of the Month.

ICE Student of the Month

Rodriguez received her nomination for ICE Student of the Month through her work with the marketing department of Interra Credit Union in Goshen.

“My job basically involves getting stuff ready for seminars, getting supply orders ready for the other branches, helping the training department when they train employees, doing inventory for brochures, all sorts of things,” Rodriguez said. “I pretty much help with whatever marketing needs.”

Rodriguez began her work at Interra in June 2011, working from 2 to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon under the watchful eye of Director of Marketing Karen Steffensen.

“Sandy is a model employee, not just a model student,” Steffensen said of why she chose to nominate Rodriguez for the honor. “She brings professionalism, she shows initiative, she takes her position seriously, and we value Sandy as a part of our department, not just as a ‘here today, gone tomorrow’ intern.”

Rodriguez said she initially became interested in the ICE program after learning it would allow her to work while also earning credit toward her diploma.

“I wanted to have a chance to be in school and work at the same time,” Rodriguez said. “My second choice for going to college was going into business marketing, so working at Interra has given me a fun learning experience.”

Through the program, Rodriguez said she has gained a much greater understanding of the business world and what it means to be a professional.

“The experience has been really helpful,” Rodriguez said. “Working with other professionals has just helped me grow as a person, made me become more social and outgoing, and I’m more confident than when I first started working here. I would definitely recommend it.”

Internship Student

of the Month

Dana Folker received her nomination for Internship Student of the Month through her work as an intern with The Paper, a weekly newspaper based in Milford serving Kosciusko, Elkhart, Noble, Marshall and LaGrange counties.

“Ever since around seventh grade I was really into cooking and art and I was set on going to culinary school in Chicago,” Folker said. “But another student in my class wanted to do that too, and Mr. Bechtel had a problem placing both of us, so my second choice was doing something in the field of journalism.”

Folker began her internship with The Paper in late January, where her main duties involve writing a weekly column called Goshen High School Highlights. The internship is set to end May 19.

“I didn’t really know much about it going into it, but just in this one semester I’ve really fallen in love with writing and just the whole concept of working in an environment like that,” Folker said. “I can honestly say I no longer want to go to culinary school.”

Folker’s supervisor, The Paper editor Jeri Seely, isn’t surprised.

“Dana is just a delightful person,” Seely said. “She just has a real good work ethic, she has been on time every morning since she started coming in. She’s just a model employee.”

Folker said she believes the Cooperative Education program is a good educational tool.

“I know for me, and for a lot of other students in the classroom, it’s really helping us figure out the specifics of what we want to do when it comes to our careers,” Folker said. “The program, it’s really giving us an advantage over the other people we’re going to go to college with because we’re getting this early experience, and I just think Goshen High School is very blessed to have this program.”