Curricular Practical Training Experience: Kristyne Reeds

Kristyne Reeds is a Deaf Canadian citizen working on obtaining her second degree, a Bachelors of Science in Accounting. After completing an on-campus summer internship with the Administration and Finance program, Reeds wanted to pursue a fall internship in accounting. The Office of Research Support and International Affairs suggested that Reeds and her supervisor take advantage of the CPT program. Once Reeds was made aware of CPT she jumped at the chance to gain work experience and get paid for her time.

Of the program, Reeds said that "It's a good experience. It's a great opportunity for us to lead into our future career and we can build our professional networks and our resume. Through CPT we are not limited to the campus community to develop our career skills... It's also great to real life work experience to see if we want to continue with that field or not." Reeds is currently an accountant clerk intern at the Kellogg Conference Hotel (even though the Hotel building is on-campus, as a business it is considered off-campus and isn't under Gallaudet University's umbrella). Reeds' work environment at the Hotel is every friendly; when asked about her internship she smiled and said, "I always look forward to work."

Reeds has both a supervisor who is hearing and a coworker who is deaf. She gets along well with both, and noted that her supervisor was not at all intimidated about communicating with her. Some of the typical tasks Reeds does during her internship include doing inventory, helping with the pay roll, conducting the daily cash reconciliation, creating weekly reports and assisting with the billing.

Reeds highly recommends that international students participate in the CPT program, adding that "it is a wonderful experience for off-campus career related training... I strongly encourage internationals to take advantage of the opportunity."

Last updated December 12, 2012