Town of Ferdinand Spring intern hit the ground running

ByMatthew Crane Reading Time: 2 minutes
Victoria Van Winkle is the new intern for the Town of Ferdinand

Victoria Van Winkle, a senior at Forest Park Jr.-Sr. High School, was recently selected for the Town of Ferdinand’s public relations internship. She will work directly with Town Manager, Marc Steczyk, until mid-May.

Victoria is excited and thankful for the opportunity. “Though I haven’t been there long, I can already tell that I am going to love it,” She said. “I know that I am going to take so much from the experience, and I am excited to see what comes from it.”

Ferdinand Town Manager Marc Steczyk stated Victoria hit the ground running with the power outage the town experienced when a substation fuse blew. “She was answering phones with everyone else,” Steczyk said. “It was hectic for a while here and we are a small office so everyone was involved.”

Over half the town was without power for about three hours on Jan. 18. “We were lucky that both schools were unaffected by the outage, but Masterbrand and Best Chair Home Furnishings Plant Three lost power.” Steczyk explained. “Victoria was thrown in the fire that day.”

“The power outage was obviously unexpected which kept Marc and everyone else extraordinarily busy,” Victoria said. “I just did my best to help out with anything I could. Helping to keep the information flowing was my main task.”

Forrest Park students have been coming to work as interns for the Town of Ferdinand for a few years now. Allie Wylam worked the winter of 2008 and again in the summer, she then recommended Andrea Schroering for an internship. Both filled important positions within the city including developing the summer recreation program for Ferdinand.

Victoria will work with the city about two hours a day during study hall. “We don’t put the interns in some back office filing papers,” Steczyk said, “they’re working in public relations for the city. It is a great experience.”

She will provide assistance with various town projects this spring including the Ferdinand Folk Festival, the Dubois County Leadership Academy, and the recreation programming.

Victoria is the proud daughter of Martha Van Winkle and Don and Sue Ann Van Winkle. Next fall, she plans to attend an as-yet-undecided four-year university to major in psychology with hopes of later earning a graduate degree.

Victoria has been involved in the following clubs and extracurricular programs:

  • Beta Club
  • Business Professionals of America
  • Peer Tutoring
  • Hoosier Girls’ State
  • Spirit Club
  • Key Club
  • Student Council
  • Girls’ Varsity Softball
  • Girls’ Varsity Soccer
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