Internship: One Student's Experience

Rob Sheldon participated in a summer 2005 internship with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) at its field office in Burlington, Vt. A junior at Champlain, he is majoring in Computer & Digital Forensics and will pursue a career in federal law enforcement.

During his internship, Sheldon observed ATF agents interviewing suspects and witnesses and watched them present cases to federal prosecutors. He also reviewed old case files to familiarize himself with the range of crimes that the office investigates.

"This was a really good opportunity for me," Sheldon said. "I couldn't have asked for a better introduction to federal law enforcement. The agents handle federal crimes related to alcohol, tobacco, firearms and explosives, and much of what I saw was gun related."

"The ATF Internship is a very rare opportunity for a college student to gain insight not only into federal law enforcement, but also into state and local law enforcement, since we work hand-in-hand," said Darren Gil, resident agent in charge at the Burlington field office. "Rob has proven to be an asset to ATF. Computer knowledge is essential in all law enforcement and its impact on criminal investigations continues to grow. Rob is right on target to grow with it."

"This internship was an excellent opportunity for Rob; the accolades from his supervisor speak volumes about him," said Gary Kessler, Champlain's Computer and Digital Forensics program director. "The Computer and Digital Forensics program was developed with the intention of helping to fill the nation's capacity in this space. Rob is an excellent example of the type of student that we are trying to produce."

Rob is the son of Beth and Donald Sheldon of Nashua, N.H. He's a dean's list student whose recent coursework includes Criminal Investigation, Analysis of Digital Media, Computer Forensics I and II, Data Communications and Business Law.