Class of 2008, Environmental, Safety and Occupational Health Management Major
Hometown: Edon, Ohio

When Katie Long walks through the Arch in front of Old Main after commencement Dec. 13, she will walk into a full-time job with Marathon Petroleum Co., the same company with which she completed five internships.
   
As a freshman environmental, safety and occupational health management major, Long was offered her first internship with the company. She wasn’t entirely sure she should accept the opportunity, but her professors talked her into it. “They told me it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” she said. And it was.
   
Since then, Long has completed three additional assignments and will complete her fifth by the time she graduates in December. Two internships were at a refinery in Canton, Ohio; another was with Marathon Pipeline; another was with Marathon Petroleum’s Corporate Health Services group; and her current internship is with corporate refining environmental safety and security.
   
Long cited her decision to work in Canton for a semester as the most challenging decision of her college career. It was the beginning of her sophomore year, and she wasn’t sure she would graduate on time if she made the decision to accept the internship. But she’s glad she did, and is even graduating a semester early.
   
Because of her culminating experiences on campus and with Marathon, Long’s final internship assignment is to complete a security risk assessment for a refinery. She said she hasn’t had any problems completing it because it was something she learned how to do in a risk assessment class at UF.
   
“In every class I’ve taken, I’ve learned techniques that I’ve applied to my internships,” she said. “What I’ve learned in the classrooms, I’ve seen firsthand in the field.” She even was able to tour a refinery, prior to her work at a refinery, and watch a manufacturing process at a steel mill through her courses at the University.
   
Long also took the opportunity to become involved on campus through the Oiler Environmental, Safety and Occupational Health Organization (OESHO). She was treasurer for two years and public relations officer for two years, helping organize events such as the group’s annual skiing and camping trips and Fear Factor, a competitive event where teams compete against each other in obstacle-course style contests.
   
After getting started in her career full-time, Long plans to pursue a master’s degree in industrial hygiene, as well as additional certifications.