Fort Leonard Wood has been in the Ozarks for nearly 70 years, but what goes on there is a mystery to many. Last fall, three Missouri S&T technical communication students worked to change that by making the military base’s internal operations more accessible to the outside world.

Missouri S&T partnered with the U.S. Army Base near St. Robert, Mo., to create three new technical communication internships. None of the three interns — Tara Dudney, Lindsey Dunstedter and Tessa Long — had much knowledge of the military prior to the internship. But they all found the experience eye-opening.

“My idea of the Army has completely changed,” says Dudney, a graduate student in technical communication. “I have learned so much.”

Dudney works at the Maneuver Support Center (MANSCEN) on web development, writing and editing articles as needed. “I use everything I have learned from my classes at Missouri S&T,” she says. “It’s been exciting applying my education to real-world situations. This internship has been one of my best academic experiences.”

Dunstedter, TComm’09, also works at MANSCEN, where she researches and writes about the history, importance and purpose of the Army to tell its story to a civilian audience.

Long, a graduate student, finished her internship last fall. She chronicled her experiences in a blog, www.civilianstandpoint.blogspot.com, and wrote for the post newspaper, The Guidon.