The Hownikan’s newest staff member, social media and online assistant Rachel Maker, started with the department late in 2025. However, Maker’s first experience working at CPN was as an intern.
Maker, who graduated in December from the University of Central Oklahoma with her Bachelor of Arts in Strategic Communications, worked with the Public Information Department as an intern in the summer of 2023.
“It gave me real-world exposure to the field of communications,” she said. “I learned more about the Tribe, wrote three news stories, assisted with social media posts and content brainstorming, and helped with Facebook live coverage during the Family Reunion Festival. I was also able to go with some of the Public Information employees as they covered stories so I could better understand their process. I often think back to my internship and feel grateful for the valuable experience it provided.”
When Maker was in her final semester of college, with only a few credit hours left to acquire, she decided to look for a full-time position. Thinking back on her time as an intern with CPN, she reached out to inquire about any openings and was hired as a full-time employee of the Tribe.
“It has been rewarding to take what I learned in college and during my internship and apply it to my career,” Maker said.
She also added that each story she writes offers her a chance to learn new things about the Tribe.
“Growing up, I was always told that we were Potawatomi, but my family and I didn’t explore it much further,” Maker said.
Maker, a descendant of the Curley, Acton and Rhodd families, has lived in Oklahoma for about 10 years, with the time before that spent moving to locations all around the country. It wasn’t until the move to Oklahoma that her father started to research CPN and the family joined the rolls. They attended their first Family Reunion Festival in 2022.
Now that she works full-time for the Tribe, Maker said she has had opportunities to “continue learning about the Tribe and Potawatomi culture while also meeting people from the families I descend from.”
“In my first four months of working here full-time, I’ve already had some incredible experiences,” she said. “One of those experiences included going to the golden eagle release in October to get video footage and information for the news story. This golden eagle release resulted in me visiting the Nation’s aviary and learning more about eagles and how sacred they are to Native Americans.”
Maker said she is grateful for the opportunity to “grow professionally and personally” and looks forward to her journey at CPN.
“I often think back to becoming a Tribal member in 2022 and how excited I was to finally be able to say I am truly Native American,” she said. “Little did I know I would later be working for my Native American tribe.”
More about the internship program
Internship and Project Coordinator Kym Coe said situations like Maker’s are exactly what the Education Department hopes for with CPN interns.
“That’s why we do internships,” she said. “We want to see them intern with us, finish their degree, and then come back and work with us here at the Nation. That’s our goal, and we love to see it come to fruition.”
Through the internship program, qualified applicants can receive paid internships with CPN Tribal departments that align with their career interests and educational pursuits.
Internships in the spring and fall are 160 hours spread out over the semester, while summer internships are 240 hours over the course of six weeks. The deadline to apply for summer internships is May 10. Internships pay $13 an hour.
“The internship is a wonderful opportunity for students to get hands on experience relevant to their degrees,” Department of Education Director Rachel Watson said. “They also get to see how working for a tribal government is a uniquely impactful role — everything we do as Tribal employees ultimately connects back to serving Tribal members. While not every intern will find a full-time job with the Nation at the end of their internship, they all walk away with new knowledge and having made a positive impact on the departments they’ve worked with.”
For more information about CPN internships, reach out to [email protected], or apply online at portal.potawatomi.org. A resume and cover letter are required for applications.