Some summer and fall interns learned a little more than they bargained for as they completed internships last summer and fall. Instead of mastering the Starbucks run and becoming lightning-fast at data-entry, students watched as mergers take place, CEOs got fired and hundreds of employees lost their jobs. If nothing else, 2008 was a crash course in learning how to cope with a struggling economy.

Natasha Herting, a senior in industrial engineering who interned at Brunswick Boat Group in the fall, watched as her company underwent restructuring — a plan that involved shutting down the plant where she interned.

“They announced it in a meeting. You just heard a gasp,” Herting said.

The closing didn’t directly affect her, since her internship ended in early December, but, indirectly, the closing impacted her in a big way.

“The people I worked with felt helpless,” She said. “Entire families felt hopeless. One family had three generations working at the plant.”

A co-worker who was planning to retire wasn’t able to and is now going back to school and working part-time, according to Herting.

Herting’s experience isn’t much different than that of the thousands of others nationwide who have experienced job and salary cuts in the last several months. And some summer interns said they saw the economic problems coming.

Brad Frenier, a summer intern at BB&T and senior in business, worked in the bank’s equity research division where he kept tabs on the stocks of 11 automotive aftermarket companies. Frenier, who interned from mid-May through August when gas prices were hovering around $4 per gallon said the high cost of fuel caused a “ripple effect” in the industry he was tracking.

“People were holding off on buying bigger items. We saw a big change downward” Frenier said.

Frenier also watched as BB&T rival Wachovia began to experience difficulties.

“Being in the financial sector, people in the office would discuss [Wachovia]. I could see a definite change,” he said.

Frenier may have seen a change, but Molly Tully experienced it first hand.

Tully, a senior in business, interned at Wachovia’s headquarters in Charlotte over the summer. Just as Tully started working, Wachovia’s CEO was fired because of a risky merger with Golden West. That firing led to a smattering of other high-ranking executive lay-offs during Tully’s time there.

The unstable corporate environment led to fears about whether the company could hold its clients’ money responsibly.

Ultimately, “the economic situation changed the way Wachovia was treating its employees,” Tully said. Positions for entry level workers in the financial department were eliminated, and positions in the auditing department, where Tully worked, were offered at lower salaries than before.

Tully’s internship ended in a job offer within her department — every satisfied intern’s dream. However, just before she signed the paperwork, Wachovia rescinded her job offer, citing the merger with Wells Fargo as the reason.

Despite the harsh economic conditions experienced by interns in the last several months, Jill Heaton, lecturer and internship coordinator in the Department of Communication, said internships are “more important than ever.”

“If anyone is going to get jobs, it will be those who are trained,” she said.

Even students who have interned may have problems finding a job after graduation. Heaton is in charge of 30 to 40 communication interns each semester, but said she hasn’t heard from any December graduates about job offers yet.

“I usually get those excited e-mails from former interns,” Heaton said. “So far I haven’t heard from anyone from the fall.”

Heaton said those excited e-mails may be delayed because “the economy has made a lot of employers reluctant to commit.”

Frenier hopes that he won’t be among the jobless when he graduates in May.

“I’m at the top of BB&T’s list, but now they’re hitting the breaks again,” he said. “I may have to find a job elsewhere.”

Robert Sutton, a senior in mechanical engineering, is worried as well. He interviewed with Goodyear only to find that the company was pre-interviewing for a time when the economy comes around.

“I’m worried, definitely,” he said. “When I was looking at jobs a few years ago, there were a lot of entry-level positions. Now there aren’t as many, and the ones that are posted have lower salaries.”

Tully is content with the way things have turned out. Lockheed Martin, the aerospace manufacturer, hired the business major.

“I went toward the science and technology industry because I felt it would be safer. After Wachovia, I felt a little burned by the financial industry,” she said.