Ugh! That was my reaction when I learned my college required real world experience in the form of an internship for me to graduate. To me, intern was synonymous with copy-girl.
“Oh great”, I thought, “An entire summer making copies, running errands and answering phones for no money -- just what I need. I’m will learn nothing.”
Silly me! Twelve weeks later I had learned much more about the industry and about myself than I ever thought possible.
The instant I walked in the door on my very first day of work, I was thrown into the chaos that comes with putting the finishing touches on an event; and it didn’t end until my last day as an intern.
Many of the tasks requested of me were what I would consider typical of the event planning industry: e-mailing clients, creating material booklets for attendees, researching new locations for meetings, writing proposals for potential hotels, doing food tasting for menu choices, etc. I also worked with internationally known dignitaries, assisted with major star performances, ran silent auctions, and even served as a production assistant for a televised rock concert but…
That doesn’t mean that I didn’t have my fair share of odd requests. I spent hours looking for a giant blow up penguin for a meeting entranceway; I traveled into the middle of farm country in Ohio to take pictures of a potential event site; I ran around unfamiliar cities in the middle of the night in search of Kinkos to copies of executive speeches. I could fill pages with stories and memories from my summer as an intern!
Looking back, I was a fool to mumble and groan at the thought of “real world” experience. I couldn’t have asked for a fuller and broader experience than my internship with Special D Events provided me.
The chance to apply what you learn in the classroom is invaluable; not to mention what an internship can teach you about life. You are given a chance to push yourself to heights that you didn’t even think were possible. Not only does an internship experience confirm that you are making the correct choice in choosing a major, but it also gives you an excellent opportunity to see what to expect when you finally go to work.
When you get your chance for an internship -- paid or unpaid -- jump at it!
-- Nikole Kennedy
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