Intern Spotlight: Finding “you” in an internship…or two

Some of you may not realize the importance of internships. If that’s true, I was right there with you four years ago, but after a little advice from professors and peers, I finally learned why they are so important Here’s a little bit about my internship journey.

After two years of classes at Otterbein College and still not knowing exactly what I wanted to do with an organizational communications major, I decided that maybe I should listen to my mentors and find an internship. I wanted to see for myself what the hype about internships was all about and if organizational communications or, communications in general, was something I really wanted to pursue.

During the summer before my junior year, I held my first intern position at Big Brothers Big Sisters of Lorain County. I worked with the communications coordinator on strategies and the planning of the program’s annual ice cream social. What I ended up discovering was that internship was probably one of the best choices I had made thus far in my college career. I not only found a passion for my field and working with non-profits, but I realized I wanted to do more internships; three more to be exact.

Finding a passion wasn’t the only thing I found that summer, I found myself. It ended up not just being about applying the skills I had been learning in classes, it was, and probably more so, about finding “me.” I gained confidence in all aspects of my life.

That confidence led to my success of obtaining an internship at Riverside Methodist Hospital in Columbus. Since I had gained that confidence and was beginning to see who I was and wanted to be, I was able to build upon classroom skills and apply them to real-life situations. I not only wrote articles for the weekly newsletter, I wrote news releases for local, regional and national media and interviewed doctors and staff. My confidence only increased at Riverside through those tasks and projects.

Finally, I put all that I had gained to use at Leadership Lorain County. I soon found that I, once a quiet, shy and indecisive person was now outgoing, taking charge and working on real-world projects; something I would have never thought I could do in college.

Looking back I was silly to have ever questioned the value of internships. The experiences I’ve had through mine have shaped the person I am today. Without the hardships and successes in the “real world” I don’t know if I would feel as prepared as I am to take on the next step in life: Graduation.

In summary, if you find yourself in the same position I was, not really sure about the value of internships, you should get one, or two or three. You’ll thank me later.

Kaitlin Smith is a senior Organizational Communications major at Otterbein College.

The Columbus Internships intern spotlights put the focus on students, their experience in the Columbus Region, what they do and how they’re involved in internships with local businesses. To submit your student story for an internship spotlight contact Nick Wood.