New City! Big Excitement! Much Awesome!
Moving to a new city is exciting. Moving to a new city for an internship makes it even more exciting! An internship recap from the wonderful Jennifer Lee.
As a recent college graduate from an art school, I was excited at the prospect of an internship to gain more experience. For many recent college students, summer means pool parties and late night binge drinking but I was going to a new place where I knew absolutely no one. This was going to be a very eventful summer.
My ultimate goal is to be a Creative Director one day. I decided that internships were necessary to hone my skills. I started the process of finding an internship by researching opportunities in the area, which is mostly focused on creativity. That’s how I found STRUCK. Even though it was an agency in an entirely different state, I knew I had to try to get an internship there. What I also loved about STRUCK was that it wasn’t huge agency so they could provide me with a more one on one mentorship. When I got the internship, I was ecstatic. Now all I had to do was plan what, where, and how to live in a new city.
From LA to Salt Lake City, it was an 11 hour drive. Once I arrived, my parents and I quickly started unpacking in my new ‘home’ for the next 10 weeks. When that was done, we went out exploring the new area. Salt Lake City was definitely different from LA. The streets were wider and the people more kind. Once, my parents and I figured out where the agency was and which bus/train to take, we went back to the pad to relax. Tomorrow was going to be my first day of work and meeting everyone, I was nervous.
The next morning my parents left to go back home. I got up, showered, and was deciding on which outfit didn’t scream noob. I decided on a casual short sleeve button up with pinstripes and black jeans. I packed everything I thought I would need into my backpack (snacks, laptop, portable charger, wallet, etc.) It was my first time taking the bus, and on the first day none of the buses stopped for me. I was panicking, I didn’t want to be late to the first day of work! Finally one bus did stop and I boarded it without hesitation. 10 minutes into the drive, I noticed that this bus was headed nowhere near downtown Salt Lake. I went to the bus driver and asked where we were headed, turns out I boarded the wrong bus. I freaked and got off the bus immediately. I only had 30 minutes left before my work started! Good thing I had Lyft, so I booked a ride and arrived 20 minutes early. Frazzled, I tried to calm myself down and entered the building.
Susan was the first to greet me. Then next was Fran. She took me around the office and introduced me to my coworkers and then she introduced me to my mentor Chris. He was such a happy and positive person, I knew I was going to have a great time.
The next 10 weeks (technically 9 due to unforeseen circumstances on my end) went by so fast. Chris was my mentor for the first 5 weeks and then Dave ( funniest guy there besides Tosh) became my mentor for the last 5 weeks. Chris helped me so much with coming up with ideas and getting better at Aftereffects. Dave helped me refine my ideas and taught me some new tricks in Photoshop and Illustrator.
I had an intern project that was mostly focused on creating fun content for the company Instagram but I also worked on real client projects where I got to put in my 2 cents. I loved going to the STRUCK ed and sitting in on meetings just to learn about what the real world is like. I got to see things from the client perspective as well as the business side of things.
Working at STRUCK had been a phenomenal experience. Everyday, I talked to designers, copywriters, art directors, even the CEO, CFO, and COO. I was always in awe by the close knit family setting that STRUCK made. Students come from near and far for this kind of life-changing opportunity. Hands down, the absolute best part of this internship was networking. Not only did I meet professionals, but I meet individuals who I will likely work with again in that field in the future.
I learned so much from my internship and gained so much experience from everyone I interacted with. Everyone was genuinely kind and wanted me to learn and grow. Most importantly, in this position, my lifelong goals were affirmed. Glad to say that I went to Utah for STRUCK and would do it all over again.
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