For the past 3 years, my job at home has been working as a
lifeguard. Last year when I was home
from college in May, part of my job was to clean up the outdoor pool before it
opened for the summer. One day, my boss
told us to bring our normal (meaning non-lifeguard) swimsuits with us. After some cleaning in the morning, we got to
change into our swimsuits and play in the pool while someone took pictures of
us! They also threw in some pizza
afterwards which was a major bonus, especially since the water was freezing. At the time, we thought they were just going
on the company’s Facebook page. But a
year later and I’m on the front cover (on the far right) of the catalog they send out!
I was also in the picture for the lifeguarding training class. Although it’s a little hard to tell, that’s definitely me on the top left!
All the lifeguards on the front cover were featured in the
back of the catalog as well. It was my first and only paid modeling job (so far;)! While I haven’t pursued a paid modeling career any further, I did change jobs. This summer I had my first professional internship.
This summer I worked at REHAU, an international plastics company. I was an intern in
the Furniture Department for the Senior Marketing Specialist. I worked at REHAU from the beginning of May until
just last Friday. The internship flew by
and I learned so much. My main
responsibilities were managing the company’s Twitter and Pinterest and scheduling
tweets and pins for the future. I also wrote press releases, scripts, direct mailings, and worked on REHAU’s
houzz page, which is a website for homeowners who are building or remodeling
their homes.
During my internship, I had the opportunity to sit in on
meetings with executives from Germany, Argentina, Mexico, and Brazil. This past semester, I had a really great
management professor who worked as an international executive at Time Warner
before he started teaching. It was really
cool to see what he taught in the classroom in the workplace, such as different
values and social interactions between different countries. A formal German greeting is very different
than an Argentinian kiss and hug.
In addition to my internship, I took four online classes
this summer. I am double majoring in
Marketing and Media Arts and Design with a concentration in Creative Advertising. Because of AP credits, taking classes over
the summer, and taking 18 credits for a few semesters, I will be able to
graduate in four years. Although this
summer was very busy and I was a little stressed, I know it will be worth
it to have both majors and to have saved the money. (Not to mention I’d to graduate at the same time
as most of my friends!:)
One of the most important things that I have learned this
summer is to have fun along the way. No
matter how busy you are, there are always ways to keep a positive attitude and to have fun. Although I didn’t get to blog
as much as I’d hoped this summer, I made some great friends and memories in my
few moments of free time.
These are the other interns that I worked with over the
summer. I really enjoyed the opportunity
to work in a company where there are a wide variety of departments, so the
interns I worked with had a variety of majors (Biology, Engineering, Economics,
English, Finance, etc). I think that
having an internship is a great way to gain experience in your field, but also
a good opportunity to learn what type of company you would like to work
at. Internships at different companies
can help you decide if you rather work at an advertising agency or in the
marketing department of a larger company, for example.
The interns planned part of the company picnic
together; this is a shot of me from the picnic.
I like to caption this picture as “Friday Feeling” and I'll probably be
looking at it throughout the year whenever I need a little pick-me-up.
I'm still very happy that I had the opportunity to work at REHAU rather than lifeguard this summer.
Once I find something that I like, I usually stick with it. I'm definitely a creature of habit and feel comfortable in routines. But changing jobs this past summer helped me grow in tremendous ways and I want to encourage anyone who is on the fence about trying something new to just do it.
Now that my internship and classes are all done, I finally have a little bit of time to relax before going back to school. This week I'm at Myrtle Beach for a family reunion, so I'll have some time to get the tan that I've been missing out on all summer!
"Life begins at the end of your comfort zone."
