It’s August, which for me, means the end of my internship and the start of another school year.
Before starting this internship, I was naïve to how important it is for any college student to be required in their major to complete one. I say this because despite taking three years of journalism, advertising, and marketing classes, I didn’t have first hand experience in the career I was planning for myself.
So, this past May I started to see a glimpse of my future. After quite a few interviews — a learning experience in itself — I was offered an internship at Penton. I chose Penton because they offered me the best of both worlds, a chance to work in marketing with the Design Engineering & Sourcing Group and to be a part of the editorial staff of Hydraulics & Pneumatics.
I started this internship looking for real world experience, and I am definitely leaving here with it. Over the past three months, I have learned so much more than I could have expected. Working on H&P has been a crash course in magazine journalism. Our editor Alan, who you normally see writing this page, has put me to work. Throughout the summer I’ve edited articles, updated the website, learned magazine production, and been turned into a Photoshop monster who’s obsessed with Adobe InDesign.
Being an intern, I wasn’t sure about how much responsibility I would be given throughout my time here or how much involvement I would have in each project. Luckily, the wonderful staff at Penton wanted me to have the best learning experience possible, so I am included in everything from the editorial meetings, to the masthead of this publication. I don’t know about other students completing their internships, but I’m pretty sure most of them aren’t writing their own "Editor’s Page."
Overall, my experience here at Penton has been exactly what I needed and I am so thankful for everything they have taught me. Graduation day is nerve-wracking for all college students, but I am happy to say that the future is less scary and more exciting because of my internship here.
