A Leap into the Real World
An intern's view on Bruckner Design
Summer intern, Taylor Kammerman gives an honest opinion on her experience working with Bruckner Design. Taylor currently attends the University of Rhode Island as a sophomore Communications and Public Relations double major.
January 7, 2019 by Taylor
It’s hard to know what you want to do with your life when you’re only 18 years old. The ongoing question, “what do you want to be when you grow up?” looms over every decision you make and opportunity you chase. Being a freshman in college, uncertainty was my biggest fear. I had no idea what I wanted to do, where I wanted to be or how to even start cultivating the rest of my life. Going on a whim, I decided to study Communications and Public Relations at the University of Rhode Island. As the end of the academic year was approaching I knew I had to immerse myself in a summer job that tested my abilities and gave me a sense of what I’d be doing in the future. That's was when I interviewed with Bruckner Design.
To say that I was nervous would be an understatement. I got to the interview about an hour early and sat in my car hyping myself up until it was time to go. My fears stemmed from my limited knowledge in my field and not really knowing how much of a help I would be. I was also scared I wouldn’t fit in with the other people working there or I’d be written off as “the intern that didn’t know what she was doing.” Above everything, I was absolutely terrified that I wouldn’t enjoy it, that I wouldn’t improve, that I would fail.
I was completely wrong. Bruckner Design never made me feel like an intern—always giving me tasks that involved critical thinking and held importance to our clients. I felt trusted and welcomed by every one of my coworkers and was so happy to be accepted into such a great group of people.
I learned something new every day, whether it was a new way to boost SEO (Search Engine Optimization) or how to write effective blog posts or upload product copy and pricing. I also had the chance to tap into my love for video-making by recording, editing and publishing most of the product videos for our client, Rise and Shine Together.
Going into my sophomore year with the massive amount of experience I’ve had this summer was definitely an advantage. There are things I’m learning in class that I’ve had real-world experience with already. Being exposed to the realities of the marketing, advertising and PR world was life-changing.
During syllabus week, my teachers would go around the classroom and ask what each of us did over the summer. Most answers involved vacation, travel, work or nothing at all.
I thought long and hard about what to say or even how to encapsulate everything into one sentence and said, “I found out what I want to be when I grow up”.