Just like the popular TV show "Shark Tank," the students are delivering presentations on what they've learned over the summer. The goal of this exercise: pitch an idea or product to enhance the day-to-day operations at Portage Learning. Watching intently are the "sharks," five former interns (now full-time employees) who are eager to go "in" or "out."
Every Thursday all eleven interns gather for professional development, when full-time employees teach them about their roles in higher education. Sessions included a writing workshop, LinkedIn and resumé facelifts, an A.I. Masterclass, and data analysis procedures.
Hannah Oosting, a Digital Marketing Intern and a student at Covenant College, said, "One thing that has really helped me was the personal professional development. I'm a rising senior — I'm about to head out into the real world. The workshop helped me round out my resumé and my LinkedIn looks infinitely better than it was before."
Student Support Intern Cayla Condon admitted, "I didn't know all the features that could be helpful with A.I. I came into this job thinking A.I. shouldn't be incorporated into the workplace at all, but the master class opened my eyes." The nursing student at Liberty University continued, "It can be really useful. It won't necessarily take over jobs, but it can assist in helping people."
Geneva College student and Junior Engagement Intern Lexi Lee was impressed by an online questionnaire she completed. "I really liked the workshop when we took Strength Finders Assessments. I love seeing how different people's personalities are and what they can offer to the workplace. I really enjoyed learning about myself and others."
Each intern believes they are more prepared for the next stage of their careers.
"Where I was at the start of this internship to where I am now, I can confidently say that I learned a lot," Data Science Intern Kartik Gupta acknowledged. Kartick is a student at Penn State University. "The range of all the things I learned has really helped and prepared me for what's next."
"Most internships, students are handed work that doesn't matter but here, I do work that does matter," explained Logan Cordle, a Social Media Intern and a student at High Point University. "I'm on track to start my own social media agency and what I've done here will directly impact that."
Geneva student Gabe Singh is one of the Accounting Interns. "Going into this internship I feel like I gained a lot of real-world experience. I was nervous about it at first because I didn't know if I actually liked accounting," he reasoned. "But I've realized it was a lot of fun. It helped me understand a lot of the basics."
Fellow Accounting Intern Audrey Michalik, a student at Liberty University, agreed. "I can do things one hundred times in the classroom, but I really had no idea what that looked like until this summer. What I learned in here is going to be really helpful for the rest of my education." This year's interns not only built skills to enhance their futures, but they also created plenty of special memories at Portage Learning.
"I really enjoyed doing technical thinking. I got so much practice looking at code, understanding API, and trying to integrate different parts of the code together with my team," said Vuong Nguyen, a student at Denison University and a Software Engineering Intern.
Reflecting on his time as the IT Intern, Max Barnes, a Cybersecurity major at Robert Morris University said, "I think the IT guys were the reason I took this internship. They're the reason I learned what I learned. They're good role models in the way they live and the stories they tell. They definitely wanted to show me stuff and were happy to work with me."
Ethan Kiggins is the Student Records Intern and a graduate student at Messiah University. "It's a unique atmosphere in a good way. I think that when you come to Portage, you're treated like family, and I think that's super unique," he shared. "I think that's the biggest takeaway — the memories I made with these people and the work that I've done. It's been good work with good people."
The upstairs meeting room with the tall glass windows is filled with laughter as the "sharks" go "in" and "out" on pitches ranging from different software to new marketing strategies. At the end, everyone gets a "FIN-tastic work" certificate and the group convenes for lunch.
As summer draws to a close and a new school year begins, we'll look back on that Thursday with the sharks and remember what made it so special — we were together.
(Andrew Stepke is the Content Creation Intern at Portage Learning and has been writing blog posts throughout the summer. He is a senior at Geneva College.)
