Summer Camp Internship, For The Win

This is a guest post by Ashli Blow, a student at The University of Memphis. Ashli studies broadcast news journalism and marketing management and she hopes to study trends in social media used in journalism.

When I told my friends about getting an internship at a summer camp there were plenty of turned heads, wide-eyed stares, and jaws dropped.

Considering that I am a double major in broadcast journalism and marketing management, I understand why my friends and family were confused.

“Well,” I said telling my Dad about the opportunity, “ I would be the camp accountant. I’ve taken two honors accounting classes, and I’m great at excel.”

With no words there was the turned head, wide-eyed stare, and dropped jaw that I kept getting. At one point I was convinced myself that it was a ludicrous career move and I had no business being in charge of cash flows as a journalism business major.

However, after many hugs and an epic goodbye party thrown by my best friends, I was on a plane to New Hampshire far away from my blues city home, Memphis.

Did I tear up going far away on that plane? Yeah, I did. It took until I started making Miss America winner arm gestures and wailing like a 14-year-old girl’s first break up when a kind gentleman about my age began talking to me.

“So where are you going?” he asked.

“ I’m going to an internship in New Hampshire,” I said as I took off my headphones. I was listening to Faith Evan’s featuring Puff Daddy “I’ll be Missing You” because I get kind of ridiculous and dramatic sometimes.

“Oh, I’m going to my internship too! It’s in D.C. though ,” he said.

Then it dawned on me. This may be the best decision I had made in my college career. Plenty of people my age leave their hometown to be interns. So what accounting wasn’t my major? I was making contacts outside of my state and working basically a dream internship.

And I was right; Camp Wicosuta was completely another world with a great internship program better than I imagined. I got plenty of experience with excel and business communications, but at the same time I also got plenty of practice with friendship bracelets.

So what’s the lesson here? Well at Camp Wicosuta we taught confidence, competence, and community. Those three c’s helped our campers grow; however they are great to take with you to any internship as well.

Have confidence in gaining competence in the community you’re working in. Even if you’re not sure it’s the right field for your career, you should give it a try anyways. I did, and it’s the best first move in getting toward my career goal.