Academics

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I spoke to my advisor about pursuing film. And he said that there was an internship possibility with Brandpoet who does the marketing for Grace. I was able to learn a lot through the experience there, and I think that that really prepared me for the bulk of my applied learning, which was in Los Angeles.

I got to intern with a special effects warehouse out there. So that was beyond phenomenal. I had this applied learning credit available to me. I knew that if I didn't take initiative for it, well, no one else was going to because it's my life. In the end, I think that it's really helped me finalize that film is where I'm supposed to be.

Sophomore year, I changed my major to business. One day, [inaudible] Nicole had given us the opportunity to have an internship over at the chamber. And I got my foot in the door because of Deanna. She was right there working with me. So that was just a huge open for me.

I knew that I needed to know this particular area. So I was able to go back to class and actually focus on that and actually took it in. Whereas if you don't know where you're focusing, it's not learned, hence the applied learning.

I would have never thought that the state house would have an IT position available to be able to come and be an intern for them. But once I did, I got really excited because it's a big building. There's a lot of people who we're providing services to. Through this internship, I've realized what area of IT I like the most. So if out of college, right after this internship, I want to do a master's degree, I know what area of IT I want to do as opposed to not having had any experience and not knowing what kind of master's degree I'm interested in.

I decided to take-- at the time, it was the OSI class. Now it's career institutes. Because of that class, I applied to three or four places.

Marketing for orthopedics is a little different because you're not marketing to the direct customer, but you're marketing to the surgeon. And that's just something cool that you learn. And it's definitely different. Having an internship gives you a base of a network. And if you work hard in your internship, then you have that base for the rest of your life.

For my first two years at Grace, I was a business major. But then I heard about Randy Polston's applied learning program. And when I signed up, I saw the spots at a dental practice. I was scared coming into it because I didn't know if certain careers were for me or if I was even in the right major. But if I didn't do applied learning, I feel as though I still would be unsure about my career right now.

The cool thing about Grace is it doesn't just give you all this information and make you run with it. They invest in you. They invest in what you want to do with your life and the direction you want to go in. Going into the workforce and being ready to take on the jobs that my employer is going to give me, I feel like I'm competent, like I'm ready to take it on because I've been so well-prepared thanks to the center for career connections.

I think that the great thing about applied learning is that because the majority of it is outside of the classroom, you have the opportunity to explore all these different possibilities of what you want to do.

Classes can only teach you so much. But once you're out in the real world, you have something that you can put on your resume.

And especially for me, before coming to college, I had no idea what I wanted to be. But applied learning allowed me to see what's out there, to see what a dentist does, to see what a pharmacist does. But without applies learning, I would have never opened my eyes to these possibilities.

Grace has given me the experience and the tools I need to really succeed after college. And they can do it for you too. All you need to do is take that first step.