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An Intern, Defined

By: Logan Murphy-Redd

What do we truly define as an intern? Should we refer to an intern in a traditional, stereotypical sense? Meaning an intern is someone who grabs coffee for their supervisor or sits around and waits for busy work all day long. Is an intern someone who works full time for no pay throughout the duration of the summer? Is an intern someone who works alongside their supervisor to further their knowledge about the field of study they want to pursue later in life? Is an intern putting on khakis and a button down and driving to the office from Monday to Friday? Well, personally in the weeks before the summer started, I thought being an intern was not going to be a reality for me. Of course, rejection letters and wait lists are a part of life and believe me they were a major part of my life during the application process for finding a summer internship. I began to think I did not need to be an intern, that I could just wait another year and continue with my job as a retail sales associate and social media manager. Luckily, my life did a 360 when I got an email from Dorothea Henry, the social and content manager for Envision by WorldStrides! From this interview I was offered a position as a Corporate Marketing intern at WorldStrides, and I could not be more grateful!

I am a Marketing major currently at Belmont Abbey College located in Charlotte, North Carolina. Aside from pursuing my major I do a lot of work in social media marketing. I am the social media lead for the Belmont Abbey Admissions program and am the social media coordinator for Uptown Cheapskate in South End, Charlotte. I have gained experience in the field though everything I know about marketing has been taught from my job experience. This internship has truly showed me what it means to work in the field of marketing and in the business of content-based marketing on social media platforms. My day varies from creating posts to engage customers to purchase the programs we offer across the country to responding to questions and concerns from parents and participants. If I were to summarize one thing that I will take with me from this internship it will be the ability to adjust. Whether that be adjusting the content of a post to resonate more with the target audience or potentially taking down a post due to audience feedback. All of this and more will be extremely beneficial to me as a continuation of my journey through the marketing world.

I may never truly learn what an intern is. I may only ever have my own opinion of what an intern is. While this opinion may be subjective, I believe that an intern is challenged to expand their previous knowledge on a subject and takes this challenge head on. An intern is someone who actively listens to their supervisor and takes the information they give with an open mindset. An intern is someone who can work well with their team of interns and not try to take over the idea, creation, or conversation, but collaborate to produce the best content.

Personally, an internship to me is a way to learn more not only about the intended field of study that a person would want to continue further in, but it is also a chance to learn deeper about yourself. I already feel much more secure in my ability to adjust and my ability to create content and I cannot be more grateful to WorldStrides for giving me this opportunity! Who knows? One day I will find the definition of what it means to be an intern, but until that day, I know for a fact that being an intern is a fun, positive, educational experience that I will take with me later in life as I transition into the professional world.

Author, Logan Murphy-Redd

“The primary reason I am so ecstatic about receiving the opportunity to Intern with WorldStrides is the valuable experience in the field of marketing I will get to be a part of. On top of that I’ll get to learn from marketing specialists on how they continue to achieve at the professional level.”