Ferris State University students gain valuable work experience through internships. Internships also can confirm or redirect career decision-making, provide marketability, develop people skills and enhance classroom learning. Many academic programs require one, but the experience is encouraged regardless to provide students with a better understanding of what will be expected of them in the workplace.
Many students are participating in myriad internships this summer. Meet: Kaila Parent
She is: A junior from Lapeer, Mich., majoring in Graphic Design
Internship: Parent is a creative intern for Quicken Loans in downtown Detroit. Quicken Loans is a 50-state, agency direct lender that offers a wide range of loan options and has become a well-known name in technology.
She is completing a 13-week paid internship this summer.
What she is learning: Parent is spending her summer learning about Web development.
“It is really enlightening to sit down with the IT team and Web developers and get to pick apart someone’s brain who is really good at the backend of Web,” Parent said. “Since it is something I am still new to, and I am used to designing the front end, it is really teaching me a lot about how to execute my designs in the Web world.”
What she is looking forward to: She is looking forward to learning about her major in a professional setting and getting a better idea of where she wants to take her graphic design career.
“I am most looking forward to learning about my career path in a professional setting,” Parent said. “You learn so much when you are applying what you learn in the classroom to real-world projects. I still wasn’t sure what end of graphic design I wanted to go into print or Web and I am hoping this internship can help me make up my mind a little better. That’s what I’m most looking forward to with this opportunity.”
Core Value: Ferris’ core value that relates most to Parent’s internship is “collaboration.”
“Working at the Ferris State Torch, collaboration was something I was definitely used to from working with writers and photographers to get the finished newspaper done every week. Also, it was important in collaborating in the classroom with my other design peers to get feedback and help when I needed it,” Parent said. “That is something that flowed over to my internship since I am working with multiple other people on my projects when it comes to the content and development Ferris prepared me for how to interact in a team setting and how to work together to get the final piece done the correct way.”
Her plans: After finishing her next two years at Ferris, graduating with her bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design, Parent hopes to open her own design studio.
“I really hope to open up my own design studio in downtown Detroit. It really is an up-and-coming city in the world of art and I love the atmosphere down here,” Parent said. “I would ideally like to open my own studio with some of my other design peers and mainly work on helping businesses get their company branded and help them with their websites by designing and developing them.”