Humanities Internship Spotlight
May Herring | Gabe Haymore | Bradley Veach| Asia Alomia
Humanities students gain valuable, career-ready skills through their coursework and co-curricular programs. Internships offer an essential opportunity to apply these skills in real-world settings, explore potential career paths, and gain professional experience. For many students, completing an internship is a key step in successfully transitioning from college to the workplace.
May Herring
Major(s): Communication
Minor: Art Drawing
Internship: RedZone, Asia Campus and Marketing and Communications Center, Asia Campus
Role: Student Employee
My experience working at the UAC’s marketing and communications department as a student employee has helped me develop and practice a range of important workplace (and personal) skills. When I began my internship, I had a lot of experience with marketing department operations at the Salt Lake City U of U campus, but I wasn’t confident in my ability to integrate those skills into a new environment while navigating cultural differences.
Over time, I discovered that I had to step up and take initiative in my role. Unlike my previous workplace, I was not given specific and direct instructions, but rather was given the tools, resources, and opportunity to grow as an employee, and was expected to navigate using my own opinions, perspectives, and observations. For me, this was a new and challenging way of working, as my managers in previous workplaces had taken a more “hands-on” approach. For the first time, I was able to practice stepping out of my comfort zone and voicing my opinions on how the marketing department could grow, then putting those ideas into practice, steering the process myself from start to finish. I utilized skills such as planning and coordinating events, organizing physical and digital spaces, and communicating effectively with teammates.
My time working at the RedZone presented a wonderful opportunity for my creative side to flourish. I’ve always hoped to combine my artistic and creative skillset with my practical marketing and communications skillset but have had trouble bridging the gap between the two in the workplace. My manager at the RedZone, Maria Martinez, encouraged me to use my design skills to create new products for the student store. I used my classical art training to create physical sketches and designs of products I believed would be popular and sell well among students. I also used my practical marketing skills to analyze the target market (the student body, a diverse mix of Korean and foreign students) and create a marketing analysis of the RedZone. I was able to marry the two by using my marketing analysis to inform my product design.
Working at the RedZone also presented me with an opportunity to socialize and meet with other students and practice my customer service and communication skills. I acted not only as a desk and register operator, but as a prospective shopper for the store. I rearranged and organized displays to make them more appealing to customers, and made recommendations for additions, such as adding a full-length mirror, fitting booth, and ambient lighting. Overall, I was thrilled at the chance to bring together the two different sides of my skillset that I had been developing separately until my time at the RedZone.
Gabe Haymore
Major(s): Communication
Internship: U Career Success Center, University of Utah
Role: Intern
I have had the wonderful opportunity to work at the U Career Success Center at the University of Utah for multiple semesters now, and I’ve loved every second of it! When I first got the job, I was afraid that my photography experience would not carry over since I was hired as a photographer whose primary task was to do professional headshots for students, faculty, and others who used the U Career Success Center’s resources. I am very happy that my anxiety was proved false because I quickly realized how my years of photography experience enabled me to perform my job as an intern over the last few semesters with ease and with a lot of enjoyment.
Some of my favorite parts of my internship have been the career fairs that the University of Utah held throughout both the Spring and Fall semesters. When I first started the internship, I did not have a lot of portrait experience since I wanted to pursue a career in photojournalism or documentary photography, so a lot of my portfolio is environmental based shots. Again, I was happily surprised at how quickly I was able to improve at portrait photography, mostly because I did it so often and had a great support system around me. My advisors, Molly and Suzie welcomed me with open arms and helped guide me in ways to socialize and hone my skills to set me up for success in my future.
Bradley Veach
Major(s): Communication
Internship: Vivint Smart Home Security
Role: Customer Service Representative
Working as an intern for Vivint Smart Home Security has been both enjoyable and beneficial. Vivint specializes in home security systems, so my days are split between selling home security door-to-door and answering phone calls from customers. The doorbell camera is one of our most popular items because it records 24/7 to keep your home safe. Working with these products has shown me a lot about how home security is becoming more important and how modern technology can make people feel safer and more comfortable in their own homes.
This internship has been a good experience for me, but it's had its challenges. Going door-to-door to sell security systems can be stressful, but it has taught me a lot about how to read body language to figure out what customers want and adapt my approach to fit best meet them where they’re at.
Answering the phone is a different kind of challenge, especially when customers are unhappy or angry. I've discovered that maintaining composure, paying close attention, and trying to defuse tense situations is crucial to getting a positive result. I'm better at talking to people, being patient, and solving problems because of these experiences. I know that all of these skills will help me in any job I have in the future.
During my internship at Abercrombie & Fitch Co., I had the opportunity to work closely with district management, getting hands-on experience with multi-store management and operations. I was interested in this internship specifically because it directly relates to my goals as a Strategic Communication major and Business minor—to learn how corporate communication and leadership come together with business strategy to increase company performance. The hands-on experience of being able to see decision-making and communication in action across multiple stores gave me a greater understanding of what good management looks like.
Throughout the semester, I attended district meetings, supported special projects, and assisted with the sales and staffing reports, analyzing them for areas of opportunity. I was also able to see how strong communication and leadership skills motivate the store teams and create and maintain company identity. I learned that strong messaging, good teamwork, and flexibility are all very important in management and relate directly to my major and career goals.
One of my most important takeaways was how much leadership is based on strong interpersonal communication. I learned how important and beneficial it is to know how to have conversations with confidence, listen actively, and bring meaningful thoughts and suggestions. This internship not only provided a behind the scenes look at district-level management but also strengthened my professional and communication skills that will be utilized throughout the course of my career.
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Any views, experiences, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this student internship highlight do not necessarily represent those of the College of Humanities.