Humanities Internship Spotlight
Reagan Reynolds | Hamza Hassoun | Deann Bolinder
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.
My internship at Caddis has been an incredible opportunity to grow and learn. I initially chose this internship because it was in Salt Lake City, and I really liked the people I met. They were welcoming and great to work with. This experience connects to my major because I want to work with social media and possibly marketing, and during my time here, I’ve had the chance to do both. I also worked on designing and assisting with new store layouts. One of my favorite aspects was working with the people at Caddis; it was easy to collaborate with the team and the overall environment was positive. Going into the internship, I believed I had skills that worked well in the workplace, such as teamwork, respect, responsibility, confidence, and a strong work ethic.
Interning at Caddis has prepared me for a potential career, as I’ve learned so much
in a short amount of time. Working in retail has shown me how important it is to connect
with customers and be friendly to everyone. I’ve also gained skills that you can only
learn through hands-on experience. Working under pressure is one area where I’ve improved
significantly, and I’ve also learned a lot about using computers and technology effectively.
Overall, my time at Caddis was smooth sailing, and I encountered very few challenges.
This is an experience I would definitely do again. As I mentioned earlier, hands-on
experience is something you can’t learn in a classroom, and it prepared me in the
best possible way. Balancing school, work, and a social life can be challenging, but
prioritizing what matters most makes it manageable. During the summer, it was harder
to choose classes over spending time with friends, but in the end, everything worked
out.
What drew me to this internship was the opportunity to work for a small business—an automotive shop. The fact that they trusted me to handle such an important responsibility motivated me to join. This internship allowed me to manage the company’s social media accounts and oversee the marketing side of the business, which included talking to customers and connecting with potential car dealerships that wanted to have their cars serviced. It provided a real-world perspective on what I might face in the communications field and helped me understand the positives and challenges of the job.
I gained new skills while applying the knowledge I learned in college courses. This experience gave me insight into the automotive business from a marketing perspective. I’ve always wanted to own a car dealership one day, and I believe this was a step toward that goal. Understanding what potential customers want—and using those insights to persuade them to do business with Elite Auto Care—is an important skill. One of my main goals was to increase social media engagement for the company, and I’m proud to say I succeeded in doing that.
When I first pursued this internship, I had a lot of doubts and feared not meeting expectations. But I realized it’s not as difficult as it seems—if you have the proper knowledge and confidence, you can do it. That’s my advice to anyone interested in taking on an internship.
Interning at J.B. Hunt has given me an in-depth look at how logistics work in the transportation industry. Before this internship, I had no idea how many moving pieces were involved in running a company of this scale efficiently. Like any large organization, there’s always more than meets the eye. What initially drew me to J.B. Hunt was a conversation with an employee at a tabling event. He explained the company’s operations and showed me how concepts I learned in class applied to real-life situations. From that moment, I knew this was a company I wanted to learn more about.
Throughout my internship, I’ve seen firsthand how essential communication, organization, and adaptability are when solving problems and ensuring loads are delivered on time. Currently, another intern and I are working on a capstone project focused on improving the efficiency of scheduling maintenance for trucks. These trucks must be serviced at specific intervals, and if they aren’t, they can’t be used and would be in violation of FDA regulations. Right now, the company manually checks which trucks need servicing and schedules them with the shop—but with hundreds of trucks, this process is time-consuming and not always efficient. Our project aims to create a streamlined system that will make this process faster and more reliable.