Our Digital Minerva Intern Experience

    My name is Chrissy Garrett, and I am a Digital Intern at Digital Minerva for the summer of 2019! It can oftentimes feel like an uphill battle trying to find a summer internship, as if you’re trying to convince recruiters that your presence at their company is worthwhile, albeit fairly short-term. There seems to be this notion circulating that anyone applying for a job or internship has to know everything about their field, or else they are simply not qualified. When really, an excellent internship has a bit of a give and take experience: the intern provides their assistance on assignments that already fall under their area of expertise, and sometimes they provide assistance on assignments that are more learning experiences, that might require some help from a supervisor, or at least require them to ask a couple questions. This is something I did not realize until working at Digital Minerva this summer. My time here has been a wonderful balance of completing tasks that I’m already a pro at, as well as completing tasks in something quite new. This balance helps me learn new skills that are hard to learn in a classroom sometimes, and helps me effectively utilize the skills I already possess. I leave every day feeling helpful, accomplished, and more knowledgeable.
    It has also been a wonderful experience to be involved in the Harrisonburg community, not just the James Madison University community. When they say college is like a bubble, they sure are right. During my past three years at JMU, in addition to studying Interactive Design, I have been uber involved on campus — from Co-Editor-in-Chief of our yearbook, to directing a talk show on our radio station, to working as a graphic designer for a department on campus — which has been a great experience, but it caused my lens to remain hyper-focused. Working downtown, unattached to anything JMU-related, has not only made me feel cool and grown-up, but has shown me a glimpse of what it’s like to work in “the real world.” I’ve also learned things here that I have never learned in a classroom setting. On-the-job training and learning have been a successful way for me to gain new skills, to fully understand something and complete the task at the same time, this hands-on learning has worked well for me. Some tasks I recently completed that were new to me were: completing over one thousand site redirects, learning a new visual web building program, and search engine optimization. My time here has been an excellent experience already. I can’t wait to see all that I will learn, and how much I will grow by the end of the summer.

    My name is Amy Winger, and I am also a Digital Intern at Digital Minerva. I am a rising senior at James Madison University studying Interactive Design in the School of Media Arts and Design. I am also minoring in Educational Media where I am learning to train people on how to better use media in their careers and everyday life. I have always had a passion for design and technology and knew that I wanted to work in a career field that combined those passions. I heard about this internship from one of my web design professors at JMU and right away I thought it sounded like a great fit for me. As an Interactive Design student, I have taken a wide variety of classes at JMU which has taught me how to do anything from videography, web design, photo editing, etc. So far in my first few weeks as an intern at Digital Minerva I have had so much fun building on my current skills and gaining brand new ones. I have worked with a few JMU clients in the past, but I have had the chance to work with so many off campus clients as an intern at Digital Minerva. I feel very lucky to have this internship because it can be difficult to find the right fit, especially when you do not live in a big city. I truly do not feel like there could be an internship that is a better fit for me than Digital Minerva has been. I am able to complete tasks that utilize a variety of my skills, and if I ever need assistance I am not afraid to ask. I am excited to see all of the knowledge that I will gain as an intern at Digital Minerva, and I am so grateful for this opportunity!