IS400 Capstone Presentations: Putting It All Together

We are nearing the end of the semester, and four interdisciplinarians have completed their senior capstone work and presented their learning experiences to their internship committees. See below for quick introductions of the graduating seniors, the ways they are combining their disciplines, and a description of their final projects! We had three internships and a project this time.

(Just wait until May, when we will have triple that number! 🙌🏁🏆🎉 - Yeah, I don't think I will sleep between March and May. I will be fretting.)

Casey Demko, who is combining Sports Studies and Business to prepare for a career in coaching (but grad school first), spent the last three months working alongside Parks and Recreation in Hartsville, planning and supervising afternoon and weekend sports activities, teams, and games. He got an especially good sense of customer relations when he interacted with young athletes' parents.

"Coaching really involves wearing so many different hats, and the IS program clarified for me how all my interests connect!"

Chloe Johnson gained significant additional experience in the area of human resources (this was her third internship in the field of HR) working for a mid-sized plywood company, tracking driver certifications, publishing a monthly newsletter, and developing an employee morale survey. She will be looking for related positions, putting to work her studies in business and psychology. She has applied to 15 related positions already and is continually working five different job search sites and keeping her profiles current.


"Time management was a big thing for me - I had two internships and coursework to keep track of this semester, but it was worth it. In Human Resources you deal with so many different people - I really built on to my skills!"

Laparis' Rogers added to her previous experience in the pharmacy of the Hartsville's CareSouth office with a more in-depth internship with CareSouth in Bishopville - this time, she focused more on the business side of the pharmacy (such as hiring, ordering supplies, and most-commonly prescribed drugs).
Combining work in the disciplines of biology and business, she is preparing for further certification and, after years of employment as a pharmacy technician, is looking into lab and research work, as well as health care office work, to enter into the job market.

"The internship was very helpful because my supervisor, Mr. Jeffery Hancock, always reminded me that my field of pharmacy work should be something that I love. You can't do it for the money!"

Jenna Collins is not actually graduating quite yet! She still wants to spend a semester abroad in Valencia, Spain. But for her capstone project, she interviewed several professionals in the medical and pharma industry to reflect her interests in biology, chemistry, business, and communication, and she has created a film about the life of a pharma sales representative. And yes, it it both informative and funny!

"I found out interviewing professionals is a lot harder than I thought - the science was the easy part, which was new for me!"




These four students took control of their studies by deciding on the skills they wished to gain in their capstone experiences, securing internships or planning a project, and completing the work they (and their faculty advisors from the individual disciplines) laid out in their project plans.

A big "Thank You!" goes out to supporting faculty: Professor J. Wacker and Dr. S. Parker (Casey), Drs. E. Litton and L. Bowers (Chloe), Profs. J. Wacker and N. Long (Laparis'), and Drs. J. Flaherty, S. Varjosaari, J. Wacker, and P. Gloviczki (Jenna). The program only works because of the support and expertise of faculty in the disciplines who generously share their time and knowledge.

Also, we are thankful to the Student Success Center who helps securing internship placements, advises on career research, and provides support with resumes and cover letters. Thanks to them, these IS grads are already squared away in their job searches.

See you are the December graduation, Casey, Chloe, and Laparis! (and Jenna in May?)

IS200 Internships: Everyone's Getting Out There!

Internships in the IS200 course can be a little crazy! Seniors, juniors, sophomores, and this semester even a first-year student venture out into the professional world for 45 hours to get an experience in their field - it takes weeks for everyone to even just get set up with a placement, and then I wait forever for paperwork to get filled out, and there is definitely some fretting (mostly by me).

But then they take off!

This semester, seven of the students found placements on campus (in MarCom, IT, and Student Success), and three students ventured off-campus (to work in a children's therapy office, non-profit family services, and an art store). Today, they talked about their experiences - which were, clearly, the highlight of their course work for IS200.

Here are some of their faces and responses:

Gordon, intern at an art store:
I developed a better understanding of how much business skill was required to run even a really small art store - I inventoried, and I worked out a classification system for products. 
I was offered a job to run the store for a few weeks this summer, while the owners are travelling.

Abby, intern at Coker's MarCom office, with an emphasis on photography:
I had no idea how many hours were truly put into editing photos. The funny thing is, I think that was my favorite part.

Abby's first assignment with MarCom was to cover Coker's homecoming event - she loved it, but it was exhausting! She also learned about a lot of technical aspects of working with a camera.

Bryan, intern at Coker's Student Success Center:

What I learned: receiving knowledge and making sure it gets to the right people gives me satisfaction.

Bryan expanded his knowledge of business by venturing into the world of communications! He presented on CobraStop many times, and the CC101 classes are better informed because of him.

Angelique, intern at Coker's MarCom office, with an emphasis on writing:

Although the internship is not directly aligned anymore with my career goals from the beginning of the semester, it has still been meaningful: I learned how to make my writing and scripts more concise and catchy.

Angelique is taking Business courses in China next semester to help prepare for graduate school in international business.

Kate, intern at Coker's MarCom office, with an emphasis on graphic design:

I learned more about being a designer and what it is like to work professionally in the field. I was surprised how much I learned during this short time!

Much of Kate's experience was about acquiring new experience in software tools used by professional graphic designers. She worked on invitations and posters for Coker events.

Sophia, intern at Therapeutic Designs and Services, with an emphasis on speech pathology:

The most rewarding part of this experience was being able to watch each child progress, and how excited the children were to produce a certain sound after weeks of hard work. 

Sophia assisted speech therapists and occupational therapists. She is a first-semester student at Coker.

Ann, intern at Coker's MarCom office, with an emphasis on communications and writing:

This internship gave me more confidence in my writing and made me realize that my opinion and input matter.

Among other pieces, Annie did an interview and profile of a Coker graduate, Charity Snelling (IS, December 2018), and a report on the Cobras in the Capitol trip to DC.

Austin, intern at Coker's IT office:

There was a lot of work fixing tickets, which involved going all over campus in person to solve the problem.

Austin mostly worked with Justin Lyde to address common IT issues - he was surprised how many tasks fall to IT that are about cables and connectivity in general.

Justin, intern at Coker's MarCom office, with an emphasis on communication and writing:

Getting to use my knowledge of the Coker ESports team and writing about that was fun.

Justin also wrote posts with tips for commuter and transfer students (he has experience with both) and profiles of two Coker grads: Cameron Flotow (IS, May 2017) and Scott Sewell (IS, December 2018).

Sierra, intern at Darlington County First Steps, assistant to the Communication Manager:

Each day is scary - I am never quite sure with whom I am going to meet and whether they are going to like my work, but it's worth it when both I and my client reach a point of satisfaction.
Sierra designed, among other things, the poster for the Men's Health Symposium you see above in the photo Abby took in class. She has been asked to return to First Steps for the Spring semester.

Internships are scary! (For me, too!)

But they are also a wonderful opportunity to carry theoretical knowledge into a work environment where productivity and learning come together for everyone - and then, of course, there is the benefit of having a closer look at a potential professional career.

Or, you know, just the pride of having ventured out there and somehow lasted through meetings and assignments and feedback, and logged in your 45 hours and lived to tell the tale.