Name: Alex

Year: Senior

Major: Theatre

Minor: Business Institutions

CFS Program: Business Field Studies

Employer: Starcom Worldwide

This quarter, I am interning at Starcom Worldwide, which is an international media company headquartered in Chicago. I am specifically interning in the new content department, which was created in March of 2017 when Starcom’s creative content efforts were all brought in-house. Since this department is so fresh, it has presented with me a lot of opportunities to receive a diverse set of projects as well as work with several members of the nimble team as they navigate how to grow a new department within an already well-founded and successful company. The projects I’m involved in range from short term to long term but are all crucial to helping the team grow and evolve; I get to see and understand the direct impact of my work. The work is heavily creative, collaborative, and invigorating.

In addition to my internship, I am taking a course entitled “Business Field Studies,” which is made up of two components: Business Workplace Culture and Contemporary Issues in Business. The class is an excellent supplement to my internship and forces me to allot time to thinking critically about my internship in terms of more than just the work and tasks, but also how the internship is positioned within my career trajectory and how it can give me insights into who I am as a professional and what I want out of my career. We discuss a range of topics surrounding the culture of companies, the nature of certain industries, and what we as privileged students at an elite university can do in order to improve the places that we work and maximize the influence and fulfillment of the positions that we continue to occupy.

Chicago Field Studies has been a pivotal step in my Northwestern experience and has allowed me to explore my career options and interests with the strongest institutional ally as my advocate. Enrolling in this program during the winter quarter of my senior year has been a perfect coincidence for when I feel ready to apply what Northwestern has shown me and taught me but also not yet ready to leave my educational immersion behind. There are so many benefits from this enlightening program that it’s impossible for it to not be a success – that just depends on how you choose to define ‘success.’