Kylee Deering | A&L Co-Editor

This past summer, Buena Vista University senior Kassi Kommes had an internship in downtown Des Moines, Iowa. She worked for an advertising agency called Happy Medium. The company does everything from graphic design and web design to social media consulting to media buying. As they describe it, they’re “à la carte,” so companies they work for can pick and choose from their specialties.

Kommes was a Media Intern for the summer where she worked on various projects while she was there. She was a part-time intern who worked with the Social Media Intern for four hours each day. She also had meetings to learn more about the position and gain more responsibilities as she went.

During the last couple of weeks of Kommes’ internship, Julie Welch, the Media Director, asked her to chat. Welch told Kommes they were looking for an intern during the school year. She asked Kommes if she was willing to take on an internship during the fall while being roughly two hours away from the company. Kommes accepted the challenge. With the remaining time, they went through the process of switching everything for the upcoming school year to prepare her for the fall.

Kommes now works 15 hours a week, working from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. every week day. She’s also balancing being a full-time student with being a part-time employee.

“I have to work on my time management more,” says Kommes. “I lose that free time that I could be doing homework. Working three hours a day along with being a full-time student is more work than I anticipated, but I am enjoying what I’m doing so that makes this worth it.”

Kommes has also taken on another internship this fall as the Game Day Intern for the Minnesota Vikings. She travels to Minnesota for home games where she works in the press box getting more experience with media and marketing.

The internships keep Kommes busy, but she doesn’t regret taking on the jobs as she’s learning a lot. Getting the hands-on experience is really beneficial before she graduates this spring. Working in her field of study is surely to prepare her for the next steps in life.