Amanda Sullivan
Champlain student Intern at Corinthian Events
Prepared for Experience
Senior Amanda Sullivan realized just how much she had already learned at Champlain when her skills were put to the test in a high-responsibility internship.
"I'm working for the experience," says Champlain senior Amanda Sullivan about her third internship, which she is taking at Corinthian Events, an international event planner and destination management firm in downtown Boston.
"To work with and learn from people who have been doing it for so long and being put in real-life situations where I have to make decisions that will actually be carried out is an amazing experience for me," Amanda says. "When I am in the moment, and I have to decide between A and B because in two seconds it's actually going to happen-those are the moments when my internship showed me how much I really learned at Champlain."
Amanda reports that there are only eight people in the office and because Corinthian is small, the opportunities to do and learn are tremendous. "I have real responsibility, and I was actually surprised how prepared I was to do this work and how at ease I feel under pressure," she says. "It also surprises me how easy it has been to apply the knowledge that I had from school to on-the-job situations. Champlain does a great job of hands-on practice projects and discussions," Amanda continues. "For example, the class I took in event planning really helped me out because I had written a proposal before. I know what the client contracts look like because we had done so many mock ups. I'm not caught off guard by what comes up at Corinthian because I already knew a lot of what goes into this business. I know the language that is required, which is very helpful. And because I've been so grounded in the management aspects of business, and because we've discussed different industry trends in class, I pay attention to what the managers do here, and I know why they are doing it."
Amanda sees her Corinthian internship is a launch pad for her future. "Breaking into a new industry is such a hard thing," she says, "and having done this internship and meeting these people will help me enter my profession confidently."
Internship: Corinthian Events
Poem written by student Christopher Lawless