Internships and apprenticeships, when done right, give interns and apprentices life long lessons. Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, these opportunities aren’t accessible to many and so we wanted to invite folks who have had these experiences to share some of the lessons they’ve learned.

Greg Caparell

A very pivotal moment in my career, was when I decided to be an on call photo assistant at a fashion studio in Boston. I had 10 years experience with 5 of those years being full time freelance. I felt like I plateaued and assisting was never on my radar. Read more>>

Jason Marion

When I was doing a summer internship with one of U.S. EPA’s national research and development labs, I recall while traveling to a stream site we were studying, being challenged by a senior scientists about what types of advanced education I planned on pursuing after my environmental science and biology programs. Read more>>

Kate Clatterbuck

In the summer of 2021, I was an intern at the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research in Danville, Virginia in the Advanced Learning department. Outside of work, I started the Powerful Voices Initiative to elevate the stories of historical women as only eight women are mentioned in Virginia’s Standards of Learning for history education compared to seventy-seven men. Read more>>

Courtney Plaster

Back when I was trying to become a programmer, I took an internship at a local advertising agency in their Studio Development department. It was both challenging and fun. This specific internship position was brand new so there was some lack of support for me as a budding developer. Read more>>

Hanna Donahue

I landed the internship/assistant job that every girl wanted. It was hard, long hours, and barely any pay. But the experience, and what I would learn would change the tone of my attitude about my career forever. What I was about to start with was going to teach me the how’s and “time is money.” Read more>>

Amanda Elhage

After I graduated college with a degree in Photography, I worked with a couple of local wedding photographers as their assitant and second shooter. This one photographer I worked with was well known and established and I was photographing alongside her, what an amazing opportunity! Read more>>

Nancy Saunders

I feel so fortunate that in 1992 my career as a professional Massage Therapist started with Colorado Athletic Club in Denver, CO. I was an employee and the Massage Dept. Director for more than 10 years. Read more>>

Nicholas Maio-Aether, MAMFT, MSPSY, LBA, CSC, BCBA

When I was first beginning my initial (of 3) practicum experiences, I was entering into the field of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) at an agency that focused solely on life skills and behavioral interventions for persons with disabilities. Read more>>

Timery Spencer

When I was going to school for my Integrative Health and Healing degree, it was required that I have 130 hours in as an internship with a similar business as I was looking into. I was dreading this, as I am from a small community, and figured that I would need to drive several nights a week to the metro area for this, as well as working full time and everything else in my life. Read more>>