Jackson Warren
Major: Film & Design
Interior Design Intern, BSA LifeStructures
How did you learn about this internship opportunity?
I learned about this internship opportunity from a professor at Purdue, Yong In.
How has your internship helped build your skills and clarify your career goals? How did being a Liberal Arts student at Purdue apply to your internship?
My internship helped build on my technical and professional skills. Over the summer I worked on a variety of projects that gave me exposure to technical skills such as modeling, specification writing, and presentation graphics. I learned professional skills by collaborating with people within the office and communicating with material representatives and furniture dealers.
Being a Liberal Arts student at Purdue applied to my internship through the classes I have taken and the experiences I’ve had through my classes and instructors. This gave me good background information and exposure to places and ideas that are unique to CLA.
What is a piece of advice you would give someone in your major looking for an internship?
The best piece of advice I could give to someone in Interior Design when looking for an internship is to apply anywhere and everywhere because you might not know where you’ll land a job at. Plus, it’s a great way to make connections with people from across the country.
What key responsibilities or tasks have you taken on during your internship?
The specific responsibilities I have had at my internship have been furniture and finish plans, selecting furniture, selecting and ordering samples, and creating presentations that reflect that work.
In what ways has the College of Liberal Arts at Purdue University supported your internship journey? How has your participation in our job-ready program specifically aided your professional development?
If it wasn’t for CLA’s Job-Ready scholarship, I would’ve never been able to live and work in Raleigh, NC for the summer. Job-Ready has kept me engaged with my internship and gave me the material to interact with my colleagues, creating lasting connections to support my professional growth. By being a CLA student, I have gotten a well-rounded and career-ready experience at Purdue that has helped me jump right into the working world.
Could you highlight a standout aspect of your experience in this program that you find particularly noteworthy?
One of my favorite aspects of my internship has been our Intern Discipline Panels. Every week designers from around the company present what each discipline at BSA does. I learned the role of Planners, Architects, Engineers, and Interior Designers in an integrated firm like BSA. This gave me knowledge of what part every person plays to create a well-rounded and thoughtful design that BSA is known for.