August 23rd, 2010

I got the job working with Seminaries and Institutes in the Church Office Building. It will be a great adventure to move to Salt Lake, etc. I'm glad I have a husband who is supportive and helpful in regards to my job hunt and in moving everything to a new apartment. I'm grateful he is by my side.

I wrote up my review paper for the Visual Art office:
Where do I begin to describe what I’ve learned while working as an intern for BYU Admissions

Services? I have to say that I had no idea what it would be like to work as a designer for someone else. All throughout school we’ve designed for “companies” or “clients” – but it wasn’t a REAL work environment. When I say REAL I mean co-workers, a boss, different assignments, real deadlines and presentations, critiques of your work from non-artists, and many other things. First off, I have to admit – I was blessed to work in an LDS environment. Not many students get that opportunity for an internship or a job. When I requested the internship, I wasn’t quite sure what I would be getting into. I assumed I would be designing brochures, working on websites, among other little jobs. What I got was a little of the above in addition to a set of 4 presentations that would be my project for the next 4 months.

BYU admissions is responsible for organizing and producing a CES recruiting presentation called
the BeSmart Fireside. They not only present to students all around the United States and Canada, but Seminary and Institute personnel, high school counselors, and other’s concerned with helping students gain higher education. Originally, I was asked to design a template for each of the five CES entities (BYU, BYU-Idaho, BYU-Hawaii, LDSBC, and Institute). I did so and figured that each school would complete their own portion. I assumed that I was done with that assignment two weeks after I started. How very wrong I was. What started in April, has continued well into August with me being the main designer for each school. They send content and I put it together. Those presentations have been through 50+ revisions. At the beginning and obviously as a designer, it was extremely hard to hear “take that part out, we’re adding ____,” or “Can you change_____”? It felt like everything I had worked on for weeks
was going through the shredder. There were days that I would have to step outside of myself and realize that this project is NOT mine, it’s ultimately theirs. I am here to do what THEY want me to do. That was hard for me to grasp at first. I cringed when we’d sit down to run through it because I knew I’d walk away with 20-30 edits on my 100 slide presentation. There were days that it hurt.
As time has progressed, it was that factor that I thrived on. I live on criticism now. With each run through, I ask over and over, “Is there something else you’d like to see?,” or “Please don’t hesitate to give me feedback on what you’d like.” I’ve learned, that’s how my work gets better and better. My ideas and their ideas working off of each other equal much more than the sum of adding our individual ideas together. That is called synergy. I would often say that to my supervisor, James. We would work on a design for the new BeSmart website and I’d throw an idea out there, he’d critique it and hone it, then we’d talk about how to improve it and modify it together, bouncing ideas off of each other throughout the process. I found that I prefer to work with others, rather than on my own. That was a discovery that I hope I will take with me wherever I go, designing or not. I want other’s feedback on how to improve something I’ve done. As much as you may love your design, if you can’t reach those you are trying to communicate with, you’ve failed. Feedback enables you to know if you are communicating clearly and
I think my boss, Kirk didn’t really take me seriously when I asked to accompany him to the
meeting with all the CES schools in Salt Lake. He said he’d bring back the notes on what they wanted changed. I don’t normally argue with people, but I did that day with Kirk. I wanted so much to sit in that room as they went through the presentations – to hear their thoughts first hand. To discuss with them what THEY wanted it to look like or communicate. After a few hours, I finally convinced him. That was a turning point for me in the internship.

After that trip, Kirk would ask me if I was coming to many of the following meetings. I ended up
getting to go on a trip to Springhaven for 3 days with the CES institutions. We reviewed the
presentations, sat down and made edits right then and there, played games, got to work together on higher levels, among other things. Just this past week, I accompanied Kirk to Salt Lake to attend the presentation they put on for Seminary and Institute personnel at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.

While running through Institute’s portion before the presentation began, the director of their program mentioned that if I was looking for a job, they would hire me to work at The Church Office Building. After the presentation, I had an impromptu interview with his boss. Had I not pushed that first meeting to attend and be a part of how things were working, I don’t think I would have been at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building that morning.

I have learned to be assertive, but kind and hard worker while interning here. I have learned
to be a team player and to take criticism productively. It has been a great blessing to me. I cannot say enough about my experience and the numerous things I have learned. What a blessing it has been to intern with BYU Admissions.