Courtesy of the BSM Instagram

The EPIC marketing and communications interns met with the co-founder of IAN Inc. advertising agency to learn about the world of marketing and communications.

Part of students’ high school experience is not only to learn the core curriculum, but it is also a time to prepare for your future, finding your dream college, career path, or opportunity. BSM and its internship program have developed students’ professional skills for years and are only continuing to expand.

At BSM, there are two different paths within the internship program. A more full-time option within EPIC (Explore, Partner, Inspiration, and Connect) and then smaller opportunities with outside organizations. “[BSM has] internships with the marketing team, the hockey program, the admissions team, the technology department, and some others, which are all credit-bearing internships, half a credit each semester. These are more consistent, where you meet weekly and have a more consistent workload. Then, we have a couple of dozen other things external to BSM. Those tend to be shorter, smaller workloads, and those are with actual professional organizations outside of BSM. Such as an architecture firm, an advertising agency, the Minnesota Vikings, and more. So there’s a ton of different options both in and out of school,” Dr. Steve Pohlen, Director of Curriculum, Instruction, & Innovation, said.

Both options allow students to find their passions in a career sense and take away real-life experiences from the BSM halls. These experiences are offered to all students, but the way of getting involved does vary from each internship depending on the popularity and competition. “It’s been a mix of things. In some cases, it’s whoever says yes to it. [For] the more popular ones, there’s an application process, [and] if the internship has a specific focus, I’ll get nominations from teachers [for students] to go to those,” Pohlen said.

Alumni have seen a huge benefit in joining these internship programs during their high school years, as it has set them up for success in both their careers and adult life. “I’ve already had students come back to me from college or even beyond college and tell me that what they learned in just a few hours at an internship triggered something in them that guided them toward a career, or what they were able to learn or talk about in an internship landed them a bigger internship, or a position at a company, or the next opportunity was easier to get because they had the opportunity here [at BSM],” Pohlen said.

The benefits don’t only apply to alumni, however, as many current BSM students have already started to see growth in their career skills and future opportunities, learning many good life lessons. “I’ve gained a lot of time management and organization skills. I’ve also learned to take a no for an answer, which has been hard for me but also good. When you have to email all the companies we do, you have to be patient with them and learn how to wait for a response. It’s been really important for me to learn this because, in the world of business, no one is on anyone else’s time. I think I am going to be able to use all of these skills whether in business or any other part of my life because I got to have a real-world experience while still in high school,” senior Eva Rahn, co-leader of the Sports Business Marketing Internship, said.

The benefits of EPIC and other opportunities that BSM has to offer are very unique and diverse over many career paths. However, there is always still room for growth. “I encourage anybody that has an idea for an internship to reach out to me and get involved,” Pohlen said.