OWU Students Gain Valuable Experiences Through Export Internship
Emily Julius ’16
Ohio Wesleyan student Emily Julius ’16 definitively did not spend her internship fetching coffee or making copies.
Instead Julius, an international business and Spanish major from Avon, Ohio, created a marketing plan, supervised other interns, and presented her work in Washington, D.C., as part of the Ohio Export Internship Program (EIP).
“My primary goal was to complete a 360 marketing campaign including researching and identifying potential target markets, developing a marketing plan to penetrate the various potential markets, implementing the marketing plan, and delivering the product to customers in the targeted market,” she said.
Mission accomplished.
Julius spent the summer working for Columbus-based eRetailing Associates, an e-commerce company that produces customized apparel.
The Ohio Export Internship Program is a selective program overseen by the State of Ohio Development Services Agency. The EIP places students from Ohio colleges and universities into internships intended to increase jobs and exports from the state. The positions typically pay between $12 and $16 an hour.
Julius worked an eight-hour work day for 12 weeks with eRetailing Associates. She qualified for the internship by first completing “export-focused coursework,” made available through business schools at The Ohio State University and Youngstown State University, while she was a student at Ohio Wesleyan.
In the class, Julius learned about exporting goods from Ohio to other countries. Ohio Wesleyan has had the second largest number of students accepted into the internship program – behind only OSU.
Julius said the Ohio Export Internship (EIP) is valuable because of the impact interns are making on their companies.
“My internship gave me both the experience and the insight to discover my passion for marketing and international business,” she said.
Two other Ohio Wesleyan students, Nick Norman ’17 and Elise Baer ’17, are enrolled in the classes now and set to begin their internships this summer.
Norman, a management economics, accounting, and Spanish major from Cincinnati, said he appreciates that the interns are given power within the company, completing real work that has real impact.
“It’s a rare case where the intern is the expert and is receiving real-world experience/application,” he said.
Baer, an international business major from Hoboken, New Jersey, looks forward to beginning her summer internship.
“Through this internship I will gain an understanding of how countries interact in business, which is a big part of international relationship,” she said.
Students from all majors with an interest in international business are eligible for the EIP. To be considered for next year’s program, contact professor Barbara MacLeod in the Department of Economics. Applications generally are due by the end of September.