Senior art and marketing major Austin Riggle experienced firsthand what it means to be a global learner when he interned with Rademaker Industrial Bakery in Culemborg, The Netherlands.

Riggle, class of 2017, spent his summer creating a three-part advertising campaign for Rademaker, which included developing advertisements for a company magazine, designing graphic art, and photographing many of the company's bread products.

Upon arriving in The Netherlands, Riggle didn't know the language, or anyone in Culemborg. Throughout the summer, he adjusted, making friends, learning the ropes, and biking to work every day like a local.

"When you work abroad, you grow as a person in terms of being self-reliant," said Riggle of Hudson, Ohio. "You have to go out of your comfort zone, almost to prove yourself."

Riggle wasn't the only Wittenberg student who traveled outside of a comfort zone for an internship this year. Camila Quinones, senior English major from Westerville, Ohio, followed her dreams all the way to Los Angeles, Calif., to intern with a production company, The Cartel.

Quinones, class of 2017, spent her time with The Cartel reading through scripts and writing coverage, which provided feedback about the potential of each piece. This position was a "dream come true" for Quinones, whose passion for film and television production started at a young age creating videos with her sister.

According to Quinones, this internship was a learning experience, which allowed her to learn not only more about herself, but also the production industry. She also credits her Wittenberg education with preparing her to take on such a role. Her coursework as an English major and her position at the Wittenberg Writing Center both taught her to be clear and concise in her writing, which she is convinced led to success at The Cartel.

"My Wittenberg experiences are transcending Wittenberg and seeping into the professional world," Quinones said. "I'm excited to see how else the things I've done affect my future."

Like Quinones, Riggle found that his Wittenberg experiences benefitted him in the professional world, too.  Riggle's internship allowed him to seamlessly combine his two majors of marketing and art. His art major focuses on photography, and much of his internship did, as well. Riggle was able to take photos within bakery storefronts, close-up shots of products, staged shots for catalogs, and photos of Rademaker machinery. He then used his marketing knowledge to incorporate these photos into the advertisements and catalogs he designed.

Before interning with Rademaker, Riggle said he was close-minded about business careers and wasn't quite sure of how to merge his two majors. Rademaker showed him that he could utilize his skillset and creativity within an industrial business environment. 

"This position allowed me to be creative but still do marketing-type things," Riggle said. "Art and business marketing came together nicely, and that was reassuring."

According to Riggle, Wittenberg prepared him to succeed in this internship by offering him the education and tangible skills he needed through his classes in art, marketing, business and international relations. It was the idea that Wittenberg students are global learners that he also saw reflected within his experience this summer. 

"As Wittenberg students, we strive to be global leaders, and I felt like I was able to take my education here and streamline it into what I was doing there, while still being true to myself," he said.

Both Quinones and Riggle found their summer internships to be transformative experiences. Quinones walked away knowing that, in order to find success, one must "be fearless and convicted in your dreams."

Riggle returned home to America with a deeper knowledge of himself and the world around him. "It was life-changing in terms of an eye-opening experience," he said.

Other students who landed some exciting internships last summer include: Josh Marks '17 of Bushey, England, who interned at Evol8tion in New York City; Creighton Stephens '17 of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, who interned at the Vail Valley Foundation in Avon, Colo.; Megan Bobbitt '16 of Rocky River, Ohio, who interned at the Flats East Bank, in Cleveland, Ohio; Lauren Gerhardt '17 of Cincinnati, Ohio, who interned at J.P. Morgan Chase, in Chicago; Leah Markovich '17 of Delta, Ohio, who interned with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Global Initiatives in Chicago; Nick Rittenhouse '17 of Fort Wayne, Ind., who interned with ALDI in Michigan; Phil Bufford '17 of Woodbridge, Va., who interned at Wright and Schulte, LLC., in Vandalia, Ohio; and  Cameron Black '17 of Chenango Forks, N.Y., who interned at Mercy Health Partners in Springfield, Ohio.