OneNet’s Intern Program Expands to Community Colleges

OneNet’s popular internship program has expanded to include community college students. OneNet has hosted interns since 2013, but primarily juniors and seniors at the university level. Recently OneNet’s communications department hosted two Oklahoma City Community College students for our graphic design internship.

“When the opportunity presented to hire an OCCC student, I took advantage of it,” said April Goode, director of OneNet strategic planning and communications. “OCCC’s students have shown a strong work ethic and produced high-quality design work to support OneNet’s branding and communications initiatives.”

OneNet has hosted 27 students since the program began in 2013. Students have applied and been selected from the many of the public universities and one private university in the Oklahoma City metro area. OneNet has accepted students from a variety of majors including strategic communications, public relations, graphic design, multi-media, marketing, business administration, and video game animation.

Students contribute to OneNet’s communications department through writing, design, photography, video production, social media management and event planning. Interns gain valuable experience that prepares them for professional positions in the workforce.

OCCC Students

Two OCCC students have now had success in the graphic design internship—Niki Cearley and Ariel Harry.

“I found the OneNet internship position through Google and was excited to apply,” said Niki Cearley. “Coming from Oklahoma City Community College, I feel very confident about my future career thanks to all the experience I gained during the program.”

As the program has grown, many of our colleges and universities share information on OneNet’s internships with their students to either fulfill graduation requirements or learn how their education will be applied in a professional setting.

“I learned about the position from one of my professors at OCCC,” said Ariel Harry. “I feel incredibly confident in the skills that I’ve learned at OCCC and working with OneNet. There were many times I went back and forth on my degree choice, but my internship here brought me a newfound passion for my career.”

New Experiences

OneNet’s internship is often an expansion of the knowledge and skills students are learning in their degree programs. The internship also offers new experiences to work with people, hardware and software.

“OneNet taught me a lot about being independent and relying on my creativity. Most of the experience I received was relevant to my career choice in one way or another,” Cearley said. “Although I had used some of the software before at a previous job, OneNet gave me a new level of freedom that allowed me to grow and learn in ways I wouldn’t have otherwise.”

“Everything I have done with OneNet has been related to my career as a graphic designer,” Harry said. “I did not learn a lot about preparing files for print at OCCC, so getting the opportunity to do that at OneNet will help me in my future career endeavors!”

Expanding Internship Opportunities

Goode hopes to offer internship opportunities to students at other community colleges in the future.

“Our community colleges are producing exceptional students who are workforce ready,” Goode said. “I hope our internship gives them a step up when they are applying for professional jobs after graduation.”

Cearley and Harry both say they will recommend OneNet’s internship to other students.

“I truly believe many people would benefit from this internship, and I would definitely recommend it to others,” Cearley said.

“I had a blast working for OneNet, and I felt proud of everything I created,” Harry said. “I would recommend this internship to anyone who would listen!”

Read more about how the internship promotes career confidence.