The Kimmel Center
In the summer of 2016, I held the title of Digital Marketing Analyst at the Kimmel Center for Performing Arts. The Kimmel Center implemented a brand new website (complete with a new website editor) just days before I came, so nobody was comfortable with it yet. I learned how to use the website Content Management System (called “Episerver”), which was a way of making changes to the new website’s layout without having to know HTML. I was also given the responsibility of hosting training sessions on Episerver to departments unsupervised, which enhanced my presentation skills.
One of my main priorities was managing large-scale implementation of a different template to all pages of the website. This meant making sure all text was “accessible” (something that was also mentioned in my coding class, MIS 3501) in order to avoid potential problems with the website.
Another main task I was responsible for was using Google Analytics to gather marketing metrics and analyze the 
efficiency of various campaigns we were running. This meant looking at things like website traffic and exporting the data to Excel to create pivot tables. I also looked at the email campaigns the Kimmel Center was running and analyzed the headlines to see which were most effective in terms of open rates. This greatly enhanced my data analytics skills because up until my internship, I had only done analysis in class. Being able to extrapolate classroom education (learning Excel pivot tables in MIS 2502, for instance) into a real-life situation was invaluable experience and made me feel much more confident in my work. The patterns I found through data analysis were regularly presented in weekly department meetings, which also helped me understand the 
structure of real business meetings and how they were run.
My internship at the Kimmel Center helped me apply the information I learned in my classes to real-life situations that I may find myself doing after graduation. As someone who may be going into consulting, I have a high chance of encountering projects that require hefty data analysis to uncover problems or opportunities. Although classroom education is extremely important, my internship here helped me actually apply my knowledge in real life.