EVENTS INTERN
GRAPHIC DESIGN INTERN
Developing Ayrshire ’ s Young Workforce
we RECENTLY EXPANDED our Marketing Team WITH TWO INTERNSHIP POSITIONS , FURTHER DEMONSTRATING our COMMITMENT TO dEVELOPING our YOUNG WORKFORCE .
Events intern Ada Konkolska , 22 from Glasgow , and Graphic Designer Steven Pirrie , 23 from Kilwinning , joined the College on six-month internships that run until March 2017 .
We caught up with the pair to see how their first few months had gone .
aDa KONKOLSKa
EVENTS INTERN
“ This position is perfect for me because I ’ m constantly learning new skills ,” Ada began .
“ I graduated in Events Management in June and was looking for a position to get my career started . I ’ ve worked on a lot of my own projects but have never worked in the public sector before - so it ’ s been nice to try out a different perspective .
“ I only started in October but already I ’ ve worked on a lot of different projects . I started to help organise the graduation ceremonies straight away . That was fun to work on as I ’ d just participated in my own a few months before , so it was nice to see it from the other perspective !
“ I have also had the chance to work on my own project , which was the College ’ s ‘ Respect ’ campaign . This campaign encouraged students and staff members at Ayrshire College to respect each other , themselves , their environment and their community .
“ That was something that I was mainly responsible for , so it was good to get that level of responsibility so early on .
“ The latest event was the official opening of the new Kilmarnock Campus in December , which was opened by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon MSP . So there have been a number of different events .”
STEvEN PIRRIE
GRAPHIC DESIGN INTERN
Steven studied Graphic Design for Digital Media at university and saw the College position as an opportunity to develop further , after a year of freelance work .
Steven said “ I thought Ayrshire College was a very reputable brand to be associated with . There ’ s a lot of space for personal development , and I knew I ’ d be working on a lot of interesting projects here .
“ I ’ d been doing different freelance jobs for design companies and also had a one-month internship with G1 . Working in the hospitality / entertainment industry was a great experience - I was working on lots of promotional material for bar and restaurant brands .
I WaNT TO WORK WITH INTERESTING COMPaNIES , INTERESTING BRaNDS , aND INTERESTING PEOPLE .
“ At the College I ’ ve worked on their student magazine , which was a big , 40-page project . It had its own challenges which were good to overcome . I ’ ve also been creating graphics for a lot of different platforms at the College , such as printed posters , web graphics and social media graphics .
“ I ’ ve worked on so many tasks that I can ’ t think of them all right now ! Every day there ’ s something new to work on .”
Both Ada and Steven are quick to identify skills that they have improved upon during their time at the College . Ada cited the importance of remembering the most minor details when it comes to event planning , and Steven recognised his ability to juggle an ever-increasing workload .
The pair still have a few months left at the College , and are in no hurry for their internships to finish .
Ada said “ I ’ ve not thought about March yet . “ However , I know when this finishes I want to follow it up with another Events position . I ’ ve really enjoyed my time at Ayrshire College so far , so would be keen to continue down this path and develop my skills more . We ’ ll see what happens when the time comes .”
Steven added “ I want to work with interesting companies , interesting brands , and interesting people . I ’ ll continue to learn , and I ’ ll enjoy myself at work . That ’ s the main thing .”
The magazine of Ayrshire College 27