Discover Your Passion in Discovery Camp

Hey everyone! My name is Dakota, a senior in Advertising on the Art Direction Track, graduating in August 2018. At the beginning of June, I started my internship at the Franklin Institute, working as a photography intern for their summer camp. Every summer, The Franklin Institute hosts a camp called Discovery Camp. It is a camp based completely around science featuring a new group of children every week. 

I work with another photography intern named, Hannah. We come three days a week, alternating days then met up on Friday to go over the pictures. Also, we help each other take photos of anyone or group that we missed. There is no one watching over us, we send the link to the Design Department at the end of the week and they post it on Discovery Camp’s website. Sometimes, our boss checks the link to see the photos and other times she does not. We are trusted to take photos and they trust that they are good photos. 

Even though this internship may not follow directly along with my track, I enjoy being there and figuring out what the next step could be. I enjoy working with kids too! It was difficult for me to switch majors from biology to creative. It was never a part of me that I fully embraced; however, from working at this internship, I realized that I still can enjoy science in a creative form and still in some form be hands-on as well. I am comfortable working alone and being dependent on myself but it is important for me to become more disciplined. I enjoy not having to wait for someone else to finish, but knowing I have to stay on a strict schedule. Also, developing my time management. Especially because being there three days a week for eight hours, already makes the week seem as though it flies by. I can barely imagine how it will be operating in 40 hours a week schedule. 

I raced through the Art Direction track because of the need to graduate on time, never fully figuring out what I wanted for my future. Working at the Franklin Institute definitely clued me into what I want from my future. I’ve always enjoyed working in museums, hoping to become an Art Director in one in the future.