by Cody Kaemingk,
Hello again readers! Sorry for the brief absence, life has
been a bit crazy lately so I’m going to try to catch you up the best I can.
Work the last few weeks has been awesome. I was able to work
at the Chicago Auto Show and was given a pretty large responsibility of
managing our staff presence there this year. This was a huge honor and it’s
great to see the staff embracing my abilities even as an intern. I can see that
it is a very stressful time for everyone as some of our largest clients are
there, and I am thrilled to be able to represent this company at the auto show.
Along with this auto show project, I am being tasked with various roles around
the office that are more or less becoming “mine” and I am becoming the primary
source of contact for issues involving certain accounts; again so cool to see
them putting so much trust in an intern.
Along with the daily grind of projects, it’s good to get a
look into what makes a company great: its people. Some companies seem to know
this better than others, and I have to say that eshots is one of those
companies that sees value in its employees. They seek to challenge and
develop them as employees and people while also being able to kick back and
enjoy the lighter side of life from time to time. It’s good because it creates
an environment of accountability while at the same time allowing us to bond as
employees. This has been a learning experience for all of us on CS as we learn
to work with people that have various management styles. Hearing the joys
and frustrations of others in the program and learning how to navigate that
territory during the very infant stages of our careers has been great as we try
and decide where we will go next.
The CS art events are again keeping us entertained while
opening our eyes to other cultures. We were able to attend a performance of No
Place Called Home in the Loop. This play opened my eyes to the often
overlooked problems that refugees from Iraq face on a regular basis – which is
really a theme of the semester as a whole. Before coming to Chicago I think it
was easy for most of us to overlook some of the problems of the world and focus
in on our own lives on our college campuses. But with Chicago being such an
international city, we have become more exposed to the hardships of other
people.
Another great activity we were able to be a part of was
feeding the underprivileged people of Humboldt Park with the giving volunteers
of San Lucas United Church of Christ. It was great to see the love of Jesus
being put into action by this ministry and to be a small part of it. These
volunteers are building real relationships with some of the outcasts of our
society and it was great to see the genuine looks of happiness on the faces of
both the recipients and volunteers as we served a hot meal to people that don’t
always receive one.