For Lakeland College business students Gracie Lilienskold and Nathan Liebelt, summer was more than a break from classes. It was an opportunity to put their education into practice, explore career possibilities and gain valuable experience in the workplace.

While their experiences took them in different directions, both students returned to the classroom this fall with new skills, greater confidence and a better understanding of the opportunities available to them.

Lilienskold, a second-year general business diploma student from Lloydminster, spent four months working as a communications and marketing intern with the City of Lloydminster through Lakeland’s optional business co-op program.

Having previously worked at Lakeland while attending high school, she was familiar with the college before enrolling. But the opportunities available to her as a business student exceeded her expectations.

“The opportunities I’ve been able to have here are things I probably wouldn’t have had at a larger university,” she says. “It was nice to have the ability to do all these things, like the co-op program, after only my first year.”

During her placement, Lilienskold worked alongside the city’s communications, marketing and community engagement teams, gaining experience in everything from graphic design and news releases to public engagement initiatives.

Her biggest responsibility was helping develop the city’s accessibility plan, a project that involved coordinating with multiple departments, gathering information and working with a graphic designer to produce an accessible, visually appealing document.

“I was able to take charge of the project and work with a bunch of different departments to collect all the information for it,” she says. “It was my biggest project over the summer and something I’m very proud of.”

Meanwhile, Liebelt, also a second-year general business student from Lloydminster, gained his own hands-on experience a little closer to home.

As a summer student with Lakeland’s Donor and Alumni Relations team, Liebelt contributed to marketing and fundraising initiatives and helped organize events, including Feast on the Farm, Alumni Weekend and the President’s Circle on both campuses.

“I’ve dug my hands into everything,” he says. “I’ve done a little bit of marketing, a little bit of fundraising. I’ve helped out with different events throughout the summer.  One of the things I’ll always be humbled about is how much preparation it actually takes to set up events,” he says.

The position also gave him a behind-the-scenes perspective on how an organization operates, from the planning required to host major events to the many departments working together to achieve shared goals. He worked on NOMS, the Naming Opportunities Management System, which helps centralize information for room-naming opportunities for potential donors, and other behind-the-scenes operational work.

“The experience helped develop my interest in pursuing a career in marketing, particularly seeing how marketing, fundraising and organizational operations work together,” Liebelt says.

For both students, the opportunity to experience the workplace firsthand helped connect their classroom learning with practical applications.

“It was a great opportunity to apply what I’m learning in my classes into a real-world experience,” Lilienskold says. “Some of the stuff seems so abstract when you’re learning about it. When you can go out and see how it’s actually applied, it clicks really well.”

The experience also helped Lilienskold reconsider what a future career in marketing and communications might look like.

“When I thought of marketing, I had a very narrow perception of what it was like,” she says. “I learned there are so many different avenues within it.”

She particularly enjoyed the combination of public engagement and behind-the-scenes work, and discovered that a career doesn’t necessarily have to follow a straight path.

Liebelt, who continues to work part-time with Donor and Alumni Relations, also credits his experiences at Lakeland with helping him grow personally and professionally.

“Throughout my time here, I have gained a lot of maturity,” he says. “It’s helped me step into the actual world of business and to learn what it takes for a business to operate.”

For now, Lilienskold is working as the Instagram coordinator for the business department and 1913 At Lakeland, the campus store. She plans to continue her education in commerce at the University of Saskatchewan. Although she hasn’t settled on a particular career, her summer placement has given her a wider range of possibilities to consider.

“I’m still not sure what I want to do but this summer definitely opened my eyes to what could be out there,” she says.

 

Photos: (Top-bottom) Gracie Lilienskold. Nathan Liebelt. Nathan at Feast on the Farm's photobooth. Gracie at Chamber Connect.