2020 SUMMER INTERNS: Reagan Smith

I can’t believe I’m already six weeks into my marketing internship at Aurora Cooperative. They say time flies when you’re having fun, and it has been an absolute blast! As the marketing intern, I’ve taken part in countless projects revolving around both the Coop and their new seed brand Prairie Valley. Some of the projects I’ve completed or am currently working on are writing and recording broadcast spots, creating designs ranging from window decals to infographics to t-shirts to cards, interviewing farmers and individuals in the aerial division, developing a brochure for Prairie Valley, attending meetings and capturing photos. The list goes on and on! These past six weeks have been quite busy, but I appreciate the guidance and independence my mentor Tessa and the rest of the marketing team has given me to learn and grow in my profession.

My main project for the summer I am tackling now has been quite the journey already, and I only started this about a week ago. I’ve been contacting many of Prairie Valley’s seed salesmen and farmers around the area who have invested in the seed brand. Let me tell you, getting a hold of these farmers and finding a time for me to come out to their farms to ask them questions from the survey Tessa and I developed is not the easiest task. Ya’ll are busy! And I understand that, but it’s been incredibly fun getting out of the office and meeting some of these great men who work day in and day out to provide for their families and thousands of others. I can’t wait to meet many more!

Another note I’d like to make is the amount of genuine people I’ve had the opportunity to work with this summer. Despite the COVID-19 restrictions, I’ve been able to meet quite a few individuals who have made my experience that much better. Everyone has been so helpful, patient and easy to get along with. Observing my coworkers throughout this summer has pushed me to always do the best that I can and I never feel out of place even though I’m new to the Coop! (Shoutout to Sandy Held for being a wealth of knowledge and not making fun of me when I mistakenly placed the return address labels in the area you’re supposed to place the shipping addresses haha.)

Overall, this experience has accelerated my skill set in ways I never imagined. Yes, college teaches you a lot, but this opportunity to get some real-life experience is something I’ll never take for granted. I remember telling Maggie and Tessa during my interview for this internship that I wasn’t the best at design and that was probably my weakest skill in my field, yet this internship has proved me wrong. I’ve grown so much in my design skills through their confidence in my abilities and through them handing over the design projects to me that they have so far. I’m incredibly grateful for them trusting me with those projects and many others.

So I think I’ve talked about it enough, but I feel very fortunate to have this marketing internship with Aurora Cooperative. I want to thank the Coop and especially the marketing team for all of their support throughout this summer. I’m looking forward to the rest of the challenges this summer brings me! #TougherTogether