Left to right: Jada Henderson and Jessica Perilla
Career Readiness During a Pandemic
Alumni helping students gain internship experience
Preparing our students for the workforce during a pandemic is not easy. As the coronavirus outbreak affected our area, and our college transitioned to remote learning, the Career Services office quickly realized that we had to seek out remote internship opportunities for our students. We reached out to our employer partners to see if they would offer remote learning opportunities to our students.
The first person to respond was Jessica Perilla, CEO & Founder of JPD Studio Inc., and alumni of The College of Westchester. She worked closely with our Career Services office to define the remote internship program and set up parameters. A BS-Interactive Digital Media Marketing student, Jada Henderson, was presented with the opportunity to complete her internship with Jessica remotely. Jes guided Jada in developing her new personal brand identity and logo design, in addition to website redesign, graphic design and social media related duties. Jada learned how to use several new apps and tools, such as Whimsical, Squarespace, Photoshop Gifs, Illustrator, Slack and Trello.
At the midpoint, Jessica and Jada spent time evaluating the goals they set, the progress of those goals and any possible changes that needed to be done. Jes shared their progress with the Career Services Office, stating that “Jada has been so wonderful to work with, we were also excited to hear how much she's gained and have a lot more planned for her.”
Jada really enjoyed her internship experience. She felt the internship “helped my logo design to look more professional and strong on its own. I know that I will have more experience in certain fields that I do want to pursue as a career, such as web design, marketing, etc. After this, my portfolio will have more projects to showcase my strong points, talents, and show that I am skillful in more areas than just illustration.”
Through this internship opportunity, Jada was able to gain a deeper understanding of branding, typography and logo design. By the culmination of her internship, Jada demonstrated Career Readiness, the requisite competencies that prepare college graduates for a successful transition into the workplace. By sharpening her critical thinking/problem solving, communication, and collaboration skills Jada is more marketable to prospective employers.