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Student Spotlight: Dillon Murphy
I’m Dillon Murphy, and I’m the Digital Media Marketing Intern for the Center for Applied Learning (CAL). In other words, I do all of the posting and a lot of the content creation you see on all of our social media accounts. One of our newest programs that we’re going to be starting up on our social media accounts is one where we illustrate how current students have benefited from our services here at the CAL. Personally, I have utilized the CAL since starting here at Potsdam; the great people here actually brought my current position to my attention and hired me as well. I figured, since we were going to be finding students who really benefited from the CAL, why not start with myself?
My experiences with the CAL actually began freshman year, in a First Year Seminar course I was in. In class that Monday we were having a guest speaker: Toby White. Toby came in to talk about internships with the class. With that presentation, Toby opened my eyes to the fact that internships could put me over the edge down the road when applying for jobs and supplied me with ambitions centered around preparing for the future while taking advantage of a campus resource unknown to me before. Immediately after class that day, I walked over to Crumb Library and scheduled an appointment with Toby for the soonest opportunity I could get. I showed up to that first meeting with Toby looking to find an internship opportunity, but I left with so much more.
While conversing with Toby, he did give me information on internships. But he also opened my eyes to the fact that I could switch from a double major to a dual degree, further bolstering my résumé after graduation. That right there changed the course of my college career, as my sights set on not just an internship abroad anymore, but now a second degree which I am still pursuing to this day. After a few months, I returned to the CAL to talk more about the internship I was pursuing. Instead of meeting with Toby this time, I was introduced to Megan Burke. Megan armed me with a plethora of resources, sites, and tools I could be using to find the right internship for me. Over those Spring ’17 months, I met with Megan and Study Abroad coordinator Bethany Parker multiple times, each time gaining more knowledge about my eventual internship abroad experience.
At the end of one of these meetings, Megan actually directed me to another member at the CAL I could speak with: Career Coach Julie Johnson. Over the course of four meetings with Julie, I ended up building a résumé I’d be comfortable bringing to a job interview, getting in-depth tips about creating a professional cover letter, and a polished LinkedIn profile that I would never have been able to do on my own. Up to this point, I was comfortable with the fact that the CAL had already changed my college career, and possibly my life to that point because of the advice and resources given to me. But that wasn’t even the best part yet.
After mentioning looking for an on-campus internship for Fall of ’18, I got an email from Julie describing a position for Spring ’18: Digital Media Marketing Intern. Instantly I was intrigued. I used those same skills I learned from Julie about making a cover letter and résumé and prepared for the interview. One thing led to another and I am now at a paid internship working for the Center for Applied Learning.
I came to SUNY Potsdam as a business major with a politics minor, having no idea what the next four years would hold. Here I am now as a sophomore with a double major, working towards two diplomas, planning for an internship abroad in Australia, working at the place that supplied me with so many great resources. The Center for Applied Learning and all of the amazing people working here has really changed my life. Why can’t it change yours too?