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n Spring 2020, as students identified summer internships, they discovered many of their plans changed because of COVID-19. Despite this challenge, many students in the Ferguson College of Agriculture made the most of their internship experiences, including seniors Lauren Millang, Ridge Hughbanks and Kaela Cooper.
Continuing Virtually
While most interns faced the task of moving their positions online, Millang, agricultural communications senior, was already there. In spring 2019, Millang began an internship with Vivayic, a virtual company that consults, strategizes, and designs projects related to learning, training and knowledge transfer. While working with Vivayic, Millang completed two summer internships with the company where she developed resources such as animal flashcards and online learning modules for different company clients. “Vivayic is a virtual company, and the employees work from home,” Millang said. “The really cool thing is that it allows people to balance their home life and their families. “I have learned how to use technology so well that when COVID-19 36 | COWBOY JOURNAL
Students adapt to change in their internships happened, it was a little bit easier for me to adjust to my classes, and I felt more prepared overall,” she said. During her internship, a typical week for Millang began with a Monday morning conference call to discuss projects with her manager and co-workers as well as team calls and project calls. Millang’s large project during her summer internship involved creating professional development events for teachers across the United States. “Before COVID-19, the events were going to be in-person, massive events that involved in-person professional development trainings at various locations,” Millang said. Social distancing requirements meant Millang had to learn how to transform this production into a completely virtual experience, she said, including how to set up the information for a Zoom-based conference and make different types of promotional videos for social media. Prior to the pandemic, Vivayic staff would travel to visit clients, attend industry conferences, and host quarterly team meetings. However, travel and in-person meetings were limited during the pandemic. Millang said she enjoyed her internship and plans to join the Vivayic team
full time as a learning designer following her graduation. “I’ve really appreciated that I found a company that values my own personal growth,” she said.
A Hybrid Model
Hughbanks, agribusiness senior, had a different experience than Millang. His internship was a hybrid. Hughbanks served as a public policy intern with the Oklahoma Farm Bureau Federation, which consisted of working remotely for three days a week and in person the other two days. “I was a public policy team member working alongside the executive director and the president on some special projects,” Hughbanks said. After his internship with American Farm Bureau in Washington, D.C., was postponed, Hughbanks said he reached out to various mentors in an effort to find an available internship. He then reached out to OKFBF, who created a position for him. “I find myself feeling extremely fortunate for how the cards fell and for their willingness to bring me on as an intern under these circumstances,” Hughbanks said. During Hughbanks’ internship, he studied the supply and demand of beef processing, planned an innovative
