Below is a first person account from Dean's Intern Berna Elibuyuk on her internship with USA Today. This was originally published in April on the Dean's Internship Blog.

My previous post about my internship at USA TODAY had been a few months ago. Fast forward to the Spring 2016 semester and I am still at USA TODAY and loving it! This is my second internship period working as a Design Intern at USA TODAY and I couldn’t be happier. I had worked diligently on the assignments I was given, and by showing all of my hard work and efforts to both the design team and my supervisor, I was offered a chance to continue to intern at USA TODAY. I never expected to find myself working at such a distinguished, creative and innovative company, let alone spending another semester as a continuing intern. I can comfortably say that I have finally settled in.

From day one, I was never treated nor felt as though I was an intern. Everyone at USA TODAY from the design team, who are all a pleasure to work with and inspire me to do amazing things everyday, to the editors, journalists, staff, and everyone at the McLean headquarters, made me feel right at home as if I was one of the full time employees. There is never a dull day, especially when you are right in the middle of all of the news stories coming into the office every minute.

I have the responsibility of creating some of the graphics for those incoming news stories (including the Panama Papers and Pi Day). I also collaborate with my colleagues to create animations and videos to put towards USA TODAY’s social media platforms. It is always busy in the newsroom and it’s not any different than my time spent last Fall semester of 2015. I am always encouraged to put in my own vision into the projects that I’m working on, while my thoughts, ideas, and opinions are always heard. The only difference this time around is that there is a huge renovation in progress for USA TODAY’s offices at the McLean headquarters. The main newsroom hub has been closed off and everyone has been shifted around to temporary sections while the ongoing construction takes place. Much of the time employees are telecommuting and working from home. It’s easy to say that we have gotten used to the renovation noise echoing throughout the offices. And though everyone makes it work somehow, I have learned how important it is to have a strong connection with the people you are working with. It is a team effort. Voicing your opinions and concerns truly do matter at USA TODAY and it’s taken into great consideration.

All in all, I am truly content interning at USA TODAY. The Design team has become my family and the USA TODAY McLean headquarters has become my home away from home. My colleagues nicknamed me the jack of design interns because I can take on and complete any creative project without hesitation. Knowing that they have faith and placed so much of their trust in me, not only makes me overjoyed, but also pushes me to work even harder to create better content for USA TODAY followers and readers. I can’t wait to see what amazing new projects are headed my way in the future.

The Dean’s Internship program pairs SOC’s top students with selected partner organizations for semester-long, for-credit internships. The competitive program provides extraordinary opportunities for undergraduates and graduates to have their work featured with named credits and bylines under national brands.