Career & Professional Development

Meet Brianna Gonnering, who is a senior and majoring in Communication Studies. She is an intern at SECURA Insurance with her main task being Performance Development. Her tasks involve helping associates achieve their career goals, build their network, and lead ideas with confidence. She stated, “the best part about this internship is that it is adjusted according to my personal interests and areas I am interested in growing in. My supervisor at SECURA has taken my interests and assigned me projects based on these different areas.” Her day-to-day responsibilities vary depending on what events are going on at that time. She also attends regular team meetings and helps out wherever she can. A role she really enjoyed was coordinating events and helping to run the internship program this past summer. With this internship experience, she has gained a lot more confidence in her own work along with feeling more comfortable reaching out and connecting with others. On of her favorite aspects of SECURA is the amount of benefits available such as work out classes, a cafe, game room, and a walking trail!  

“One of the best experiences she was given was when an HR Representative who oversees the entire internship program was going to be gone and she had asked me to take her place and do a presentation for the UWO staff were coming in.” As a result of this opportunity, she found out about the internship class at UWO for credit. During her internship course, L&S Internship Coordinator Kari Meszaros, from the Career and Professional Development office came to visit SECURA to talk with Brianna and her supervisor about the tasks she had been doing. Within this meeting, topics such as her goals, experiences, and accomplishments were reflected on. After having this meeting, she realized all of the progress she has made as well as the next steps she’d like to take, like job shadowing different departments so see if there are other opportunities to take! 

If you are a student in Communication Studies, Psychology or other majors and are interested in completing an internship for credit, you can schedule an appointment with L&S Internship Coordinator, Kari Meszaros by self-scheduling in Handshake or by calling Career & Professional Development. Students can enroll in Interdisciplinary Studies 399 for variable credit – 1 credit (47 hours), 2 credits (94 hours) or 3 credits (140 hours). You can learn more about internships at UW Oshkosh here. If you’d like help finding an internship, schedule an appointment with your industry advisor in Career & Professional Development.