During the summer of 2019, I had the incredible opportunity to serve as a marketing and communications intern at Delta Dental of Iowa. I partnered with  another marketing and communications intern to plan, coordinate, and execute the annual Delta Dental Day on one of the busiest days at the Iowa State Fair. In addition to working with vendors on giveaways, we organized volunteers by training and providing incentives for employees to represent Delta Dental.

The day was hot, but incredibly rewarding. This first Saturday of the fair brought in 122,111 people, bringing thousands of people by our tent where we handed out 18,000 toothbrushes alongside other giveaways! The only hiccup required me to think on my feet and run through the Varied Industries Building to grab as many free pens as I could.

(note to self: ALWAYS bring extra pens, like A LOT of extra pens!)

I coordinated several other events with McKenna Haase, a racecar driver at Knoxville, and an American Ninja Warrior!

I also had the opportunity to do what I love: write! The partnership between Delta Dental and Healthiest State Initiative gave me the opportunity to blog about a variety of health ideas and issues.

Finally, I had the opportunity to organize and design content for Delta Dental’s second year of their Rethink Your Drink Educational Kit. This box of educational pieces is distributed across the state to nurses and educators to share with children from kindergarten through high school to spread awareness and encourage choosing water over sugary alternatives. There were nearly 150 schools from all over Iowa selected to receive these kits in 2019 alone!

I also worked on several internal communications including the Summer Security Series for the technology department and the monthly employee newsletter. I also had the opportunity to practice more design for social media posts like the one I created for National Sunglasses Day.

I cannot even begin to fathom how much I have learned and grown in these short three months with Delta Dental of Iowa. What an incredible opportunity that I will relish in for quite some time. I left this experience more than just ‘a dumb intern’ but a young professional excited about similar opportunities to learn and grow my skills.