Karley Campbell took a chance on a unique opportunity and landed an experience most students dream about.
Campbell, a junior from Sheboygan studying Business Administration and Spanish, was recently selected to be a part of Innovation Destination 2018, a 40 hour, four-state excursion that took her and nine peers to Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio.
She heard about Innovation Destination through her involvement in the The Commons’ nine-week Skills Accelerated program this fall.
Innovation Destination is an all-expenses paid business project, sponsored by Kohl’s, which allows a select number of high-level students the chance to go to an undisclosed location and tour Kohl's locations across the country.
Campbell and her team went through five different Kohl's stores of all different sizes, layouts and brand focuses.
“Our challenge was to create a plan to drive sales for the millennial generation and just increase overall brand awareness of Kohl’s. Observing customer interaction in the different stores and seeing how the layouts affected those interactions was interesting,” Campbell said when describing their main focus over the trip.
The experience proved to be very beneficial as it provided networking opportunities and leads for post-graduation employment.
“Not only were there students, but we met 10 Kohl’s employees from the corporate office,” Campbell said. “They preached how good Kohl’s was at letting their employees explore their interests and what they were passionate about.
“Embarking on an opportunity like this forces you to be adaptable and it helps your people skills because you are thrown into this situation with other students from Wisconsin that you don’t know. You have to go out of your comfort zone.”
Karley’s experience should show all of us that taking a step out of our comfort zone can result in big opportunities.
So go on, Lakeland students … look to get off campus and apply for internships that might seem out of reach. Taking some risks and pushing yourself now will set you up for success after graduation!