Seven emerging media arts students had fully paid internships at Infosys in Bangalore, India, this summer.
Johnny Carson Endowed Director in Emerging Media Arts Megan Elliott secured the internships last year during a recruiting and networking trip to India by college administrators for the college’s new Global Arts Academy.
Infosys is the only Indian company in the top 100 companies globally and has an internationally awarded global entrepreneurship program.
“Infosys covered all costs, and students received a stipend on top,” Elliott said. “The chance for them to make documentaries and short-form videos for this globally recognized company, along with the opportunity for global networking, made this a once-in-a-lifetime experience for these students. I couldn’t be prouder of their experience this summer.”
The seven students included Micah Fullinfaw, Hannah Gish, Megan Kolbe, Ellie Kripal, Charles Major, Noah Monzu and Zoey Punteney.
Kolbe, a senior emerging media arts major from Lincoln, said the experience was both exciting and enjoyable.
“I learned a lot about India and the culture there, as well as a potential career option for my future,” she said.
For Major, a senior emerging media arts major from Hillsboro, Kansas, it was an incredible opportunity.
“The experience was quite a journey that gave me great things to add to my portfolio and resume and a chance to meet lots of new people and experience a culture I never thought I would,” he said.
Both Kolbe and Major worked with WongDoody, a group within Infosys.
“WongDoody is considered the ‘creative powerhouse’ of Infosys and works on a variety of different creative projects from three different categories: Immersive Experiences, Experience Design and Future-Proof Marketing,” Kolbe said. “My project during my eight-week internship was to design, code and create a short videogame experience about the different categories of WongDoody’s projects that they could share with clients and potential employees. I learned a lot about the coding side of video game creation and how to make a game all my own, which was tough, but very rewarding.”
Major worked within the experience design team as a motion graphics and video editing intern.
“I worked with them to film, edit and animate new promotional videos and hiring advertisements,” he said.
The highlight for him was everything he was able to experience.
“Whether that was learning about Indian work culture or doing a traditional Bollywood dance, the internship provided me with so many different things that I wouldn’t get to do anywhere else,” he said.’’
For Kolbe, the highlight was meeting people from around the world and learning about new cultures.
“I also loved the opportunity to travel around on the weekends and getting to see things like the Taj Mahal, go on a safari, and so much more,” she said. “Travel is much cheaper in India than in the U.S., so we took every opportunity to see as much as possible before leaving India. As long as we had our passports, we could go anywhere at any time.”
She also enjoyed the banquet they were invited to participate in as part of the internship program.
“I went with a few friends to buy sarees and kurtas, and the girls got together to learn how to wrap the sarees,” Kolbe said. “The banquet was filled with traditional foods, desserts and teas, and we even got to watch a group of dancers perform a traditional dance. We were also given the opportunity to receive our own bangles and have henna drawn on our hands and arms. It was amazing to experience all these different pieces of Indian culture all in one place.”
Kolbe hopes to bring back what she learned from working with such a large company.
“From the people I worked with specifically, I learned not to take my work too seriously and to have fun with it. You can still get projects done while making them fun and exciting to work on,” she said. “From the company, I learned how to work in a large group setting and how to ask for help, offer advice and give and take critique. WongDoody prides themselves on not limiting who can share ideas, because anyone can have a great idea or a great addition to a project, whether they’re an intern or the CEO. I especially want to keep this in mind while leading my capstone project this year.”
Major said he also got a feel for what life after college might be like.
“Things won’t always be given to me and there will be many different meetings and workshops that I will have to attend, so getting to understand that part of the job was really good,” Major said. “The internship also gave me a great project to add to my portfolio, which can really help when applying for jobs.”
He credits the emerging media arts program for giving him the skills he needed for the internship.
“Emerging media arts gave me a lot of the skills I needed to be able to create the videos I was brought in to make,” he said.
Kolbe said her emerging media arts classes helped her prepare for this internship without her even knowing.
“I used so much of what I learned in the Carson Center, from 3D modeling to coding to designing textures in Photoshop,” she said. “It also helped to have Megan Elliott there to guide us with the application process, travel assistance, resume updates, appropriate clothing for India (especially as a young woman), and anything else we needed. She is always a great person to talk to when it comes to amazing opportunities like this one, and we couldn’t have done any of this without her.”
Major is unclear of his exact future path but said experiences like this will help him in the long run.
“It’s still unclear exactly what I want to do right after graduation, but eventually I hope to be animating movies, editing movies or producing my own TV show,” he said.
Kolbe hopes to become a visual effects artist.
“The dream is to work with a company like Lola VFX or ILM and work on movies like ‘Barbie,’ Marvel and more,” she said.
They both made lasting memories of their time in India.
“There’s honestly so many great memories to choose from, but I think my favorite memory is when we went to an amusement and water park called Wonderla,” Kolbe said. “We spent all morning trying out different rides, rollercoasters and more, and when the sun came out, we spent the afternoon on the waterslides and wave pools. It was just a really good day with really good people.”
“I think my lasting memory of India will be how I was selected for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to travel overseas for an internship and got to meet lots of new people while building up my portfolio and resume,” Major said.
Gish, a junior emerging media arts major, was also interviewed about her India experience by University Communications and Marketing for their Medium page. Read her interview here: https://go.unl.edu/medium-gish.