Getting a head start on a future career is one of the reasons EKU senior Alex Stewart, an international business major from Pittsburgh, Pa., applied for a nationally-competitive internship with Alpha Lambda Delta (ALD), the honor society for first-year students.
“My main goal is to get experience,” Stewart said of her marketing and communications role. “I want to get as much out of this internship in hopes of being able to use it later in my career.”
Stewart is one of two EKU students selected to participate in ALD’s internship program. Biomedical Sciences major Bradley Lackey, a sophomore from Elizabethtown, is serving this semester as the organization’s diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) intern.
This new internship program is designed to provide students with opportunities to contribute on a national level to two main areas: marketing and communications and diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging, according to a press release sent by the organization.
The opportunity to work with a national organization to advance an issue he is passionate about was an exciting prospect for Lackey.
“I knew I could not pass up the opportunity,” he said, noting that the DEIB role best complements his current position as vice president of diversity for the EKU chapter as well as his service on the Association of College Honor Societies’ diversity, equity and inclusion committee. Lackey’s passion for educating others in diversity issues led the chapter to create the leadership role, becoming one of the first chapters in the country to do so.
“My goal is to honestly just make the world a better place through helping people to become educated on topics that they might not be very familiar with because knowledge is power,” he said.
Not only is Lackey working to establish and implement a vibrant and cohesive diversity campaign for ALD, but learning a lot about himself in the meantime.
“Throughout the process of educating others, I have also educated myself,” he said. “Professors always tell students that the best way to learn is through teaching. This has shown to be true through my experience in this position.”
Ultimately, Lackey wants to become a certified physician assistant because he wants to have a positive impact on people and believes the medical field is his best opportunity to do that.
Stewart said her marketing and communications intern experience is not limited to social media tactics and analytics. She’s gaining experience working remotely with a team and how to communicate effectively with the various stakeholders of the ALD organization.
“This internship is giving me a chance to spread my wings and use all my knowledge,” she said. “I also get the pleasure of being a part of an amazing group. We all try to be involved in what the others are doing.”
Lackey and Stewart both credit Dr. Travis Martin, ALD chapter adviser and administrator of the first-year courses and learning communities, for his encouragement and support of their academic journeys. Martin said the honor society relishes the opportunity to help students advance their knowledge.
“Alpha Lambda Delta considers itself an honor society that takes students from ‘First Year to Career,’ meaning that we embrace high-achieving students early in their academic careers and then help them develop the networks and soft skills employers want through service learning and leadership opportunities,” he said.