Interim is an incredible experience where students get one week off from school to conduct an independent study. They can learn anything they would like to learn that cannot be learned in the traditional classroom setting. It encourages students to become independent and responsible, since they are in charge of finding their mentor and usually doing everything on their own.

Previous Years

I have had an incredible experience with interim in the past years. Interim and walkabout (a semester long version of interim) were the main attractions that lured me into Linworth in the first place. Freshman year I went to King Business Interiors (KBI) and EventCo Productions for my interim. I spent the week learning about two of the things I'm passionate about: Business and music.

Every year I've been able to take what I have learned from interim, and immediately apply it to a project that I start after interim. Freshman year I shadowed KBI, where they focused on selling office furniture to small to medium sized businesses. One week after interim, I implemented a few changes within my own business. I started targeting SMB (Small and Medium-sized businesses) with my marketing efforts. I made the largest single sale in my life that week: almost $25,000 in digital cameras and memory cards to a medium-sized corporation. This was a direct result of the knowledge I gained during my interim.

During my interim sophomore year I spent one week at EventCo Productions. I learned about artist bookings and event management and production. Soon after, I founded Masala Entertainment, an artist management and entertainment company. Although the company launched last spring, I am still in the process of developing a business plan and marketing strategy that will be launched within the first two weeks of summer vacation, enabling Masala Entertainment to book events nationally. The business currently has regional reach, which will soon become national. Again, much of what I needed to know specifically about the entertainment industry came from what I learned at EventCo.

This Year

I am going to be at a dot com startup venture named Knetwit, which is located in Chattanooga, TN. Knetwit.com is a social networking and knowledge collaboration website that enables students and professors to share ideas, issues and content centered around their educational journey. Anyone with a .edu email address can sign up and use knetwit.com for free. Also, anytime someone downloads the information you post, you get paid! Within the last 9 months, Knetwit has gone from a valuation of nothing to $88 million. I hope to learn more about how startups work, how they get funding, and how they can move at such a fast pace to develop the company. I am also interested in learning more about management and communication techniques.

This year I'm currently working on a project to rebuild Worthington Kilbourne's website. It looks very outdated and is not very functional. The new website needs to be a complete solution that is fully integrated with existing social networks and other websites in order to place powerful tools, for both students and staff, right at their fingertips. Currently the three person team has been working on ideas for the website, but nobody on the team knows what they should be doing, and the whole process is very unorganized. There is no official leadership, nor is there a road map to guide the other two students working on this project. I plan on taking what I've learned from Knetwit to figure out what kinds of features we can implement into this new site, as well as where to look to research the trends of new web 2.0 websites. Also, I would like to take leadership and create a road map for this project. I would like to look at the website from a businessman's perspective. It should be a solution or product that I am trying to sell to someone. There needs to be a reason people want to use it. It needs to be convenient, fully integrated, and fun to use. It's just like any product: if nobody uses it, you're wasting your time producing it.

Again, interim is one of the best experiences I've had at Linworth thus far, and I believe every student should make the most of it. It isn't just a week off from school. It is an excuse to give to people that would normally not allow you to come and work with them for a week. It is also a time where you learn more than just information. You learn how to live life, communicate with people and solve spontaneous problems that seem to sprout out of nowhere. You are exposed to the real world, and if you try a little, you will quickly learn that people will go out of their way to help you. All you have to do is ask, and show them they have some sort of value in helping you.

I believe every student should be required to do their own interim, not work with other students or classmates. Every student has his own passion, and no two students are the same. Also, a large amount of what students learn during this process occurs outside of the actual week off designated for interim. Calling to find a place, presenting yourself as a passionate student, and convincing your mentor to teach you and allow you to shadow them is a big part of the experience, and I believe every student should go through it on their own. All people have times in their lives where they will need to ask for help or favors. It is important for people to learn how to effectively communicate and build relationships that reciprocate favors to build trust and provide mutual benefit. Interim is a great start to this learning process.

Posted in Posted by Umang Patel at 8:57 AM