Second year Business and Marketing student, Rubi, could not have packed more into her summer with two internships leading to a place on our LaunchPad programme. She also went on a journey of a lifetime, flying 4,000 miles from home on a study trip to China.
“Born and raised in Preston, I’m 20-years-old and studying a BA Hons in Business and Marketing.
"I love business and I knew the course was for me. In the first year you cover all types of business functions and marketing seemed to be a great career fit for me. I got great support in my first year from my University tutors and proved that I was a reliable student who could balance university life with personal life and achieve great results.
"During the summer of my first year, I couldn’t stand the thought of sitting at home watching Netflix. With the help of the Careers Service, I decided to enhance my CV and I applied for as many marketing roles I could find. I was successful in securing a 10-week, full-time paid summer internship with the University’s School of Nursing and Midwifery. They needed a marketing intern to head a marketing strategy for a new service they had launched called ChatHealth.
"I spent my summer working with senior nurses and researchers to produce a fully detailed marketing strategy, something I was about to study in my second year, to increase the awareness, engagement and use of ChatHealth."
"During the internship I was also asked to join another project called the Neo-Natal Early Supported Transfer project. Doctors at the Royal Preston Hospital asked me to design a logo for the project and it’ll be used in every hospital in the UK.
"This experience opened up another opportunity called LaunchPad. It’s a two-year leadership development programme open to students from different Schools across the University. After a competitive interview process, I got a place and was soon on a residential weekend in Wales abseiling down slate mines and zip-wires into ice-cold water from 100 ft in the air. I’ve now made life-long friends with similar goals and ambitions and spend two hours every fortnight benefitting from the programme.
"I’ve also been on a trip to China through the University’s ‘Journey to the East’. I spent two weeks in two cities in the south of China, Xiamen and Chongqing, 4,000 miles away from home. Our days were jam-packed with sight-seeing, trying local cuisines and seeing first-hand how local businesses and consumer behaviour operate. I’ll be forever grateful for this once in a lifetime opportunity.”