Three students from the College of Communications were given the chance to experience the real world in a place that seems to contradict just that: Las Vegas.

After listening to Ben Brownback, chief of operations for DAV Productions, speak at the University, students were given the chance to apply for an externship program. Three students were chosen to participate in the DAV Productions’ Creative Externship program that ran for the first time this January.

“Well I’ve seen Ben come to campus and I know he’s a very active alum,” Chelsea Lowry, one of the participants and senior in Communications, said. “He came this year and I was very interested in what they did. I knew that I had to give this a shot.”

On Jan. 1, Lowry, Greg Morrison and Kate Kostal, all seniors in Communications, arrived in Las Vegas to begin what many may mistakenly call an internship. Instead, what DAV Productions offered these select students was an externship. This meant that these students spent Monday through Friday shadowing DAV’s creative director Mike Hopper.

“Internships benefit the company, but I decided I wanted students to get involved and see what it’s like to run a business for a week,” Brownback said.

The day after arrival, the students jumped right in. A typical day consisted of arriving at 9 a.m. and sitting in Hopper’s office. Morrison, Lowry and Kostal would listen to phone conversations with clients to gain insight on building relationships.

“We spent a lot of time in (Hopper’s) office listening to him take phone calls,” Kostal said. “He knew how to make good news sound like great news and bad news sound like good news.”

Along with phone calls, students were given other tasks to help out with such as preliminary research, designing a new logo for a client and figuring out what needs to be done to shoot a commercial for a service announcement.

“I really liked it and had fun,” Morrison said. “I learned a lot about going into advertising, account management and working with a client on a day-to-day basis. That’s something I never had at any of my other jobs.”

This program was started in 2006 and only offered to Business students. But after its first year, so many students wanted to participate that it was extended for College of Communications students. Three students from the College of Business also attended.

However, the future is still unclear.

“I am going to try to keep it going,” Brownback said. “It takes a lot of time and costs a lot of money for the company to do. No promises, but I would like to keep it going.”

Whether or not the program continues, it has impacted the lives of the few that participated, and according to Brownback, offers interns the possibility of a job within DAV Productions.

Morrison, Lowry and Kostal all look upon their experience in the same way Brownback does, something they need to share with others.

“What happens in Vegas, I’m telling everybody,” Morrison said.

Three students from the College of Communications were given the chance to experience the real world in a place that seems to contradict just that: Las Vegas.

After listening to Ben Brownback, chief of operations for DAV Productions, speak at the University, students were given the chance to apply for an externship program. Three students were chosen to participate in the DAV Productions’ Creative Externship program that ran for the first time this January.

“Well I’ve seen Ben come to campus and I know he’s a very active alum,” Chelsea Lowry, one of the participants and senior in Communications, said. “He came this year and I was very interested in what they did. I knew that I had to give this a shot.”

On Jan. 1, Lowry, Greg Morrison and Kate Kostal, all seniors in Communications, arrived in Las Vegas to begin what many may mistakenly call an internship. Instead, what DAV Productions offered these select students was an externship. This meant that these students spent Monday through Friday shadowing DAV’s creative director Mike Hopper.

“Internships benefit the company, but I decided I wanted students to get involved and see what it’s like to run a business for a week,” Brownback said.

The day after arrival, the students jumped right in. A typical day consisted of arriving at 9 a.m. and sitting in Hopper’s office. Morrison, Lowry and Kostal would listen to phone conversations with clients to gain insight on building relationships.

“We spent a lot of time in (Hopper’s) office listening to him take phone calls,” Kostal said. “He knew how to make good news sound like great news and bad news sound like good news.”

Along with phone calls, students were given other tasks to help out with such as preliminary research, designing a new logo for a client and figuring out what needs to be done to shoot a commercial for a service announcement.

“I really liked it and had fun,” Morrison said. “I learned a lot about going into advertising, account management and working with a client on a day-to-day basis. That’s something I never had at any of my other jobs.”

This program was started in 2006 and only offered to Business students. But after its first year, so many students wanted to participate that it was extended for College of Communications students. Three students from the College of Business also attended.

However, the future is still unclear.

“I am going to try to keep it going,” Brownback said. “It takes a lot of time and costs a lot of money for the company to do. No promises, but I would like to keep it going.”

Whether or not the program continues, it has impacted the lives of the few that participated, and according to Brownback, offers interns the possibility of a job within DAV Productions.

Morrison, Lowry and Kostal all look upon their experience in the same way Brownback does, something they need to share with others.

“What happens in Vegas, I’m telling everybody,” Morrison said.