An Internship Story

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life….Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. – Steve Jobs

As a student at Lynwood High School, Lindsay Siegelman took advantage of the opportunity to spend half her school day taking information technology courses at Sno-Isle Tech, and discovered she had a real passion for web development and design. This, she thought, had the makings for an ideal career. But she allowed others’ to drown out her inner voice. “Because I was good at biology, I was encouraged to take a more traditional path and major in biology at a four-year university.” Lindsay spent two years at a state university, then stopped. “I wasn’t doing something that I loved.”

Lindsay decided to focus on other aspects of her life for a while, became a mother, and worked in retail to earn money. As far as her job was concerned, she still wasn’t following her heart. Last winter, she enrolled at Cascadia. “I went back to do what I knew wanted to do 10 years ago.”

In addition to her regular coursework toward a two-year degree in web applications, this quarter, Lindsay earned credits through a work-based learning internship. She took Cascadia’s annual report, created by the college’s graphic designer, Susan Ford, and adapted it for a parallax scrolling website.

“The internship has been great. I learned the skills in class but got to use them in a real world scenario. It helped me develop a lot of confidence and to realize I have a real skill set.”

Lindsay admits she’d be a few years ahead if she’d stuck with her passion for web development, but has no regrets about how it’s turned out. “I know that I am where I need to be now,” she says. “I love the instructors at Cascadia. Their enthusiasm for technology flows over into their classes.”

Lindsay’s advice: Talk to people. Explore your passions. Give it a shot. “You have nothing to lose by at least taking a couple of classes.”

To see Lindsay’s work, check out Cascadia’s Report to the Community.