What's Up! Name's John. Let Me Tell You What I Do.

Hi, everyone! Before we jump into things, I’d just like to take the time to introduce myself. My name is John Mattison, and I am the marketing intern for Blugold Dining.

Marketing Intern for Blugold Dining? What does that even mean? What do you do? Do you cook the food? Are you a cashier? Oh, I bet you clean the tables and take out the trash at the end of the day, don’t ya?

Not quite.

Now that we’re all back to school, let’s take a quiz. If you get the answer correct, you win yourself a pat on the back. The best kind of prize there is.

What does John do as a marketing intern for Blugold Dining?

A) Create & post content on social media

B) Host & work at events around campus

C) Work alongside the Campus Harvest group

D) Brainstorm promotional ideas with the Blugold Dining marketing team

E) All of the above

If you chose option E, you’re the best. Seriously, you are. You’re a Blugold.

Now that you know what I do as an intern, let me tell you more about myself.

I’m a fifth year senior at the university majoring in marketing and public relations.

I was born in Rochester, Minnesota and came to Eau Claire wanting to become a Physical Therapist. I started out majoring in Kinesiology. Soon after I completed my first anatomy class, I realized it wasn’t for me. I did my research, talked to multiple advisers and figured out I wanted to major in communications. So, at the beginning of sophomore year, I declared my major as Integrated Strategic Communication-Public Relations. That’s a mouthful.

By the end of sophomore year, a light bulb sparked in my brain as I found out I’m super interested in the business side of things. I have always been competitive and sports-minded as I played basketball all the way through my freshman year here at Eau Claire. That being said, I wanted to bring that competitive edge to the business world, specifically marketing.

If you see a trend within the way my college career is going, you’re right. A lot of change has occurred. I declared my second major as marketing at the end of sophomore year. I went from Physical Therapy to Public Relations to adding Marketing to my degree audit in the span of under three years.

Cool.

As I approached my junior year, I knew what industry I wanted to have a career in. For most of my friends, they had it set in stone what they wanted to do when they arrived on their first day of college. Things weren’t as easy deciding for me. Being someone who changes his mind so often, I was extremely satisfied finally knowing I was on the correct path.

Skip ahead to this year – my fifth and final year. Yes, I know, you’re probably thinking, “Oh, you’re a fifth-year senior? Just get out of here already.” Or maybe you’re thinking, “Wow, a fifth-year senior? I bet you’re like super smart and stuff!”

I’ll take the second one.

Anyways…

I’m going into my last full year at UW-Eau Claire. Let me tell you what I did this summer since I know you’re all dying to hear. As every college student knows, or at least should know, internships and work experience are important when applying for jobs. I’ve been blessed to have three internships in my time at college. This summer I had the life-changing opportunity to intern with USA TODAY in its Creative Strategy and Marketing department. I should also mention that it was located in New York City.

I’ll talk about internships and their value another time because there is so much to tell you about and what I learned. I just wanted to use this post to introduce myself, tell you some basics of what I do for Blugold Dining and hopefully bring you some value or escapism from studying.

I graduate this spring, so I will be passing off the intern torch before graduation. So, if you are interested in possibly taking my place next year, I would love to chat with you.

If you have any questions regarding Blugold Dining, meal plans, or just want to talk about life, shoot me an email at mattisjm@uwec.edu.

I’m looking forward to interacting with you this year! If you have any recommendations about anything - I mean anything - let me know! 

Make sure you follow UWEC Dining on Instagram for cool tips, prizes, giveaways, etc.

Cheers to an awesome year!