Inside Summer Internships: The Power of People

When you participate in an internship, you can gain crucial work experience and learn essential skills to succeed in your chosen field. But that isn’t all they have to offer. Internships can also help you discover what areas of your field you prefer, what skills you may need to improve on, and even things you may not have considered. Simpson Junior Blake Croushore ’26 not only learned a wide variety of skills during his summer internship but also about the importance of the people you work with.

This summer, Blake worked as a Clubhouse Intern at Sugar Creek Golf Course in Waukee, Iowa. In his role, he handled a number of tasks, including organizing golf league nights, keeping inventory, counting daily deposits, and any other tasks or issues that popped up. The variety in his role made him feel prepared for anything. “I truly believe this internship has helped me prepare for the future. It has thrown anything you can think of at me, and being able to overcome that with a team will help me in my future jobs.”

Blake claims he didn’t go into his internship empty-handed (or minded, rather). He says his classes at Simpson played a role in helping him succeed. “My sport admin classes helped me prepare what may come up during events and maintain facility management.” In fact, Blake’s favorite experience during his internship was preparing for the city championship, an 18-hole golf event featuring both a men’s and women’s open. “It was a lot of work both beforehand and during the championship, but it was a rush setting it up and making sure it ran smooth,” said Blake.

In addition to all the practical knowledge and experience Blake earned during his internship, he also learned the importance of work culture. “I believe an underrated part of any job or internship is if the people you work with are fun or not,” said Blake. “Sugar Creek has great people in and out. It makes it fun to be there.”

Blake hopes to continue building on all he has learned and continue his path toward graduation and a full-time career.