 The Whole Package
Erin Loveridge landed a post whose challenging responsibilities
prepare her for life after graduation.
Erin Loveridge ’07
College of Communication
and Fine Arts Internship: San Pedro Peninsula
Chamber of Commerce
When Erin Loveridge found an internship with the San Pedro Peninsula Chamber of Commerce this spring, she used a basic networking technique: ask everyone you know. Loveridge, who grew up in San Pedro, asked family members, friends and others, and her initiative paid off. Loveridge works on projects at the chamber office, combining her knowledge of communications with her talents in art and painting that she has been developing since fourth grade. Her first assignment was to revise the organization’s membership application. She did it so well that she was asked to help design a new one. The next project was part of a city initiative to preserve San Pedro’s cultural heritage and institutions. Loveridge was asked to help write, design and lay out an annual calendar of events. She met with artists, political leaders and community leaders and visited galleries, restaurants and arts venues across the city. “I was expecting in my first internship to be stuffing envelopes or answering endless phone calls,” Loveridge says. “But they gave me an assignment, and they let me use my talents in arts, business and communication.” Loveridge believes that encountering the diversity of students at LMU has helped her work with different parts of the San Pedro community. And the responsibilities that she has taken on at the chamber have prepared her for life after graduation. “I knew I could excel in school if I tried, get A’s, utilize all my talents and be successful in the school environment,” she says. “But I was really surprised that in the working world, where I was working with adults, I could also be successful and utilize all those skills. That really surprised me. I thought, ‘Hey, they’re giving me responsibilities and allowing me to work on an adult level, and who knew I could do that?’ I wouldn’t have had that confidence if I had graduated without an internship. I would be educationally confident, but real-world confident is a different thing.” Loveridge’s supervisor also has noticed how well Loveridge has performed. “We are so pleased with Erin here as an intern,” says Camilla Townsend, CEO of the San Pedro office. “She brings an energy, a vitality, a creative spirit and a new look at things that has really enhanced our business operations. … I am hoping we can hire her when she graduates, if she is interested in a job.”—J.W-L.
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