As an upcoming junior at Northville High School, the idea of college admissions slowly becomes more important and frightening. Many high school students across the U.S. worry about what they need to achieve in order for a college to accept them. Some may apply for a part-time job or internship in their field of interest. These employment opportunities are an appealing opportunity to get on the job experience. Commercial Progression appealed to me as a website design company that could offer real marketing and business experience to ambitious, hard working people.

I first found out about Commercial Progression through our Northville DECA organization. DECA is a competitive business club for which I recently competed at the district, state, and international level in an event called Marketing Management. As one of the students who qualified for our International Career Development Conference (ICDC), our advisers wanted us to find sponsors for our organization right before the competition in Orlando, Florida.

Our Northville DECA ICDC Competitors

Similar to my fellow members, I created a list of potential businesses to contact. We met with the managers of many companies, some of them repeatedly turned us down and only a few agreed to sponsor our organization.

However, I was determined. On a Saturday I set out through downtown Northville to complete my sponsorship roster. I don’t have a great sense of direction, so I even got lost a couple times and took a detour through a small park.  My persistance was rewarded in the end.

The Northville Downtown Center Square via [http://www.buymichigannowfest.com/northville.php]

I had one business left on my list named Commercial Progression. The online description said it was a website design business that uses a program called Drupal to design websites and support existing ones. I entered a small building and walked up to the second floor, hoping that the business wasn’t closed. I saw a dark room with only one light on and I opened the door. Then I meekly called out, “Hello is there anyone here?” Panic raced through my mind as I thought I was witnessing an ongoing burglary, but a man walked out and introduced himself as Andy Blanchard the creative director. I talked to him and he took our sponsorship letter and contact info, promising to give it to their boss Alex Fisher and their marketing director Shane Sevo.

A few days later, I received an email from him! After having a meeting with them, they were impressed with my presentation, our organization and they offered to sponsor us! Not only that, but Alex and Shane also offered me an internship at Commercial Progression. I was so thrilled and once school ended, my friend Sohil Adwani and I started our internships there.

The Commercial Progression office in what historically was a furniture company

I am grateful for that lucky encounter that allowed me to work as a part-time marketing intern at Commercial Progression. I came in not knowing how Twitter works, to understanding how Twitter handles are incredibly valuable for digital marketing and how a business can use social media to its advantage. I have personally seen how these employees work together and solve problems in order to create great Drupal websites for clients. The colorful work atmosphere showed me that work can be a pleasant experience.

After working with Shane and Andy, I have learned how real marketing specialists analyze advertisements in order to best promote their service. I have also been a major participant in collecting business contact information to help them run marketing campaigns. I could apply the basics I knew about marketing, advertising, market research, and market segmentation in order to do the various tasks I have been assigned over this summer.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. With my busy school schedule, standardized tests, and extracurricular activities that start this fall, I won't have enough free time to continue my internship. I’m grateful for the experience and knowledge I have obtained through my internship with Commercial Progression.

I wish all the future employees and interns at Commercial Progression good luck! Whether their skills are in marketing or website development, I know they will also have a great experience working with the Drupal web design experts.

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It was a pleasure having Michael Zhang on board this summer as our marketing intern.  Check out our summer Hooked on Drupal podcast for a candid interview with Michael and the Commercial Progression team.