Southwestern Magazine | Fall 2019

40 SOUTHWESTERN IT’S THE FALL OF 2014, and Spike the Bulldog is the mascot for the Round Rock Express, the Austin area’s minor-league baseball team. Spike routinely appears at games and community events in his striped overalls and hat, like an old-timey train conductor. He has hanging jowls, cartooney eyes, and a mouth that gapes open in a pleasantly lopsided smile. And behind that toothy grin is a Southwestern student. Yes, that was Lauren Boone ’14 on the less glamorous interior of the Spike costume during her final semester at Southwestern, and you’re probablywondering howshe ended up in that situation.Well, a lot of the credit goes to Southwestern University’s Center for Career & Profes- sional Development (CCPD). The CCPD plays an important part in Southwest- ern’s focus on high-impact experiences—meaning those in which students develop professional skills that will prepare them for their postgraduate lives—such as study-abroad programs, faculty-mentored research, and internships. The CCPD has a reputation for leveraging its resources to connect studentswith themost compet- itive internships. The o«ce, directed by Daniel Orozco, consistently ranks high in the Princeton Review’s Best Colleges for Career Services list. It currently holds first place in Texas and is ranked sixth nationwide. An express trip to success Before working for the Round Rock Express, Boone entered Southwestern as a golfer and chemistry major. The golfing stuck; the chemistry didn’t. She switched over to business her sophomore year. As soon as she changedmajors, she knew she wanted to work in sports marketing. Boone set her sights on a corporate-development internship with the Houston Texans. She hustled to get it, doing an eye-opening practice interview and résumé session with the CCPD, then called the O«ce of Career Services. She pestered a family connection with the Texans to give her an introduction. At one point, she drove betweenHouston andAustin three times in oneweek just to meet face to face for lunch with them. She got the gig. During the internship, she worked at the training camp. She woke up every day at 3:00 a.m. to set up, assisted during the camp, and then left at 7:00 p.m. She loved it. Southwestern students convert internships into postgraduate jobs. B Y C L A R A M C M I C H A E L ’ 1 7 INTERNS IN TURN