Bluffton Resident Named Intern of the Month at Ashland University

2016 Feb 2

Bluffton resident Danielle Rhonemus, a recent graduate of Ashland University majoring in Art Education and minoring in Art History, was named Ashland University's December Intern of the Month after completing an internship with the Office of Residence Life this past summer.

Rhonemus graduated this past December and was nominated to be Intern of the Month by her supervisor, Sarah Toby, in the Office of Residence Life. Over the past summer, Rhonemus was positioned as a Summer Area Coordinator and intern. As the summer AC, she was given the responsibility to improvise processes in the office as well as developing a more organized system.

Rhonemus was brought in during a very chaotic time, and using the skills she developed through her Art Education major, she was able to successfully adapt the procedures in the office to effectively handle the chaos. One of her big responsibilities was to coordinate the early arrival for the incoming academic year, a total of 1,000 students. She worked with a staff of three, delegating and supervising the entire process.

As a summer AC, Rhonemus was also responsible for coordinating a duty schedule for summer RA's, assigning and charging students for summer housing, and planning programming for summer residents. Her supervisor stated, "For a student, this is a very challenging internship, but Danielle showed so much grace and truly excelled. Her development from the start to finish has really helped her to develop into a stronger professional and I think that has aided in her future career and life goals."

Rhonemus was given the ability to not only develop, but create. Her goals were to learn how to supervise, develop her own work ethic, develop professionally, and create her own processes and procedures for the office. Taking on the responsibilities of an intern and summer AC allowed Rhonemus to build on her skills in time management, organization, creativity, and supervision as well.

Rhonemus had great advice to share about what an individual can gain from any internship opportunity. She stated, "Don't be afraid to challenge yourself and do something a little out of your comfort zone. If you are more open to trying something new, it only increases your opportunity to learn and grow. This will only make you a better-rounded, stronger applicant when applying for jobs after college. I am going to school to be an art teacher, and the internship I had was for Residence Life. Even though the internship wasn't that close to what I actually want to do in the future, I learned many valuable things that I can apply to my future teaching."

When talking about the experience she gained, Rhonemus stated that, "I improved upon a lot of communication and organizational skills that I already had. I learned how to better communicate and interact with people from different cultures and backgrounds, and people with different personalities. I was even able to do some artsy stuff for the office by designing posters and information boards. Overall, I think it was a great experience to have and am very grateful for everything Res Life has done for me."

Rhonemus is the daughter of Michael and Tenna Rhonemus, and she is a 2011 graduate of Bluffton High School.

Ashland University, ranked in the top 200 colleges and universities in U.S. News and World Report's National Universities category for 2016, is a mid-sized, private university conveniently located a short distance from Akron, Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio. Ashland University (www.ashland.edu) values the individual student and offers a unique educational experience that combines the challenge of strong, applied academic programs with a faculty and staff who build nurturing relationships with their students. ###