“When I first started the class, I didn’t think I’d be as involved as I am,” Luytjes said. “I honestly thought ‘oh, OK, I don’t have to put that much effort into it,’ but I spend most of my time in class. I love it a lot. I was just working on my résumé the other day and I put a lot of information from this class on it.”

Marketing senior Jake Lestan said he knew he wanted to be part of the hands-on course section after he received an e-mail last year from associate professor of marketing Forrest Carter, who is teaching Lestan’s course section. Lestan said he has interned with an insurance agency in Chicago, but the class allows him to use concepts he learns in class and apply them to an actual professional project.

“I kind of knew what I was getting myself into, but it’s so fantastic to actually learn about a concept and do it instead of learning about what other people have done,” Lestan said. “It was great to be able to draw on internship experience and bring it into the classroom.”

The class is designed to give marketing seniors an opportunity to gain experience creating professional marketing campaigns, Carter said. He said this is the second year the Department of Marketing and Supply Chain Management offered this course section.

“Given the size of our program (and) state of the economy, a lot of our students may not have the kind of internship opportunities that will enhance their résumés and professional development as much as they would like,” Carter said. “We have a series of courses available to seniors to give them as close to an internship experience as we can within a classroom environment.”

Carter said students work with different clients each semester and it is dependent on who he is able to contact about the class project.