Jesse van Langelaar reflects on his internship in 2019.
My name is Jesse van Langelaar, and I am in the final year of the Marketing, Communications and Event Organisation programme at the Johan Cruyff College in Amsterdam.
I enjoy sport, I am curious, sometimes a little stubborn, and I care about fairness. Communications is something I am keen to learn more about. During my final year, I had the opportunity to spend six months as an intern at Progress Communications, an agency where I learned a great deal.
Finding my feet
At first, there was a lot to get used to. I joined a new team and received tasks I had not done before. Moving from four relatively short school days to a full-time internship was also a big adjustment.
The longer I worked at Progress, the more I enjoyed it. I got to know my colleagues and the company, and the assignments became increasingly interesting. I prepared a summary for Boeing, helped with the Xiaomi Benelux launch event and contributed to descriptions for award entries.
One assignment stood out: I was asked to organise an internal event.
Bringing colleagues together
The LVT Group, of which Progress was part, organised a quarterly gathering called Q-Drinks. The idea was to help colleagues get to know one another, share knowledge and understand who they could work with across the group.
Each gathering used an activity or theme to bring that idea to life. This time, it was my turn to develop and organise it.
The leaning tower of pizza
After plenty of preparation, the event took place on 9 April. More than 55 colleagues had signed up, which made it exciting—and a little nerve-racking.
I created a variation on Jenga. We had fifteen towers, each with 54 numbered wooden blocks. Every number corresponded to a question or a task. The questions ranged from light-hearted personal memories to things people encountered at work.
We played in groups of four and changed groups every five minutes. It was a good way to start conversations with colleagues you did not know well, rarely spoke to or had never met before.
After about half an hour, the pizzas arrived—hence the “tower of pizza” theme. We ate, enjoyed a drink and continued talking. The evening gave us a chance to laugh, learn more about one another and have fun together.
On to the next chapter
When I was young, my mother used to finish stories with a familiar Dutch rhyme about an elephant blowing the story to an end. Finishing this internship feels a little like that: suddenly the chapter is over.
The final weeks passed very quickly. I will miss the friendly colleagues, the conversations and the tea. During the internship, I learned new skills, met new people and gained experience of working life.
I want to thank everyone at Progress and across the LVT Group for the collaboration. A special thank you goes to Stella Jansen and Mireen van Limpt, who gave me excellent guidance throughout the placement. I am very grateful for their support.
Thank you all!
Jesse van Langelaar
Interested in learning more about the agency? Meet our team or contact Progress Communications about possible opportunities.
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