Intern Spotlight: Meet Caitlin!

by Caitlin Wilson, Summer 2014 Intern
 
When I was little, I wanted to be a drifter when I grew up. Then a farmer. Then a geneticist. Let me know if you sense a trend here, because I certainly don’t—after all, now I’m interning with an educational publishing company on the opposite end of the country from where I was born (I guess I got the drifting part down, at least).

To be fair, I have loved words ever since I learned to read in first grade. My mom still likes to remind me that I actively avoided reading until I had no choice but to learn. Once I’d learned, she couldn’t get me to stop—I used to read by the streetlight outside my window after getting caught with a flashlight after bedtime. In elementary school, I brought books to recess; in middle school, I hid them under my desk to read once I’d finished my worksheets; and in high school, I almost got frostbite walking to school because I took my gloves off to turn the pages of Paradise Lost. I probably should’ve known I would end up working with words.

Despite my obvious love of reading, I entered the University of Nebraska at Lincoln (UNL) as a biology major intending to focus on genetic research. I thought I might get into crop research, helping to produce more drought- or pest- or flood-resistant plants. I’d spent a lot of time learning about the environment in the Midwest: It’s a delicate ecosystem composed of physically tough plants, and modern farming techniques are hard on the land. I wanted to help create food plants better suited to the environment so farmers would be able to make a living off the land without killing it. Perhaps fortunately, just like in that famous Burns poem, the plans I’d laid so carefully went sideways on me. Halfway through college, I changed my major to English, and I had to throw myself into studying to make up the time I’d spent on chemical compositions instead of poetic ones.

At Publishing Solutions Group I’ve had the opportunity to learn what being part of the publishing industry means; I didn’t really know what I was getting into when I applied to intern here, but I’m glad I decided to go for it. So far, I’ve written several blog posts and worked on a variety of projects, and each task has given me a little more insight into how this job works. I’ve discovered that publishing can be as difficult as farming and as specialized as genetic research, and it requires the same curiosity I once applied to learning the best impromptu camping methods I could find. I probably won’t need to know how to build a fire with a handful of twigs and a hole in the ground—unless we have a cookout go spectacularly wrong—but that type of ingenuity will serve me well here.

I look forward to immersing myself in publishing as I have done with previous career goals. At last, I think this might be the right one for me, and I look forward to the rest of my time at PSG among the talented, knowledgeable staff here.

Little-Known Facts About Caitlin
Caitlin has attained blue belt rank twice in taekwondo, once under each of the main federations in the United States—the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) and the International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF)—but hasn’t made black belt yet. She plans to take up the art again soon and to finally earn her black belt.

In high school, Caitlin belonged to a robotics team that designed, built and programmed robots during a six-week season culminating in a regional tournament. She has fond memories of singing Disney songs with her teammates in counterpoint to soldering, sawing, drilling and hammering (only occasionally getting her thumb)!