Schooled: What the Lucky 13 Do

In a nutshell, The Lucky 13 is an internship program launched by Campbell Mithun in 2006. This year is the first that CM collaborated with three other Interpublic Group agencies in the Twin Cities - including Jack Morton, Carmichael Lynch Spong, and Weber Shandwick.

During our first day of orientation, we were introduced to the full scope of the program. Here's a taste:

Brown Bag Lunches - Weekly meetings with some of the agencies top reps from each division

Speaker Series - Notable speakers explain what it means to work their field; followed by an hour of Q&A with Debbie, our beautiful/fabulous/extraordinary HR rep (is my nose sufficiently browner?)

Social Activities - Including a BBQ with our Keepers (think mentors - I know, Keepers sounds creepy, but they're actually quite nice).

Weekly Testimonials - Interns are emailed a question weekly and asked to record their testimonial in the "Confession Room" (think The Real World). At the end of the program we're told it will be compiled into something extraordinary (I'm also sure it gives the agencies opportunities to understand who we are as individuals).

Speed Interviews - It's like speed dating but with resumes

NSAC-Style Competition - Interns were split into two teams and will be presenting a fictional pitch to six judges comprised of agencies reps. The "client" - Grain Belt. (And I thought NSAC was over!)

It sounds like a lot - but to be honest with you, we're all having so much fun working at our respective agencies that it hardly seems like ...well, work.