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Internship Spotlight: Colton Booth

Colton Booth

Hometown: Owen
Internship: TurnKey Corrections | Three Square Market
Major: Business Administration, management emphasis

“It’s never too soon to get your foot in the door.” 

Colton Booth is passionate about networking. His internship experience is a textbook example of the impact relationships can make. 

“I grew up in a small town. My graduating class was all of 32 students,” recounts Colton. “I took advantage of everything Owen-Withee had to offer – sports, band, choir, theatre. My high school friends and I we were a tight knit group. In a small town, community becomes family.” 

For as much as he loved his hometown, Colton knew there was a “great big world” out there and took interest in UW-River Falls when it came to advancing his education. 

“The small class sizes and opportunity to work closely with faculty felt right,” he said. “I’m good with numbers and people so I decided to look at business as a major. When it came time to consider an internship, the UWRF Career Services team encouraged me to tap into business owners I knew near my hometown.” 

It didn’t take long before Colton was offered a project management internship in Thorp where he worked for three months.

“I found that people were very supportive, they are willing to help you get something on your resume,” he said. “After my internship I worked closely with Career Services to really spiff-up my resume. They were amazing, helping me to bring out the best of my skills and experiences. When I started talking with the companies who came to the Career Fairs, my resume showed that I was serious about the opportunities I was applying for.” 

Colton said he never missed a Career Fair or a speaker or any other event sponsored by Career Services, not even the one held during last year’s blizzard of blizzards.

“I definitely ruined a pair of pants getting to that one, but that’s ok, that’s where I met my TurnKey contacts so it was worth it!” he said.

TurnKey Corrections and Three Square Market provide vending services worldwide. Colton describes his internship with the organization as one of the most unique, intriguing and engaging he could have asked for. 

“With many internships you are given a single task or project to do for three months and then you are done. Turnkey wants you to grow with them, to be a part of the organization long-term, so they provide opportunities  in every aspect of the company,” Colton said. “In my first week, I was working with the assembly area, then finance, marketing, human resources and the warehouse.” 

Colton was impressed by the way TurnKey gives its interns a taste of every aspect of the company to ensure they have an understanding of what the organization is about and where it’s going. To his delight, Colton and a fellow intern will be “going” along with the company next year. They’ve been selected to work as account executives for TurnKey at its Birmingham, UK, location beginning in March 2020. 

“This is an amazing opportunity and I am looking forward to growing with the company. I’m actually doing a bit of market research during the final months of my Wisconsin in Scotland Program that I believe will support our efforts,” Colton said. 

True to TurnKey’s philosophy of providing hands-on experiences, Colton will have a wide scope of responsibilities, including marketing, operations and sales. His advice to anyone in the business program: get your foot in the door as soon as possible. Start making connections, developing relationships and don’t worry, it will all work out in the end!

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