Intern Highlight: Danielle Brinkman

While most of the 68 students on Chicago Summer Mission came to the city eight weeks ago as tourists and outsiders, Crossroads designer Danielle Brinkman had already called Chicago her home.

A junior at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Danielle was entertained as her new peers were awestruck by the same trains and busses she rides every day.

She isn’t experiencing a new city this summer, but the graphic design major said it’s been inspiring to see others from the mission go to her campus and talk with her peers about faith.

While she’s assigned to the University of Chicago to meet up with students once a week this summer, other students from the mission are engaging in spiritual conversations at UIC and the Illinois Institute of Technology.

“Seeing what God has been able to do through people sharing actively once or twice a week on my campus this summer has really inspired me to continue that in the fall semester,” Danielle said. “Seeing God work at my school and wanting to become a part of that myself is really awesome.”

At Crossroads, Danielle is working on design projects like helping lay out the look for the Crossroads website and the new IndyCC phone application.

Like many others, she says she’s grown spiritually through Crossroads and Chicago Summer Mission, but Danielle said she’s also learned more about her field than she probably would have in a regular design internship.

“I’ve gained a lot of design knowledge,” Danielle said. “Before this process, I didn’t really do a lot of brainstorming. In class, professors are like ‘Do this project and lay it out this way.’ Being in this process here and seeing other designers’ creative process is something I definitely want to take back with me.”

Coming into the summer, Danielle knew she wanted some type of design internship, but wasn’t sure if she wanted to work in a Christian environment.

Eight weeks into the internship, Danielle displays a newfound passion to use her creativity to make our Creator known.

“I think (creativity) is something that’s really forgotten about in Christian society,” Danielle said. “So many Christian environments treat design as something that’s not important, but all of the work you do–whether it be design, worship, preaching or anything–should reflect Christ. It should reflect His beauty and His creativity and His graciousness.”

Unlike most regular internships, Danielle says our end goal inspires greater work.

“We want the work that comes out of this office to be good and we want it to glorify Christ,” Danielle said. “I feel like we’re trying even harder than those who aren’t (in a Christian workplace) because our purpose is so much greater.”