The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, in Pikes Peak, Colorado, is also known as the Race to the Clouds. It's contested on a 12-mile stretch of Pikes Peak Highway and tests drivers over 156 turns as they climb 4,720 feet. It would take the average person in an average car about three hours to navigate that stretch of road. At the annual competition, professional racers reach the finish line in under 10 minutes.
Jessica Dery '22 is not a professional racer. In fact, she's never been to Pikes Peak. But through her summer internship, Dery had her fingerprints on the century-old road race.
Dery scored an internship with Rise Events Production, an event planning company in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Rise Event specializes in producing luxury weddings (Dery is helping to coordinate upcoming nuptials in Staten Island and Jamaica). The company is also hired for staging, brand management, and event production... including epic road races.
Dery primarily handles event production tasks and logistics. Plus, for Pikes Peak, she played a creative role in the merchandise. In fact, she helped design the shirts that were used for the event. Dery's internship runs through the summer, but there may be an opportunity to continue into the fall.
"When I started at Siena, I didn't have a finite idea as far as my career goals. But now I know I want to work more in the digital space and overall branding in general. Through this internship, I've gotten hands-on experience with social media production, blog writing, creating reels, and more. I've learned to use so many tools, and I've been given the opportunity, on professional projects, to bring images and ideas to life."
Jessica Dery '22
