Asheville's Josiah Goodrum is a college senior majoring in marketing at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He spent part of his summer as a copywriting intern with our creative team, soaking up their knowledge and doing a little creating of his own.

Two legal pads and 99 cups of coffee later, my Wray Ward internship is coming to a close.

School is on the horizon, and pretty soon I’ll be stocking up on my beloved Pilot G-2 07 pens and rolling into class. August breeds mixed emotions. I look forward to seeing friends, and this time around, I’m excited about inching closer to graduation.

But I’m sad because I’d rather be working with a great team and making money than paying money to work.

My experience at Wray Ward has given me hope. This summer, I discovered there are jobs that can satisfy my creative side – jobs that have nothing to do with Excel spreadsheets, numbers and marginal utility. Starting with my first day, I’ve worked my brain harder than ever before.

I’ve had a lot of fun doing it.

Before landing at Wray Ward for the summer, I didn’t know creative people can make a career out of doing what they love. I dreaded a future in the white-collared business world, where I imagined my artistic side getting drowned in a sea of mind-numbing calculations and formulas.

But advertising is an exciting, fast-paced world, and the projects I’ve supported this summer have only served to back up my Twitter hashtag, #myinternshipiscoolerthanyours. Some of my adventures here have included:

• Buying little green army men at Dollar Tree in a quest for inspiration for an upcoming ad I helped write
• Flying drones with the motion team
• Getting an inside look at a famous race team

Meanwhile, I’ve learned a lot about writing ad copy. But mostly I’ve learned that you have to keep an open mind in this industry, because advertising is not about you. My notepads are full of ideas that haven’t gone anywhere. Two months ago that would have gotten me down, but the creative directors and senior writers at Wray Ward have shown me piles of their own ideas that never made it to the big time. They taught me that sometimes, the ideas that never make it are the ones that breed brilliance. They encouraged me to hold onto my ideas, because they might turn into a great story one day.

My favorite part of interning at Wray Ward has been the opportunity to participate in ideation sessions. I hesitate to call these gatherings meetings, because that makes them sound formal. Basically, Wray Ward puts creative minds in a room. Ideas get tossed around until something brilliant emerges.

And that’s what makes advertising great – the combining of creative brains to produce innovative solutions to the number one question asked by our clients:

How can I attract more customers?

I’ve been so fortunate to have had this chance. It’s been quite possibly the best professional experience a college student could ask for. From working with senior writers and designers and motion and content directors, to getting free Knights tickets and passes to the Bechtler Museum, to writing my brains out, my summer internship will have a lasting impact on my career.

I don’t have a treasure map or crystal ball. I don’t know what my future holds. But thanks to my summer at Wray Ward, I can see all kinds of new possibilities and a world I’d like to be part of for good.

Copy that.