An Internship at Oak Knoll: Derek Frisicchio’s Experience

Hello fellow Oak Knollers! My name is Derek Frisicchio and I am an English major concentrating in Professional Writing at the University of Delaware. I am aiming to gain a career in law, I was a summer camp counselor, and I know too much about ice hockey. So, after that introduction, let me tell you about my experience so far with Oak Knoll.

Upon hearing about the intern position at Oak Knoll, I knew that was the position to pursue in order to gain the experience I needed. I also wanted to be completely surrounded by books, and I got my wish once I was accepted.

When I first stepped in front of the Oak Knoll building on my first day, I was delighted to see how unique the building was, being 200 years old. I envisioned myself working at a unique company with a unique office. I wish I could use the word “unique” more to describe Oak Knoll, but then this post would just become white noise. In short, my experience at Oak Knoll, so far, is exactly what I wanted it to be: challenging, enriching, and enlightening.

At first, I did not know much about the bookselling market or industry or the booksellers. I really did not give the position a second thought. I considered booksellers as boring people selling books no one wanted anymore. However, after seeing what Oak Knoll had to offer and what it sold to its customers, I could see clearly that this business had a lot of potential.

The books here are more than compelling. Each time I am given the task to compartmentalize and organize the book shelves, I come across books that I want to take home with me. What is even more remarkable about the books they sell is how detailed and luminous the designs in the books are. Some of these prints look like they were made through some Adobe software, when in fact, they were hand-crafted by bright designers, some from centuries ago! It gives me joy to always discover new books on the most targeted and engaging of subjects. This I did not expect when I first walked into the office.

At first, I imagined myself sitting at a desk just numbingly creating documents every day. They would tell me what they wanted and I would give it to them. Fortunately, the employees at Oak Knoll wanted me to do more than mindlessly type away on my keyboard; they wanted me to learn.

As each day passed by, I learned new insights into not only bookselling, but management, advertising, and tailoring documents to specific audiences. Overall, interning is making me into a more knowledgeable individual in terms of the business environment; this was something I did not expect.

I have heard some really scary intern stories. Some of the people I’ve talked to who have interned elsewhere were merely running errands, getting coffee, even cleaning sinks! Although, I did change a few light bulbs here and there, the internship at Oak Knoll is much more than what they posted in the job description. The people here care about you, they want you to learn, and, most importantly, they want you to succeed!