Summer job has Lakeland junior soaring
Maybe the last thing 51ÂŇÂ× junior Trayvonne Roberts expected to do this summer was sit behind the controls of a small airplane.
Just add it to the list of experiences this Muskie is enjoying as Lakeland helps him develop skills for his future.
Roberts is serving a marketing internship this summer with the Aviation Heritage Center of Wisconsin, a nonprofit aviation history museum based at the Sheboygan County Airport. The Aviation Heritage Center is open year-round and features historic aircraft, rare exhibits and special events.
The Lynwood, Ill., native is helping the center revitalize its social media presence, design a new website and promote its events. He’s using his growing skills as a photographer and videographer to help develop new content to help the center fulfill its mission to foster knowledge in science, technology, engineering and math through aviation.
As the spring semester was nearing its end, Roberts, a marketing major, reached out to Lakeland’s Cooperative Education & Career Readiness office to aid his search in finding summer employment. He applied for the Aviation Heritage Center experience and has amassed a portfolio full of work as the 12-week internship nears its conclusion.
“I didn’t know anything about aviation going in,” Roberts said. “I love going on planes, but I didn’t expect to be around them unless I was going on a trip. It’s been so cool to learn about the history of aviation.”
Roberts has made numerous connections through interviews with center visitors including folks working in the airlines industry and people with fascinating stories to tell.
He interviewed a German native visiting the area who came to see the touring C-54 Skymaster flown by Col. Gail Halvorsen during the Berlin Airlift from 1948-49. The woman lived in Berlin post-World War II and recalled the "Berlin Candy Bomber" as Halvorsen gained fame for dropping candy from his plane to German children gathered near the runway of Tempelhof Air Field.
“Taking her video was amazing, but hearing her story of what she went thru was incredible,” Roberts said.
The summer has also included the unforgettable opportunity to sit inside the cockpit of a small plane and do some flying around the region with the pilot. “I was scared, but scared like excited,” Roberts said. “I’d love to give that experience to other people.”
Roberts said the center internship has been a time of growth, gratitude and genuine connections.
“I picked marketing because there are so many areas I can go into,” he said. “I like being versatile and I still have other plans with my degree. Aviation can open a lot of doors for me too.”
His passion for photography stems from his youth. His parents took pictures in their garage, and his father was a portrait photographer. Roberts recalls watching his dad’s photo shoots and seeing how happy people were with the images he captured.
His final year at Thornton Fractional South High School he started taking pictures at athletic events and eventually started doing his own portrait photos. He displays his work on his Instagram account (Viewsbytray) and his online portfolio (including some examples with this story).
“I would see the looks on people’s faces from my father’s photos,” Roberts said. “It would bring so much joy, memories you can capture or a specific moment and they won’t go away. The picture lets you feel that feeling you felt in that moment.
“You’ve captured that exact moment, the energy, the smiles. You’ll always be able to remember people even after they’re gone. Photography will always be around no matter how the world evolves.”
Roberts wasn’t sure attending college was an option until Lakeland’s football staff recruited him to be a Muskie. His campus tour showed him that Lakeland was a place he could focus outside the noise of the city, and his growing involvement on campus has proven right.
In addition to playing football, he serves as a resident assistant, a Blue & Gold Champion, and is a member of the Beta Sigma Omega fraternity and the Black Student Union. He’s hoping to launch a visual media club for students and this year he’ll be shooting photos and video for the LU men’s basketball program for marketing content.
“The people here are amazing,” Roberts said. “There are so many resources. Lakeland helped me break out of my shell. I can walk up to people and introduce myself and not worry about what people might think. I’m building connections.
“I would encourage anyone to embrace new experiences and meet new people without fear. You never know what opportunities those connections might open.”
Post-graduation, Roberts aspires to start his own visual media production company or work as a professional sports photographer. Until then, he enjoys capturing images of people and seeing the same happy reactions that he recalls his father receiving.
“I took some graduation photos and the looks on their faces when they saw them was great,” he said. “When you spend time editing one photo that people don’t see it but they’re happy with the final images, all the time is worth it.”
