Experience
When I chose to study communications at Mercyhurst University, I didn’t know what my future held. I just assumed that I was going to study something for a while and then possibly change majors; mainly because that’s what my siblings told me. They said that most people change their major once or twice during college. So, the fact that I continued 3 years with my intended major kind of surprised me.
When I was in high school, I was involved in a lot of different things, but one thing that influenced my decision to major in communications was my experience with the high school newspaper. At that time, I think everyone was a little bit hesitant to say what they wanted to do with their lives, so I didn’t share that decision for as long as possible; since most of family wanted me to do something else. However, after climbing my way to an editor position twice and creating visual back page spreads that contributed to state given awards, I realized that my talent may lay in this kind of area.
Now looking back, I realized that if I would have chosen a different path in general, I wouldn’t be as passionate, and I would most likely be involved in something that I hated. Currently, I work two separate internships; one for the athletic department and the other is a remote internship for a political/activist site.
After three years of being a part of communications, I was able to apply to internships. However, this wasn’t easy. I started the search for internships in the fall of 2016 and didn’t have much luck. I was interviewed a bunch, but I never received a job offer. At that point in time, I applied to over 50 positions and interviewed for six. Until later in the spring, a position for a strategic communications intern with Mercyhurst athletic department. I received word from them rather quickly and scheduled a meeting with my soon-to-be boss — and the rest simply followed and now that’s how I spend my time. At this internship, I work at almost all of the athletic events for either stats, social media, graphic design or production. During the summer I needed to fill my time in some way, so I decided to get another internship. I applied for a remote internship with a political start up that’s based in New York — which I continued through summer and into the school year. In this position I have to publish articles to fit the site aesthetic and work with multiple forms of social media to increase viewers and memberships.
My responsibilities in these positions vary from online marketing to graphic design, but either way I learn something. My favorite thing to work on is often graphics or marketing strategy, but in general every activity is enjoyable and fulfilling.
With these internships, I was able to make my resume more appealing to other possible employers. Not just that, I’m able to interact with people and professionals more often than I would if I didn’t participate in these internships. Also, without the experiences in general, I wouldn’t have found a direction and I wouldn’t have any idea as to what I want to do after graduation.
