For my academic internship, I enrolled in COMM 368. During this internship, I completed a summer as a public relations intern at Meridian Group, and public relations and marketing agency located in Virginia Beach. Some of their notable clients include STIHL, Chrysler Museum of Art, and Grain in Norfolk.  Several of my works were published to client websites. Because of the agency setting, I grew intensely as a student. In an agency, there are several differentt groups of employees that interns work with in rotations. I worked primarily with the creative team, as well as the marketing team and digital outreach team. Getting to work with so many professionals offered me a variety of perspectives and multiplicity of knowledge that I use to this day.

 

When I first started my internship, I was hesitant to ask my supervisors questions because I thought they expected me to know everything about public relations already. However, as I engaged in greater interaction with the Meridian Group team, they consoled me and told me that the purpose of an internship is to ask questions and learn from mistakes. Now, I can confidently say that I am more comfortable asking questions to professors, my boss, and my friends. Intelligence is all about acquiring new knowledge, and knowledge often comes in the form of wisdom. Asking questions to those who know more than me and valuing their feedback is crucial to my growth as a student and a future public relations counselor.

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Additionally, this internship taught me how to prioritize work. As a public relations intern, I was often given a few assignments at a time and had a due date for each. I was able to scan each assignment, evaluate what was needed for completion, and properly space out my time to meet all deadlines. If there was not enough time during my shift to complete assignments, I would work on them at home to ensure that all of the public relations counselors could rely on me to turn in complete and adequate work.

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The internship also allowed me to demonstrate my understanding of computer software. Because I have an established ePortfolio and advertised it to my supervisor prior to hiring, other Meridian Group counselors felt comfortable including me in editing the WordPress sites for clients. This is hands-on experience that allowed me to stand out from other applicants. I am appreciate that I have been curating my ePortfolio for over a year because I was involved in more technical projects during my internship.