Working at an internship this past summer was a sudden introduction into what my life would be like in the real world, making me excited to be a “grown up.”
As a print journalism major, I worked at a local daily newspaper. Surprisingly, I wasn’t treated as your typical “Devil Wear’s Prada” type of intern. I wasn’t running silly errands or getting coffee for my editor. I had over 10 articles published throughout the months of June and July.
It was truly one of the coolest things that I have ever done. I had friends asking me if that was me that wrote that article, or that they liked what I wrote. Even my parents would have the most random people telling them that they read my articles! It was the greatest feeling ever, and made my hard work and long hours in the office (so official right?) completely worth it.
Getting recognized for my hard work only made me more excited to become a journalist after college, even though I already felt like one as an 18-year-old sophomore.
My internship also enforced the fact that its important to get things done on time. And procrastination is not a good thing! Especially when writing a news article, you have to talk to people ASAP, leaving no chance to miss your deadline. And with an editor counting you, you don’t want to mess up.
I’m not going to lie though, there were times where I was willing to trade this amazing opportunity for one of the many typical summer days that I had lost. I missed out on many trips to the beach and days by the pool with my friends. And of course getting text messages and seeing pictures of all of them on Facebook weren’t making me feel better. At times I felt like I lost my summer, but it was only for two months out of my three and a half month break and could not have been more worth it.
At such a young age, I could have never expected this sort of career experience. I covered everything from unique stores to senate race press conferences and would have my byline in the paper a few days later. At times, I couldn’t get over what I was doing. I was the one with the voice recorder getting quotes from local politicians, or I was the one covering the local popular events. It was awesome.
For you girls in the communications field, the best advice I can give you is to get an internship as frequent and as soon as you can. It’s all about networking and building your resume and the sooner you start, the better.
Photo Credit: www.billboardmama.com
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Quinnipiac chapter.