Internship Spotlight: Alayna Anderson Interns with Community Action for Capable Youth (CACY)

Alayna Anderson spent her summer interning with a company called Community Action for Capable Youth (CACY) as the Assistant Prevention Educator intern.  This company is a nonprofit community coalition that educates adults on the effects of drugs and alcohol on the youth.

Alayna's duties at her internship were to develop and execute campaign plans.  She also had to constantly update the social media pages, and she even created a new Facebook page for the organization.  Alayna also maintained the agency website and disseminated information about their services.

Alayna states that she learned how to successfully implement a health campaign from beginning to end.  She also says she has learned how to think outside of the box in order to create new relevant campaign and educational tool ideas.  She says that a number of these skills were developed while learning about new prevention based health behaviors.

Alayna is a Biology major with a minor in Health and Risk Communications and states that taking the classes Health Public Relations and Health Communications helped her to succeed in her position at the internship. 

Internship Spotlight: Bethany Meadows Interns at The Ohio State Reformatory

Bethany Meadows recently completed an internship with The Ohio State Reformatory as the Public Relations Intern. At her internship, Meadows managed the social media platforms, which included analyzing current data on the social media platforms and creating daily posts and new content for their pages.

Throughout her internship, Meadows says she learned how to overcome trails and tribulations. She also states how taking the class Introduction to Public Relations helped her tremendously with her daily tasks and knowing how to compose certain social media posts.


Meadows is an English Major with a Creative Writing and Public Relations Minor.

 A favorite quote of Meadows that comes from the movie Shawshank Redemption, which was filmed at The Ohio State Reformatory is, "Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies."

Internship Spotlight - Heather Marsh Interns with Ashland's Board of Developmental Disabilities

Heather Marsh recently completed an internship with the Ashland County Board of Developmental Disabilities. Her duties included working with people with disabilities or their caregivers to determine areas of unmet needs. She collected data of current needs as well as projections of needs that could arise over the course of the next five years. She then organized the information, analyzed the information, and created summaries. These reports will be used by case workers to meet the needs of the individuals.

In this position, Marsh utilized skills she learned in Health Public Relations such as data collecting, recording and formatting and how to implement these into the organization's software.

Marsh is a senior and is majoring in Health and Risk Communication.

Elgin Named December Intern of the Month

Stephany Elgin, a Public Relations & Strategic Communication major with a minor in Business Administration, has been named Intern of the Month for December.

She completed her internship this summer at Hospice of North Central Ohio in Ashland. She encourages students to "never take yourself out of the running for an internship by not applying. Even if it doesn't seem like something that you would like to do for a career, there are learning opportunities from every situation."

Stephany is also involved with Alpha Lambda Delta, the Orientation Team, Accent on Public Relations, the Public Relations Student Society of America, Lambda Pi Eta, Omicron Kappa Delta, Rho Lambda, & the Order of Omega. She is a senior and plans to graduate in May 2015.

Congratulations Stephany!

Elgin Gains Experience Interning with AU's Department of Student Life

Public Relations and Strategic Communication major, Stephany Elgin, interned this summer with Ashland University's Department of Student Life as an Orientation and Commuter Services Intern.

Stephany's duties included assisting the director of Orientation with planning and implementing orientation programs, leading the Orientation Team as an executive member during programs, developing Orientation Team training materials, and preparing materials and presentations for incoming students and their family members, as well as working with special populations such as commuters, out of state students, and transfer students to feel more acclimated to campus. She also helped out with the day-to-day office tasks in the department.

"One class that has particularly helped me in this position would be organizational communication," says Stephany. "The course taught me how to develop and implement a training program, which was extremely beneficial when producing and designing a training program and materials for the Orientation Team members."

Public speaking was a large part of her experience.

"The skills I developed from many of my communication courses have helped me to become a better public speaker. I had been asked to give speeches or speak to crowds with very little notice on a number of occasions. Being able to organize my thoughts and present information in a logical manner has prepared me for this challenge."

Stephany added, "Working for the Student Life Office and the Department of Orientation has showed me just how much work goes into student life at AU. I am proud to be a part of a department that touches the lives of every new student on Ashland's campus!"

Stoops Interning for ACIS

 

Kimmie Stoops is interning for American Collegiate Intramural Sports (ACIS). She is working as an ACIS Marketing Intern and assists with the execution of ACIS sponsor events and promotions on the Ashland University campus.

 

Some of her duties include brand marketing, advertising, and conducting surveys, and then reporting the results back to ACIS.

Kimmie is enjoying her internship and credits her communication courses in helping her work with people and the public. Through her courses she has learned several different techniques on how to relate to people and how to positively represent products and companies.


"Working as an ACIS intern has helped me improve the techniques I have learned in class and has also widened my knowledge about how the public perceives information best. It really is a fun job!" says Kimmie.

Handing out sample products

Kimmie is pursing a bachelor of arts degree with a double major in Sport Communication and Public Relations & Strategic Communication. She plans to graduate in May 2017.





Lauren Fattlar is Having a Great Summer

What are students from the Department of Communication Studies up to this summer? Read on to find out what Lauren Fattler is up to...

Christina Miadich - PR Intern

What are Communication Studies students up to this summer? Read on to find out what recent grad Christina Miadich is up to...



STUDENTS TRAVEL TO PUBLIC RELATIONS EVENT

Five students majoring in Public Relations traveled to Cleveland for a networking event hosted by the Public Relations Society of America.  Ashley VanGilder, Kayla Ray, Chris Manthey, Jill Guseman, and Stephany Elgin spent the day listening to various panels of public relations professionals from both profit and nonprofit organizations, had an opportunity to receive career advice, resume feedback, and enjoyed a networking luncheon.  This is the second year in a row that students from the Department of Communication Studies have attended such an event.   

Career Services Has the Job for You!!

The AU Career Services office currently has a dynamic job and internship database that allows AU students to customize and save job and internship searchers based on interests, types of employment sector (e.g., government, private section), and area of the country/world.  CareerShift is an incredible asset that can make any employment search much easier and much more manageable.  Make an appointment with career services to create your account and begin searching for employment/internship opportunities.

Public Relations Students Travel To PRSA Event

Nine Public Relations majors from the Department of Communication Studies traveled to a mini-conference to speak with public relations industry leaders to learn about the profession and create valuable networks.  This 1/2 day seminar was full of panels and breakout sessions that included how to land a quality internship, the day in the life of a successful PR professional, resume review, developing and maintaining an effective online persona, and a myriad of other things pertinent to the profession and practice of PR.

As one of our majors put it all too well: "Attending the PRSA event was extremely beneficial since it allowed students to grasp public relations concepts from outside of the classroom and learn how these PR skills are used in the industry. Also, the event helped students develop their networking skills whether it was talking with PR professionals or reviewing our resumes with PR or communication specialists."

                                                                             Sarah Hutson and Angelique Cunningham talk shop

                                                                              Cody White discusses issues with a panelist

                                                                                Angelique Cunningham engages one of the presenters

                                                                             The gang of nine. A good and productive time was had by all!

Golf Anyone??? Exciting Internship Opportunity with the AJGA

The American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the overall growth of young men and women who aspire to earn college golf scholarships through competitive junior golf.  The association is the largest organization of its kind with a membership of more than 5,000 juniors from 49 states and 49 foreign countries.  In 2012, the AJGA plans to conduct more than 90 tournaments and 45 qualifiers across the United States.

The AJGA is looking for talented and well-rounded applicants to work in an entry-level position as communications or tournament operations interns and travel throughout the United States to help conduct national junior golf tournaments.

If interested, see Dr. Avtgis for a brochure and contact information.