Eve Zielinski '15 --Safelite Autoglass

Eva Zielinski

Class Year: 2015

Major: Communications

Minor: Public Realtions

Hometown: Pickerington, Ohio

Internship: Safelite Autoglass

Location: Columbus, Ohio

Internship Responsibilities:  I began my experience as a communication intern for Safelite Autoglass at their corporate headquarters in Columbus, OH. My main task was to write content for our company intranet, newsletter publications and other internal communications. I was already a fair writer but I had to prioritize and effectively manage my time to ensure that I met deadlines and didn’t put anyone else behind schedule. I also had to be flexible and work around other peoples schedules other than my own in order to accomplish the tasks that were given to me. It was a necessary discipline that taught me to roll with change and adjust to becoming a professional young adult.

What I Learned: My experience lasted the entire summer from May through August and I was hired at full time from 9-5 every day. The first aspects of adult professionalism that I learned were to dress professionally and to be on time every day. I would wake up extra early to make the hour commute from Pickerington to Columbus/Dublin and back through rush hour traffic. I became efficient at learning to arrive early before my shift started.

I also had to get over my shyness of talking to people, because I had to interview several associates in person and over the phone to acquire the information I needed to compose a story. I learned to communicate more effectively in writing as well as spoken word with all my colleagues. However, I think the most important qualities I took away from this excellent experience were responsibility and flexibility. I was no longer just a college student writing essays for a grade, I was considered a professional that was part of a large organization that depended on the tasks I was working on.

Shannon Back '15 - The Dawes Arboretum

Shannon Back

Class year: 2015

Major(s): History and Public Relations

Hometown: Centerville, Ohio

Internship: The Dawes Arboretum

Location: Newark, OH

Internship Responsibilities: During my internship in The Dawes Arboretum history department, I was able to complete multiple projects that helped further my knowledge on history, archiving, and The Dawes Arboretum and Dawes Family. I first started on my largest project, which was checking over and editing many scanned photographs from our archives. After I was finished with this project, I was able to research and begin a Burr Family tree (Mrs. Dawes's side of the family) and gather information on the Burr family and Burr ancestors. Throughout the whole summer I served as a tour guide at the House Museum and gave house tours to visitors, and manned the history center on the grounds. I was also fortunate enough to help with two events. The first event was the Dawes Family Reunion, and the second was the "Tea in Bertie’s Garden". Other projects I worked on included taking pictures of appraised artifacts, documenting shelves of 3D artifacts, and going through old documents on the old cemetery on the grounds. I also went through letters of the family in our archives and documented each one and its subject matter.

What I Learned: My experiences here have definitely taught me how to be a better historian and also a better speaker through my tour guiding! I definitely feel that this has helped prepare me for whatever is in store for my professional future.

Adam Piccin '16 - Bricker & Eckler LLP

Adam Piccin
Class Year: 2016

Major: Public Relations, Health Communications

Hometown: Lewis Center, Ohio

Internship: Bricker & Eckler LLP

Location: Columbus, Ohio

Internship Responsibilities: I was a Public Relations and Marketing Intern at Bricker & Eckler LLP for eight months starting in the spring of 2014.  Bricker & Eckler is one of Ohio’s leading law firms and has more than 140 attorneys in four offices located in Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati-Dayton and Marietta.  As an intern in the Practice Development Department, I executed PR and marketing strategies for the law firm, which included writing blogs, press releases, business letters, articles and internal communication copy. I performed extensive research, created marketing lists and regularly updated Bricker’s website.

What I Learned: I have gained experience in HTML coding, copyediting, fixing broken links, utilizing mass email marketing services, marketing database management and more. My favorite part of the internship was my supervisors treating me like an invaluable member of the team and trusted me with responsibilities that did not consist of typical administrative work. The assignments given to me from the other eight members of the department made for incredible learning experiences as well as portfolio samples. In addition, I found it very cool that I was featured on the company’s Intranet floor plan and that I had my own phone number.

I learned to take chances and try new things because you never know what you like until you try it. I am grateful for the incredible internship I had at Bricker & Eckler and would recommend the firm’s internship program without reservation to other students studying public relations, marketing or communications.

Jonathan Hill '15 - Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority

Class Year: 2015

Major: Public Relations and Music & Business

Hometown: Wadsworth, Ohio

Internship organization: Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Corporate Headquarters - 

Reagan National Airport (DCA)

Location: Washington, D.C. 

Internship Responsibilities: My duties consisted of writing internal communications content for 1,500 employees, facilitating media relations calls and overall media outreach, assisting with airline events such as the inaugural Air China and Frontier Airlines launches at Dulles International Airport, creating media advisories and press releases, photographing all airport events both internal and external, creating and posting social media content, creating a publicity plan for MWAA's Summer Jazz Series, presenting a summer-wide research project on social media dashboards and creating video content published on public and internal airport monitors.

What I Learned: The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority gave this aviation nerd the most professional and exhilarating experience of a lifetime. From experiencing runway checks and air traffic tours, to taking media calls with The Washington Post and NBC; I was completely engulfed in every communications function this quasi-government/corporate organization has to offer. This organization oversees over 1,500 employees, two airports that each occupies over 20 million passengers a year, the 14 mile Dulles Toll Road and Washington, D.C.'s Silver Line Metro project. I was placed in the main Communications Office that manages every aspect of the organization as previously stated. The overarching theme of this summer in regards to what I've learned is simply finding my passion to pursue aviation based communications opportunities post-graduation.

Adam Piccin '16 - Columbus State Community College

Name: Adam Piccin
Class Year: 2016

Major: Public Relations

Hometown: Lewis Center, Ohio

Internship: Student Marketing Assistant

Internship Site: Columbus State Community College

Internship Responsibilities:

As a Student Marketing Assistant at Columbus State Community College for the summer, I completed a variety of exciting tasks that have helped me grow as a student and professional. I devised, launched, and then updated an Instagram account for the university of more than 30,000 students. Additionally, I planned events, advertising, and promotional items for CSCC's 50th anniversary, wrote copy for website blurbs and scholarship emails, took photos for Facebook and Instagram accounts, contacted students by phone and email for office needs, assisted with RSVPs for events, completed research on transient students, college contact forms, and promoting events, attended multiple CSCC video shoots as an "extra," and more. I truly enjoyed my experience working for the university in the Marketing and Communications Department.

What I Learned:
From interning at Columbus State, I learned a lot about marketing and public relations in the real world. I gained experience in writing, editing, creating and developing social media presence, communicating strategically to target audiences, planning for events and ceremonies, and executing conceptual plans from start to finish. This internship built a solid infrastructure for me to continue to grow and build upon, and I am very thankful to have had this opportunity.

Alana Gaither '15 - Nationwide Children's Hospital

Name: Alana Gaither

Class Year: 2015

Major: Public Relations

Hometown: Akron, Ohio

Internship Organization: Nationwide Children's Hospital, PR & Marketing Department

Location: Columbus, OH

Internship Responsibilities:

During my internship, I wrote and distributed five press releases which received coverage in print, radio, television and online media, facilitated interviews for physicians, patients and administration with local media, monitored media activity for the weekly update reports to the CEO, tracked daily incoming media requests for the media log and researched and developed a marketing plan for Cancer Awareness Month for an intern project.

What I Learned: 

It was a learning experience in itself being in a professional environment and I was ecstatic at how many responsibilities my advisers trusted me to complete. I gained a lot of confidence in my own writing skills and even with talking to professionals in the marketing, media and PR fields. 

Haley Young '14 - Denison University

Name: Haley Young (pictured front row on left)
Year: 2014
Major: Public Relations
Hometown: Loudonville, Ohio
Internship Organization: Denison University, First-Year Programs, June-O (June Orientation)
Location: Granville, Ohio

Internship Responsibilities:
My internship in Denison University's First-Year Programs office is something I will never forget. I was given the opportunity to intern at a small, liberal arts institution like Otterbein, during Denison's June Orientation sessions. This allowed for me to interact with Denison faculty, staff, student leaders, new students and parents. This new learning experience let me see orientation through a different lens. The was very important for me to witness first-hand as I have only ever been familiar with how Otterbein presents orientation to new students. Through this experience, I researched liberal arts colleges, updated orientation related handouts, edited orientation schedules, assisted the office staff, participated in June-O staff training, shadowed a student leader and my supervisor during an orientation session, helped with morning check-ins, and filled in other areas when needed. I learned to be very flexible during my time at Denison, as I was the first to intern in Denison's First-Year programs office as a non-Denison student.

What I learned:
The June-O staffs were very welcoming and supportive of me being there. I never once felt excluded because I was not a Denison student and that is what made my experience so great. Even though I was only at Denison for a month, this college will always have a special place in my heart. The friendships I made and the experiences I had were very valuable. My time at Denison has made me more excited for what lies ahead in the future, and I can't wait to be a Student Affairs professional very soon!