Jim Waterwash '15 - Community Choice Financial

Jim Waterwash

Class Year: 2015

Major: Business Administration

Hometown: Powell, OH

Internship: Community Choice Financial

Location: Dublin, OH        

Internship Responsibilities: I interned at Community Choice Financial, also known as CheckSmart.  I was the marketing intern in the marketing division. My responsibilities varied and changed frequently due to all the moving parts that marketing for a multi-state, national brand entails. One of my responsibilities was to plan and coordinate grand openings, customer appreciation days, and marketing blitzes.  This included booking entertainment, joining locals Chambers, and communicating with my supervisor to ensure expectations of these events.

In addition, I was responsible for sorting and creating an Excel spreadsheet with names for email blasts to our opt-in customers. I created budgets for each quarter of media buying through Excel. The marketing director had me attend meetings with him, our public relations firm, the Columbus Chamber of Commerce and others.  I was also been tasked to constantly update our contact information of our account executives in radio and TV advertising. Other responsibilities included invoicing, organizing, communicating with the store managers about events, learning how to negotiate and buy advertising on the radio and TV, and providing reports on the quarterly budget.

What I Learned: I learned so much through this internship. I learned about how to budget for advertising and how to decipher good radio and bad radio stations to advertise for our market.  I discovered that marketing relies heavily on knowing exactly who you are trying to target to send the right message.  I even learned many tricks about Excel that will benefit me in future projects and reports. In addition, I learned office etiquette, how to deal with vendors to plan events, and so much more.

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.

Sarah Colville '14 - Tres Bien Studios

Name: Sarah Colville

Year: 2014

Major: Music and Business with Management

Hometown: Brownsburg, Indiana

Internship: Tres Bien Studios

Location: Worthington, OH

Internship Responsibilities: 

While working with Tres Bien Studios, I did invoicing, I helped in finding venues, helped with fundraising, finding sponsors for donations and I got to help teach children about music.

What I learned: 

I’ve learned a lot about running your own business, and that there isn’t a set path once you get out of school, and you should just do what you love.

Advice about searching for an internship: 

Use your resources as soon as possible. It took me a while to actually come to the CCPD for help, and for a while I didn’t even know the CCPD was here, but I’ve gotten a lot of help from them since.

Advice on how to make the most of an internship experience: 
Go above and beyond what you’re asked, and present ideas to the people that you’re working with, and they will be grateful for that, and they’ll help you expand on your experience.

Sean Brewster '15 - AICUO

Name: Sean Brewster

Year: 2015

Major: Music & Business with a concentration in Fine Arts Administration and a minor in Business Administration

Hometown: Norwalk, OH

Internship: 2014-2015 Art Awards Coordinator at the Association of Independent Colleges & Universities of Ohio (AICUO)

Location: Columbus, OH

Internship Responsibilities:

The Art Awards Coordinator position at AICUO is an intensive year-long internship that is teaching me the skills that are necessary to be an Arts Administrator. Through this position, I am in charge of planning the reception, coordinating the competition, obtaining grants and sponsorship awards for the program, and communicating with the executives of AICUO. This internship provides significant experience in administration, social networking, budget, grant writing, and event planning. It has also created opportunities for me to make connections throughout the Greater Columbus and Ohio arts communities.

What I learned:

I learned about the many different skills that it takes to successfully plan, organize and implement an event. In addition to these skills, I am actively refining my grant writing and sponsorship request skills. I am slowly gaining experience in using the Adobe Creative Suite; with a focus on learning the Adobe In-Design, Illustrator, and Photoshop programs.

Advice for the internship search:

I challenge you to CONSTANTLY be looking for internships. I am habitually perusing Cardinal Careers, Columbusinternships.com, and internmatch.com to see if there are any internships that I may be remotely interested in. Even if I am unavailable at the current moment, I still reach out to the organization in the hopes that I can make a connection for the future. Also, do not be afraid to reach out to professionals right now and connect; these connections are what will help you to find internships later on. Another tip: cast your net wide so that you have options.

Advice for making the most of your internship experience:

Always make sure that you are putting your all into any internship experience! This is the only way that you are going to figure out whether you want to pursue this field as a career. Take every advantage to connect with professionals, organize events, and do research for the organization you are interning with. Your supervisor will notice this and be able to write a stupendous recommendation letter or recommend you to a fellow professional.

Jonathan Hill '15 - BalletMet

Name: Jonathan Hill
Class Year: 2015
Major: B.A. Music & Business
Hometown: Wadsworth, OH
Internship Organizations: BalletMet
Location: Columbus, OH

Internship Responsibilities:
During my internship with BalletMet, I created press releases for Dracula, Romeo & Juliet, Young BalletMet, and The Rite of Spring. I Updated Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for the company. I also wrote several articles for mass emails and mailings. I assisted with design work using Photoshop and InDesign, used The Raiser’s Edge for data entry, and sent mass emails using iContact Email Marketing Services. I coordinated and provided marketing support by attending events and assisting patrons, collaborated on the social media marketing campaign and calendar and created direct marketing packets sent to patrons and subscribers to increase sales for the upcoming season. I assisted with marketing research for the season and performed other administrative duties in the Marketing and Communications Department. Finally, I coordinated all volunteers and appearance requests for BalletMet’s performance of The Nutcracker at the Ohio Theater.