As MAWRD student Kristen Geil enters the homestretch of the masters program, she reflects on the internships she completed and leaves WRD students with some good advice.
Q: What is your major/concentration?
A: MA in Writing, Rhetoric, and Discourse with a concentration in Professional/Technical Writing.
Q: When did you complete your internship?
A: I’ve completed two internships: one during the Spring Quarter of my first year and a second during the summer between my first and second years of grad school.
Q: How did you find the process of enrolling in the internship program/finding an internship?
A: For my first internship writing for a sports blog, I already had the internship and just had to enroll. For my second internship at Fox Sports Chicago, I actually heard about it from a woman I babysat for. Both times I found the process of enrolling really easy.
Q: How did the WRD Internship Coordinator help you in enrolling and completing your internship?
A: I worked with Sarah Read and I found her very flexible and helpful. She was always excited to help me put my internship in the context of P/TW writing and relate it to the current discourse.
Q: Where was your internship and what were your duties?
A: 1) KSR College–I posted content relating to UK sports at least three times a week. 2) Fox Sports Chicago–I logged video feed, and I attended Chicago sporting events, as a member of the media, to help get clips for the evening sports segment.
Q: Was there anything within your coursework that helped you within your internship?
A: I was able to make connections between the internships and current issues in professional writing, especially writing for the Internet and the copyright laws that go along with it.
Q: What do you feel you gained from your experience? Do you think it will help you post-grad?
A: From the blog, I learned how to write with a certain voice and how to post breaking news quickly to inform our readers about UK sports. From Fox, I learned some technologies that would be helpful for me if I worked at a television station. I think I made a lot of valuable contacts and that will be the most helpful post-grad.
Q: Any advice for other students about internships?
A: You get great real-world experience, you get to meet people who can potentially help you out after graduation, and you get to do fun things! Definitely take your own initiative and look for internships by just asking people around you if they know of anything.