Ashanti Jeff-Map

My week at Columbus Botanical Garden, I have started writing the press release for “Christmas in the Garden”. In my previous experience of writing a press release, I still did not understand the concept or the format which it needed to be written in. My internship supervisor was a Journalism major and she has given me great structure to be able to write media pieces.

I have also learned how to write a memo, and to make my results from the survey I wrote for “Foliage, Flowers & Fun Fall Festival”. I had 80 responses after the festival had more than 300 attendees. Next year, they hope for a bigger turn out and they also got feedback from attendees about more food, games, candy and more to be at the festival next year.

Ashanti Jeff-Map

My week at Columbus Botanical Garden, I attended a meeting where the garden is planning their annual “Christmas in the Garden”. Since the event happens every year, most of the usual plans are in the works. I may have to help write a press release or find vendors for this event.

My internship supervisor and I are still working on a list to donors of the garden. It has taken many revisions and it is still not done. This project in particular has taught me patience and making sure to really proofread is important. I have also become more proficient in Excel. I can use this to carry over into my Marketing Representative career.

Emily Laskowski

This week at The Bo Bartlett Center has been relatively slow. On Monday and Tuesday, I updated the various social media and re-shared our upcoming events. I was also given permission to run a promotion, or paid/sponsored content, on The Bo Bartlett Center Facebook page to promote the Jordan Sokol Master Class that is next weekend. Essentially, I made a targeted ad using demographics and psychographics that Facebook provides. Facebook gets such information based on what people put on their Facebook page such as age, gender, and their interests.

On Wednesday, I assisted Isaac with assembling and hanging up the label for the newest Bo paintings to our collection. Below is a picture of us hanging up the labels. Lastly, on Friday, I was asked to make more social media posts like I did on Monday and Tuesday and helped set up for Saturday’s event, which is an ensemble being put on by the Schwob School of Music

Chiquita Beadles

My experience the Columbus State University relations office has been very productive. I continued to manage the internal communication. Each week the faculty and staff are sent a document titled “In the Know’. The purpose of this document is to inform faculty and staff of campus events, news in higher education, university systems of Georgia information, and special recognition. Through observation of the staff in the university relation department, I learned the importance of information being secured and reviewed before being sent over to university relations for dissemination. University relations serves as a gateway to other departments, consequently, the department is not responsible for a breach in security. Research for CSU’s communication plan is continuing to progress. I provided feedback for the next phase of the research. I learned that Columbus State rely heavily on qualitative research method tactics. Additionally, I created a press release. The press release was centered around the accomplishment of CSU’s economist. He cultivated research, which has circulated to gain national attention.

Derek Rains

This Saturday the 11^thwe saw the coming together of every food truck between Columbus and Atlanta Georgia. From Cajun and farm fresh to burgers and pizza, there was something for everyone and all in one convenient place! Once you left the Veteran’s Day Parade, you would head to Woodruff Park near the bridge overlooking the Chattahoochee. With crispy green grass and brisk winds, the park was lined with trucks all steaming and frying and baking up their wares for the day.

Manning the DJ booth at the Festival alongside Dave Arwood, we arrived on the scene with the Q107.3 van loaded with a flatscreen to broadcast the football game for the festival goers. We’d arrived just as the festival was beginning and walked the grounds before settling at our post as the grounds were quickly overwhelmed by the crowds. Lines stretching far but I did manage to get my hands on some fried Oreos! During all of the festivities, I had a very inspiring talk with my supervisor, Dave, and he went to great lengths explaining how important it was to make connections and be outgoing in this industry. Same thing found in most entertainment industries. Hopefully I am making the right connections.

The festival was advertised in Uptown and the surrounding cities drawing crowds from all over the area. Hopefully you had the chance to come in and get yourself some fried catfish and a funnel cake.

Chiquita Beadles

This week, I gained more experience in maintaining a social media presence for Columbus State University. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts are updated weekly. In honor of Halloween, I was given the opportunity to go into the field with a professional camera to gather footage to update the social media accounts. While gathering photos, I learned the importance of developing production skills. A professional camera is much more complicated to use than a simple cellphone camera. Also, I learned the importance of tailoring your message for each social media platform. The content created for the university’s Instagram page is different for the Twitter account. On the other hand, I created content as it related to past homecoming events. I experienced a delay in this process due to photography. However, I learned that many of the department on the campus of Columbus State University work together to formulate one cohesive message for their audience.

Kayla Waters

During the month on September I was out gathering stories from the local high school football games. Those schools included Carver High school, Columbus High School, Kendrick High School, Hardaway High School, Jordan High School, Spencer High School, and Shaw High School. I was only able to go to one school every Friday, but I was still able to gather information about the other schools but contacting coaches, and researching the game.

Mr.Mike taught me how to build confidence in front of the camera and how to read off of the teleprompter. I was nervous when I first started to speak in front of the camera . I had to learn how to transform into another person or character that is confident, bubbly, and exciting to listen to. I was able to read the stories I wrote over the teleprompter. Reading off the teleprompter was a little challenging at first, but I learned to stay relaxed and allow the words to flow.

Here are links to videos I recored when I first started to record and read.

https://youtu.be/hNWSAJlWfts

https://youtu.be/r43RRyS2LCA

Theresa Holzknecht

Monday was spent with Mikaela at the CSU bureau.  Mikaela had been having trouble that day with her plans for her news stories.  One after another had fallen through for her before I arrived and she was frustrated.  She had not been able to get any interviews or SOTs (sound on tape—from the interview).  So, there wasn’t anything for us to work on for WRBL.  However, I had an assignment in another class that I had time to work on and Mikaela had time to look at a news package I had done for class from last week.  Mikaela liked it, which made me feel good.

I was out on Tuesday and Wednesday due to a medical procedure, but returned Thursday to WRBL main bureau.  Each morning begins with a meeting about what will be featured on the news for the rest of the day.  Anchors, reporters, and weather-people give updates on what they are working on.  It’s usually an exciting time of the day.  At this time, interns usually find out what we are doing for the day.  On Thursday, LaPorshe had us practice as anchors in the studio.  We were able to read from the teleprompter as we stood in front of a video panel.  We learned a little about how difficult it is to do a cold read from the prompter while on air.

Mikhaela had left an assignment for us that was due Friday.  We were to write a news package.  We wrote it as if we were the live reporter covering the story of the Florida Mail Bomber suspect.  It was harder than I thought.  Conner, the news manager, looked over mine and told me it was ready to go on air.  That’s a great compliment.  Looking forward to next week.

Theresa Holzknecht

Honestly, I had been worried about my experience as an intern.  I feel that I had been given many chances to observe, but no chances to actually do work.  I didn’t even feel like writing because there wasn’t much to write about.  This is why I did not turn in a blog that week.  I even thought about trying to get out of the internship, even if I lost money.  I was getting upset and decided that I should talk to Dr. Hart at WRBL.  However, I had the chance to spend time at the station and that changed everything.  I certainly don’t mean to throw my supervisor under the bus.  She has a job to do, and a deadline each day.  There is a lot of pressure.  But because she has so much to do, she doesn’t have a lot of time to let interns play with editing and the like.  So last week was spent with Mikaela on Monday and Wednesday and at the news bureau Thursday and Friday.  (I was out of town on Tuesday at a doctor’s appointment.)

When I got to the bureau last Thursday morning, the atmosphere was buzzing.  Stacey Abrams was coming in to Columbus to speak at CSU in the early afternoon and we were covering it.   Kelvin, another intern, and I went with reporter Shakira to the event.  LaPorshe, and multi-platform journalist of WRBL, had instructed us to send her photos and video.  Kelvin and I took these on our cell phones and sent the information back to LaPorshe at WRBL as it was happening.  LaPorshe used some of our footage on WRBL’s Facebook page, which was really exciting.  Later, LaPorshe thanked us for doing such a great job.  That really made us feel validated.  This was the most fun I had had so far.  I really felt like I was doing something worthwhile.

Kayla Waters

During this week I had the opportunity to write a couple of stories on the different high school football games. My career goal is to be a sports broadcaster, and Mr.Mike is helping me pursue that. I learned how to create an interesting story based off of my surroundings and different plays in the game. I am not a football fan, nor do I know anything about football, therefore I had to learn both the game and the aspects of giving a good football report.

At first I thought that catching on would’ve been hard, but it was actually a smooth process. I enjoyed going out to the games and having to play close attention to what was going on. The commentator was big help for me when trying to figure out who did what. I also had the chance to get some footage of the game while being out there.