Friday, October 12, 2012

From Internship to Paid Position

As I blogged about on October 1, I was a little upset with Western Washington University because I had completed 75 internship hours before they told me that I could not earn college credit for my work; MAJOR BUMMER!
But I can officially say that it has all been worth it because besides learning a lot from the experience, on Wednesday I OFFICIALLY got the job and am no longer an intern!  I am now the official Public Relations and Marketing Coordinator for the Bellingham Blazers hockey team, and I couldn't be more excited! I love my job, often to the point where I'm like "what is this homework thing you speak of?" Because I would rather be doing work for the team. 
I feel so privileged for the opportunity to continue working for the Blazers and feel like I am slowly making my way to the top.  This is what I have dreamed about doing after graduating from college, and I'm doing it as a Junior in college.  It's pretty amazing.

Monday, October 1, 2012

Internship Woes

I received the opportunity in August to become a Public Relations intern for the new Bellingham Blazers hockey team.  I was really excited because I want to go into public relations and marketing as a career after graduating and two, I was told that I could get 3 WWU credits for it.  Win-win.
I was equally as excited to be able to start my internship before Fall quarter even started!  At last count, I'm about 75 hours/ out of 100 into my internship.
To get into the class (officially) you have to get an override from the professor.  He has been out of town recently and was only able to meet with me today.
Today he told me that my internship looks great, but I do not qualify to get into the class.  Someone incorrectly informed me about the program.  Apparently, to do a mini-internship through the Comm program, you have to be a Comm major. 
If that's not frusterating enough, I would have declared as a Comm major this quarter if I could have.  Western's rules state that a student must complete 12 "Western credits" before declaring a major.  It doesnt matter that I have taken numberous Communication classes at Whatcom Community College, where I received my Associates degree.
Although this is completely aggravating on so many levels, I'm still going to complete my 100 hours of internship because, when it comes down to it, I love what I'm doing.  I love writing press releases, managing social media content, organizing events, promoting the team, making posters, and all the other things that come along with doing public relations work.  I'm also learning so much about the business of public relations and this internship has only reaffirmed that this is what I want to do as a career.