By Tatiana Campos-Teixeira
Penn State Abington, Class of 2024
After interning at The Communication Solutions Group this past semester, I have learned many skills and experienced unique opportunities. Many of the interactions I heard about in the classroom I was able to experience in my internship. The following is a list of benefits and unique moments I experienced while in my position as a Public Relations Intern.
Discovering Different Writing Styles
As an English major and editor of the Abington Sun, I’ve learned how to write in many different styles. I knew how to inscribe journalistically, pitching articles for Penn State University. I’ve also learned how to organize and draft research papers. Thanks to my business minor, I learned how to write in a more professional and business sense.
Communication Solutions allowed me to use those skills to learn professional formats and improve upon them. Thanks to my internship, I was able to formulate more detailed pieces using many different styles. I improved my journalistic and business writing by editing press releases and media alerts.
I learned how to research in a business setting, which allowed me to organize articles and essential info for clients. I also learned how to compose a script, which I had never had to do professionally before. It was a learning experience, and Communication Solutions guided me in honing this skill.
However, professional and business styles weren’t the only writing skills I was able to use. I created a guide of restaurants and was able to utilize my creative writing. It was refreshing to use my English major’s skills and learn how to improve them by composing formats that were a little different from what I was used to.
Growing Business Through Promotion
I also learned the importance of Communication Solutions promoting itself and how necessary it is to show clients what you can do. During my internship, I helped create kits and portfolios that would be distributed during conferences and presentations or mailed to potential clients. The kits featured a list of our current relevant clients and samples of work to show that we have the experience and the skills to represent them as well.
Attending conferences helped Communication Solutions not only gain possible clients, but also contacts that often aid in the future. These contacts include news companies, photographers, and even certain representatives who suggest we enter contests and awards. Although these events are primarily for gathering clients, Communication Solutions reminded me how one event had the possibility for another. I was able to learn real-life examples of what my business classes taught me, that networking is always an essential key in business.
Learning Different Ways of Corporate Communication
Thanks to the fact that Communication Solutions is a full-service agency, there is constant communication between the office staff and its clients. I was able to listen in and participate in company and client meetings. These interactions gave me a better understanding of how to speak to clients professionally and how staff provide their expertise on what ideas will work best.
As for internal communication, the staff are very friendly and informal to one another, making me, as an intern, feel comfortable and in a safe environment.
Attending Lively Events
As an intern, I had the opportunity to join many interesting and exciting events, such as Talk the Talk presentations, where I was able to meet local firefighters and see how they recruit volunteers at community events. For school district clients, I was able to briefly attend an elementary school health and fitness day where I interviewed wide-eyed students, excited about the ongoing basketball drills. I also interviewed the high schoolers who were happy to teach the kids teamwork skills and basketball moves. These quotes were then weaved into a press release that was published in the local news. Another memorable event was the Veterans Day breakfast, where I took photos of Veterans and their family members sharing stories and enjoying a nice breakfast together.
Meeting and speaking to so many interesting people livened up my week and allowed me to learn something new and exciting from each event.
Overall experience: I am very grateful for my time and experience at Communication Solutions. The staff were always friendly and guided me when learning new assignments and tasks. I was able to learn new skills, which I look forward to enhancing in my next internship. I experienced real-life scenarios that were discussed in the classroom and was able to test them for myself. It was an amazing experience which I will always be grateful for. I encourage others to consider this opportunity as well, as I’m sure it will do as much good for them as it did for me.
Tatiana Campos-Teixeira is from Philadelphia, Pa., and will graduate as an English major with a minor in business and writing in December 2024. She has a passion for literature and writing and plans to continue her academic journey in graduate school next year.