Dior 1

Dior Kane

Communications Department,

Salisbury University

CMAT 495: Fall 2022 Internship

Dr. Burns
 Dior 2

As a soon to be graduate I’m often ask the same daunting question “What are you going

to do when you graduate?” and more often than not the answer is always the same “I don’t

know.” Growing up I often thought of what I wanted to be when I grew up. Would I be a fashion

designer like I dreamed of in middle school or an elementary school teacher like I thought in

high school. Then It came time to pick a major my senior year of high school and I remember

picking communications on a whim, my thought process was I could always change my mind

later down the road. Joining the journalism course was a new experience for me, I had always

enjoyed being behind the scenes and the journalism course forced me out of my shell. Majoring

in communications more specifically the journalism track showed me just how much goes into a

three-minute news package or a sixty second video.

The courses I took required me to produce, write and edit on my own material something

I wasn’t used to doing by myself. When the school year started to end and the time to look for an

internship grew closer and closer, I found myself struggling to find one, summer was quickly

coming around the corner and I still wasn’t sure what I wanted to do outside the safety net of

school. I found myself doubting my skills and the value of my work. Fortunately, I had a talk

with a professor who both boosted my confidence and introduced me to my internship supervisor

Bridget Broullire. In this paper, I would like to talk about my experiences in my communication

internship and why I feel internships are an important experience to have outside the classroom

environment when it comes to looking for a potential career.

On the day of my interview, I was asked about what I hoped to learn from my internship.

I didn’t have clear direction on what I expected, all I knew was I wanted to go into this new

experience with an open mind and a willingness to learn. This fall semester I had the opportunity

to join the Montgomery planning communication department as their first intern. The first day of
 Dior 3

my internship was nerve-wracking for me I was used to producing news style packages in a

newsroom type setting and I wasn’t quite sure what I could bring to the table. Meeting my

internship supervisor in person completely erased my nervousness. She made sure I felt

comfortable and welcomed and it helped that we had shared a professor. I was fortunate to have

a supervisor who also had experience in the newsroom. I quickly learned Montgomery Plannings

objective, one of them being to my understanding informing the public of the master plans they

created and to make sure that the public knew what was being done in detail.

Digital communication was very essential to what I did in Montgomery Planning. It

became clear during the first weeks of my internship that research was going to be a crucial part

of my video production experience. I was essentially responsible for producing and editing

weekly news-style video segments distributed on Montgomery Planning’s digital platforms.

What I choose to include in a social post or video package made an impact on what the public

understood. I started to realize how important digital communication was when it came to

interacting and informing the public, digital communication fundamentally is the online

communication effort put on by an organization. In comparison to the classes I took in Salisbury

where I wasn’t really worried about the impact the packages I produced would have on the

public. This internship showed me that everything that I produced heavily impacted how the

viewers absorbed the information given. The video I had to produced had to be short and to the

point something I struggled with in classes. For example, a two-minute video could have ten

minutes of soundbites so there were times where I’d have to opt out information in order to make

sure the video was more digestible to the viewers.

I was grateful to receive feedback on each assignment as well it taught me to really take

criticism and turn it into a learning experience. With each video I produced on my own I would
 Dior 4

take a little from what I learned in the previous video, and it was evident in the growing quality

of my video productions that I was learning and getting better in my trade. Being able to share

my ideas to my internship supervisor Bridget Broullire or the digital marketing manager Chris

Peifer for social post or video ideas was also an important experience. Although not all my ideas

were used, I was grateful to be heard and have some of my ideas considered. When it came to

sharing my ideas, I would struggle with putting my ideas to words I often got tongue tied or

couldn’t properly describe what I was trying to convey. This experience thought me to speak my

mind and gain more confidence in sharing my ideas.

An aspect of my internship that I am most proud of is creating the video packages, being

able to see hours of my work turn into a finished product was amazing. I remember creating my

first solo video without asking for any help, Adobe premiere wasn’t an editing software I was

used to editing on, and I struggled a lot getting used to it. I remember feeling imposter syndrome

the first few weeks of my internship, I felt like I didn’t really belong; this mostly having to do

with my lack of confidence in my work and the fact that I was always asking for help. So, when I

finally completed a video on my own without asking things like “how to add transition?” or

“how do I resize the video?” I finally felt like I was getting a hang of the internship. I also

learned asking for help wasn’t a bad thing It was critical to growing as a person and growing

professionally. It was important to have this experience in an internship environment because it

thought me that in a real career, I would have to be vocal in my understandings and

misunderstanding if I wanted to get things done. In a classroom setting asking for help is

expected especially between professor and student I found it most difficult when it came to

school team projects because it required you to rely on others to do their portion of the work

which was sometimes difficult when it was clear that not everyone was putting the same amount
 Dior 5

of effort in. In comparison to an internship environment where you can somewhat guarantee the

effort of your teammates.

When I created my first fully solo project “M-NCPPC Wheaton Headquarters Living

Wall” I was very proud. Although looking over it now I can see that there is definitely room for

improvement, it was one of the first videos I had to shoot and create a concept for. One thing I

struggled with creating this package was picking soundbites. I had to choose what information

was important for the viewers to know and throughout the editing process the video would go

from being four minutes to being cut down to two and back again. Getting b-roll was another

obstacle I faced I essentially had to get creative with shots. Overall, I was happy with the video I

produce and learned a lot from the experience. I also created a small segment for social post

called “Did you know?” which was basically small informative fun facts about Montgomery

planning. I felt myself becoming giddy every time I saw it used in a social post, I felt like I was

leaving my mark.

When I created my first social video post for Instagram which was the “Fairland &

Briggs Chaney placemaking event” I felt very accomplished. I was task to create some ideas for

social media engagement for the event and I decided to create a small video on the placemaking

festival it was one of the first times I created a video without being ask to, so I took great pride in

making sure the video was up to Montgomery Planning standards. I remember stalking the

Montgomery Planning Instagram page every few hours just to see how many views the video

was getting which became a habit with every video I produced. I enjoyed seeing my work being

acknowledge and it helped getting positive feedback and encouragement from Bridget and my

team for the work I was doing.

 Dior 6

I found it easier to produce videos and content without the added pressure of a grading

system, in school I often trumped creativity and time in favor of making sure the video was

within guidelines of a grading critique. Although during the internships I was given deadlines,

and there were times were certain video had to be prioritized I never felt like I had to limit

myself in any way. I had a certain amount of freedom that I didn’t have in a traditional classroom

on how I went about producing content which was exciting for me. I was surprised how much of

an emotional attachment is needed in creating and producing in communications. If you do not

care about the work you do, or the quality of what you produce you will not be successful in a

communication career. Communications is one of those career paths that are based on

interactions with people It’s hard to avoid and even harder to maintain especially if you don’t

care for your work. This internship showed me that if I want to stay in this career path there

needs to be an emotional aspect to what I’m creating and sharing to the public.

There were time during this internship were I felt disappointed in my work more

specifically when it came to editing videos. There were defiantly times were I wished I had taken

more time to ask those who I interviewed to repeat their answers or looked over my work more

to catch easy to fix mistakes especially in the beginning of my individual projects. But with each

disappointment there was a learning experience I learned what worked for videos and what

didn’t I also learned to find my voice and style when it came to editing. I learned to improve by

taking my time editing videos so that they were clean and informative. Towards the end of my

internship the videos I produced were cleaner and needed less and less tinkering from my

supervisor. I learned not to be my own worst critic and stress myself with overanalyzing my

videos.
 Dior 7

As a result of this Internship, I found myself more secure in my career decisions, my

work, and my future in communications. This internship gave me a sense of a routine, I knew

exactly what I supposed to do and how to do it and I’ll now carry what I’ve learned in this

experience in the future. When you are placed in a professional environment that almost pushes

you to be on top of your of work it easier for you to place yourself in a better position to think of

the future. Having a real hands-on experience outside of the classroom helped me understand

what my future could look like in a communications career. Gaining the experience outside the

classroom was necessary to have because there is only so much you can learn in a classroom

setting.

I needed the experience of getting hands-on knowledge in what I’m hoping to be a

potential career path. Editing videos, interviewing people, photography, and social media

management are all things I learned in my Montgomery Planning internship even when I

previously had some knowledge of how to do those things I listed before my internship I now

have a greater concept and experience that I can expand my knowledge on. In today’s labor

market, future employers are looking for resumes that establishes relevant work history. Even

when I was applying for internships, I knew that my resume had to show my relevant

experiences and skills so that my employer knew what I could bring to the table. This internship

helped train and provide work experience that I can confidently put on my resume or reel.

I believe that getting this work experience was an essential aspect of starting my career as

a soon to be graduate. Throughout this internship I gained exposure to the work experience, and

ultimately decided that this was the right career field for me. This Internships provided me with

the first-hand experience in working in communication career it helped me understand the career

trajectory of this career. During my internship I was meeting new people and making
 Dior 8

connections in the professional world. The classroom didn’t really give me the same opportunity

for networking. I had a lot of opportunities to network and build professional connections

throughout my time in Montgomery Planning. Working with people who had similar interest

with me helped me learn from how they work, solved difficult situations, and how they moved in

a professional setting. Meeting new people at my internship helped me understand how to work

with different people in different work environments.

I learned through editing and producing videos what my capabilities were and gained a

better understanding of my weaknesses and strengths. When editing the living wall package, I

learned that one of my weaknesses were transitions and timing and I made sure to change my

editing habits. I learn one of my strengths were audio-video linkage, but I would often rely to

heavily on this skill and end up wasting valuable time making sure every audio matched the b-

roll. I benefited from being pushed outside my comfort zone when it came to how I edited

because it truly improved the quality of my work. Montgomery Planning showed me that I

needed more than technical skills in communications I also needed people skills in order to

develop a collaborative work ethic something I wasn’t really good at in school. Working on class

assignment with other students often had me butting heads more than once. During the first few

weeks of my internship, I had to get used to having my work viewed and critique by others

which was a little hard to get used to. I was never really good at working under pressure and this

internship helped me work around the challenges that presented themselves. I believe my

experiences in Montgomery Planning helped me find clarity in my future and I can now see

myself in a career in communications. I believe this internship was very crucial in me picking a

career path and I’m not sure I would’ve been able to gather as deep as a understand of this career

path if I hadn’t done an internship.

 Dior 9

I’ve been in school the majority of my life it’s scary to be so close to the uncertainty of

the future. I’m probably not going to miss all the all-nighters I pulled and the restless nights of

wondering if I passed a class or not, but I certainly will miss the professors and classmates I

grew found of. I’m grateful that I was offered a job as an employee at Montgomery Planning

communication department because at least I can say I have some stable footing in my future as

a graduate. Throughout this entire experience I was really able to grow confidence in myself and

gain skills that I will always be able to carry with me. I am so grateful to have such a welcoming

supervisor and work with such amazing people who truly care about the work they do in

Montgomery Planning. Watching and learning from everyone in the department showed me just

how much of team they are and how much they truly have everyone’s best interest at heart. I felt

this throughout my whole internship, and I continue to feel it now.

I am so thankful to Salisbury University internship program and all my communication

professors who help guide me throughout my school career. I am especially grateful to Professor

Burns for pushing me towards this internship and always having his students best interest at heart

and I cannot give enough thanks for how much this has positively impacted me. Before this

semester I wasn’t sure about the internship experience I was hoping to take a class to avoid it and

I never really got the hype of it. I now see how important this experience was for me and my

views on the future and I’m happy that my professors, parents, and random strangers on the

internet pushed me towards this path.