This upcoming semester, I'll be working two internships. They could hardly be anymore different. One is for a website called Buffalo Rising. Not too dissimilar to the Odyssey, but more dealing with what's going on in the Buffalo area. The other one is for WBFO, the local NPR station. That one is strict and regimented, given the timetable that radio stations are under in order to produce content. Both are for college credit by the way, so you have clarification on why I would subject myself to this.
I have also done three other internships over the course of my college career. One for Buffalo Rising, one for the newsweekly Artvoice, and one for monthly magazine Buffalo Spree. Each had varying demands and tasks for me to do, and all required a different mindset as to how to get your stories done and published. But that's not what I'm here to talk about. What I am going to talk about is how to make the most of these opportunities as they're given.
Be in the right mindset to work.
You have to be prepared to do the work you're given as well as contribute. When I was at Artvoice, the pieces I wrote that ended up being published were nothing more than how to spend your summer vacation. There were plenty of interesting stories to write, like about the growing number of legal marijuana farms in the area, given to other interns, but I couldn't formulate any ideas of my own due to other matters. I had just come back from my semester abroad in Europe and was still trying to readjust back into American life, along with getting money back into my bank account. Along with the fact that Artvoice usually doesn't put out issues in August due to the lack of advertising revenue coming in, it was the perfect storm of me not getting anything productive done. When you go into your internship, make sure that you do have the capacity to contribute and make it a part of your life.
Have ideas.
At the internships I got to work at, I've had the chance to write my own original stories that weren't assigned to me. For Buffalo Spree, I wrote a piece about sled hockey. It was not about the sport itself, which is not too dissimilar from regular hockey, but about the disabled and elderly people that participate in it and what they get out of it. For Buffalo Rising, I wrote about local soccer fan groups and what they get out of being fans of teams not based in their country. Both those came after writing a string of stories that were assigned to me as I became acclimated to what each outlet wanted. And I'm expected to do the same at my upcoming internships as well. In being prepared to deal with what people are your internship expect you to do, you need to come up with your own ideas on how to contribute. Then people will see how valuable you are there, and have the potential to be in the future.
Get to know people.
If you're working at your internship for a long period of time, you're going to have to know the people you're working with. Plus, if you make a good enough impression on the people in charge over the course of your time wherever you are, they can provide references and job opportunities for when you do go into the workforce. Just something to keep in mind before you go out to a place that looks appealing, but you end up hating in the end.
