Montreat College’s Communication Majors got on-the-job experience this fall. Communication Professor, Jim Shores, required students to do an 8-10 hour/week internship as part of his Media Studies course. As a result, Communication Majors got a chance to work as sports journalists, radio DJs, newspaper reporters, & PR writers.
Senior Comm. Major, Mandi Pike, worked as a reporter for the Community Section of the Asheville Citizen Times from August to December 2007. She started out shadowing other reporters, but was soon handed assignments to cover on her own. “It was exciting and scary to realize they were depending on me to cover a story. I had to work with a photographer, interview people, and write up the story on time. It was really amazing to see the words ‘by Mandi Pike’ under the title of a newspaper article!”
Direna Cousins and Camelia Campbell, sophomore Comm. majors from Jamaica, got the chance to work at WMIT Radio in Black Mountain. They did sound editing, researched current events for DJs, and archived recordings of Billy Graham’s Crusades. Camelia Campbell said it was great just to learn first-hand how a radio station works. “They make it so simple. It’s just a computer on the weekends. Everything is programmed into the computer, and sometimes we got to program the computer.” The two took prayer requests over the phone and were impressed that everyone at the radio station took time daily to pray for requests in the prayer room.
Bridge President, Ashley Craig (Junior Comm. Major), became the editor of the National Chestnut Foundation newsletter. “They actually gave me a laptop to work with!” She has learned graphic design, editing skills, and what it takes to put a newsletter together. Furthermore, she said “It teaches you how to communicate with people of different generations and stations of life. I learned a lot!”
Stephanie Routh, worked for the Alumni and Advancement Offices at Montreat College. She was in charge of designing and creating newsletters & brochures for the Board of Visitors & Keystone Scholarship. She got extensive graphic design experience and served as photographer for school events. “I learned time management skills, people skills and how to be flexible with real-world demands!”
Sophomore Comm. Majors, Derek Norton and Jeremy Bodenarain both worked as sports journalists. Derek covered Owen high school games on Friday nights and then wrote up stories for the website. Jeremy interviewed Montreat’s coaches and players about upcoming games to create outlooks for game-day programs.
Finally, Howard Fisher, sophomore Comm. Major from Jamaica, worked for the Montreat Communication Office researching student athletes and writing bios for newspaper articles. Howard also got to interview recording artist Jon Abel (Montreat alumnus, 1997) for an article in Reflections magazine. “I learned real world responsibility. If you say you are going to do it, then you had better do it,” Howard says with a smile.
Professor Shores hopes that incorporating short internships into courses provides students with professional contacts in the field that will later translate into job opportunities after graduation. It also gives them opportunities to learn job skills in a real-world setting that they wouldn’t get in a classroom. Shores says, “It teaches them responsibility, encourages maturity, and at the end of the day I think they were all very proud of what they accomplished. As well they should be.”
Media Studies will be offered again Fall 2008. If you have questions about majoring in Communication contact Dr. Shores at jshores@montreat.edu