Job & Internship

November 2009 Internship Spotlight

Name: Rebecca Carton
Major: Journalism and Mass Communication
Company: National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium, Dubuque, IA

Duties: I was responsible for multiple tasks within the marketing department of National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium. My biggest responsibility was to create event posters to advertise special events for the museum throughout the summer. I also spent much of my time coordinating the museum's Kids Club. I kept track of all participants and coordinated contests that corresponded with our exhibits.

A lot of my time was spent on special events. I worked at several family events at the museum and other Dubuque County Historical Society properties. I contacted volunteers, set up activities and worked as a volunteer supervisor at the events. I also wrote press release, compiled press kits, allocated ticket requests for fundraisers and updated the museum's social networking Web sites including Facebook, Twitter and Flickr.

Most Memorable Experience: Towards the end of my internship, my supervisor and another intern began working on a fall fundraising campaign for the Museum & Aquarium. Because the fundraiser was planned for the fall when I would no longer be working at the museum, I was not given as much input on the project.

When I was finally asked for my opinion on the project, I suggested using the "Adopt a Critter" program that was already implemented at the museum as a way to encourage students to donate to our fundraiser in order to sponsor a "class pet" at the aquarium. My supervisor and the development director loved my idea. It felt great to contribute to the fundraising project and know that my opinions and ideas were valuable even though I wouldn't be around for the final product.

Special Contribution: One of the biggest projects I worked on included the Kids Club. Because it was relatively new, it was fairly unorganized. I spent a lot of my time updating information, including the database of members and the letters we mailed to members. After we had our "Name the Mascot" contest for the Kids Club, I created a special poster to be displayed in the museum that showcased our contest winner as well as introduced the new mascot. This was done without the advice or suggestion from my supervisor, and he loved the idea.

My supervisor has since said that I laid a lot of important groundwork for improving and growing the Kids Club. It feels great to know that by working on a project that I felt was fun and enjoyable, I helped the museum establish an organization for kids that will last for a very long time.

Advice to Future Interns: Be assertive in asking for and completing your work. There might be times when it will get slow, but it really shows your employer that you care about your job if you seek work to do instead of doing nothing.

Also, don't discount unpaid internships. I was unsure about taking an internship that wouldn't pay just because I didn't know if it would be worth it. I can easily say that it was the best job experience I've had. I actually looked forward to going to work each day, something that didn't always happen in my previous jobs and internships. This unpaid internship has already paid off by helping me land a paying job on campus with the Institute of Physical Research and Technology.

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