What Were the Pearce Center Interns Up to This Summer?

pearce-interns-summer-2018

We are SO excited for all the new talent we have welcomed to the Pearce Center this semester and for our returning interns! Driven and determined Pearce Center Interns are always busy pursuing their passions in the summertime. If you want to get to know a little more about our Fall 2018 interns and what we were up to this summer, keep reading!

Mattie Lee

This summer, Mattie Lee was selected as one of ten interns to participate in a 10-week program at the NBC affiliate, WMBF News in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Located in the heart of the Grand Station, she worked alongside career driven individuals in the broadcast journalism field as a news intern. For the first 6-weeks of the program, she shadowed in all aspects of the newsroom including reporting, photography, producing, social media management, the assignment desk, web content and the production team. After experiencing many of the roles involved in local television, she was able to focus specifically on her interest in reporting for the remainder of the program. This internship not only strengthened her skills to be a successful individual in her career field, but prepared her for her first semester as an intern at the Pearce Center! She had first hand experience on how to communicate effectively with people of all roles and ages which is an important aspect at the Pearce Center. Also relevant to the Pearce Center, she learned the importance of producing quality work in a set amount of time. Other skills such as writing, interviewing, videoing, editing, and public speaking are additional skills that she strengthened through her summer internship which she plans to use in order to be a successful intern.

Peyton Kinsey

This summer, Peyton interned in print production at Campus Banner + Design on campus and worked as the Graphic Designer for the UPIC Magazine. When she applied to the Pearce Center she wasn’t aware of this but, the UPIC Magazine was transferred from SAPub to The Pearce Center starting this semester, so Peyton will be able to use her previous experience working on this project to help ease its transition to a new department! We are so excited to have Peyton on board with us! Her favorite thing she did this summer was boating on Lake Hartwell and spending time with some of her friends that just graduated from Clemson.

Brooke Tannehill

This summer, Brooke interned at Arlington Strategy, a business consulting agency in her hometown of Arlington, Virginia! She says it was such a wonderful opportunity working on the company’s social media, sitting in on client meetings, and working on developing strategy, planning and problem solving to help clients! Taking on a very similar role this semester at the Pearce Center, she looks forward to using the technical communications skills she gained this summer at her internship. A lover of music, Brooke spent many summer nights seeing some of her favorite bands live including the Arctic Monkeys, Father John Misty, and TV Girl!

Claire Cumbo

Claire spent her summer in Los Angeles, California interning for NBCUniversal! She was fortunate to be a part of the event marketing team at Universal Studios Hollywood. Throughout her internship, she partnered with many divisions within NBCU and other media conglomerates to help plan their biggest event of the year, Halloween Horror Nights. One of the attractions at this years event depicts a real-life rendition of her favorite TV show, Stranger Things! Needless to say, she feels very lucky to have been on a project she was so passionate about with a team so invested in her success.

Cameron Gaubert

Cameron was a full-time nanny this summer! Her family went on a vacation this summer to Vancouver, Canada and she described it as absolutely amazing! The highlight of her trip was going on a whale watching excursion. For those of you who know Cameron, she has been obsessed with orca whales for YEARS. She describes seeing this majestic animal in their natural habitat was one of the most profound experiences of her life! She says it was a summer she will never forget!

Cameron is thrilled to be working at the Pearce Center for her second semester again fall. She will be leading the School Book Project,  and working on the Clemson Guide App, and the Department of English Newsletter. She looks forward to this semester and all of the new opportunities that will come with being a Pearce Center Intern.

Carter Smith

This summer Carter worked as a sale associate at Non(e) Such Boutique, a boutique in Columbia, SC for home furnishings and accessories, gifts, jewelry and tableware. Non(e) Such is perhaps most well known as a  premiere bridal registry shop, attracting brides from all over the region for its ornate selection of china, crystal, tableware, and linens.   As a sales associate, Carter worked with customers over the phone and in person, wrapped gifts, filed important bridal registry information, unboxed and sorted inventory, and managed important ecommerce and social media elements. Her time spent at Non(e) Such was beneficial in that she was able to develop a better understanding of what it is like to work for a small business and what goes into maintaining a retail store, particularly one that is specialized in bridal registries. In addition, Carter garnered stronger communication skills through learning how to sell merchandise, maintain a brand, and consult with a wide array of customers, all of which will help assist her as an intern at the Pearce Center this semester. When Carter was not busy at the shop, she vacationed at Pawleys Island, SC and Blowing Rock, NC, with her family.

Lauren Andrews

Lauren spent a Maymester in Germany studying strategic communication! While abroad, she also traveled to Switzerland where she got to hike in the Alps, Prague and Paris. Upon her return to the states, Lauren interned at Bank of America in Global Marketing and Corporate Affairs. She had the chance to travel to Charlotte and New York City to collaborate with other interns on projects and experience how a large corporation operates across different cities. In her role, she worked with the Local Markets Organization which focuses on the ESG efforts of the bank and creating a unified brand across the 92 markets BofA is present in. It was the experience of a lifetime and she is so thankful for the people she met, real life work experience gained and network that she will carry with her throughout her professional career!

One of the biggest lessons she learned interning was the value of people. Lauren says, “You can know a lot but the real value lies in the people you form connections with. One of the things I love the most about the Pearce Center is that students like myself have the opportunity to work with real clients on real events, stories, etc. After my experience this summer, I hope to continue emphasizing the importance of getting to know your clients on a deeper level because at the end of the day a stronger relationship leads to higher quality work.”

Caroline Cavendish

Caroline interned at a sports recruiting firm in Charlotte, NC called Bradley Sports this summer! She used helpful online applications such as Adobe, MailChimp, and produced articles for the company’s website which will help her this semester at the Pearce Center! Caroline’s favorite thing she did this summer was visit St. Augustine, Florida.

Hannah Rohaley

This summer, Hannah worked as a hostess for the restaurant Empire Pizza while also writing content for Clemson’s Odyssey community. Both of these jobs helped her build on writing and interpersonal skills that will be beneficial as she returns to the Pearce Center for her 3rd semester. Aside from working, she went to 5 concerts, seeing a total of 11 different bands (and even got to go onstage for one of them)!  This picture is from one of the concerts. Pictured is Hannah, her sister, and friends we met there.

Jenna Poropatich

Jenna was fortunate enough to spend the summer sitting under a rainbow umbrella, serving smiles in the form of popsicles for the company King of Pops. She traveled across Charlotte, North Carolina to vend popsicles at a variety of locations, like festivals, restaurants, parks, and the occasional bat mitzvah. Jenna says, “I had the time of my life and I would not trade the terrible watch tan, one too many Thai Tea pops consumed, or our covert co-worker group message for the world.”

Besides handing out popsicles, Jenna’s job was heavily reliant on customer relations and social media marketing. Sitting outside in the Carolina heat could turn into a treacherous task if she did not advertise the company’s locations for the day on Instagram/Facebook, and maintain a positive aura to keep customers coming back. She was able to better her customer service skills, which will allow her to work seamlessly with the clients and correspondents of the Pearce Center. Sharing content that was engaging was also a necessity, and I believe the social media skills I developed over the summer will carry over into my internship at the Pearce Center.

When I was not elbow deep in dry ice, I was taking weekend trips with friends and family. My favorite excursion was with my family to Seattle!

Sallie McLeod

Over the summer, Sallie attended Palmetto Girls State as a Senior Counselor (staff).  Palmetto Girls State is an educational program where girls all over South Carolina learn about the political process of state and local government and actually participate in running in mock elections and meeting other girls all around the state.  After PGS, Sallie worked as a camp counselor at Camp Pee Dee (she was a camper there when I was a kid)! Over the summer for six weeks she got to be with kids day and night and absolutely loved it. From her work this summer, Sallie believes she will be able to communicate more effectively with a team of people because she worked with an entire staff that had to collaborate effectively and communicate with each other what was going on. Sallie says working as an intern and with the other interns requires the same idea of collaborating and group effort! Her favorite thing she did this summer was being able to spend time and catch up with family and friends.  

Jordin Tedesco

This summer, Jordin studied abroad in Florence, Italy. She took two courses while abroad: Luxury Brand Management and Intercultural Communications. Jordin says that the luxury brand management course was by far the most interesting course she has ever taken!

because we went on “field trips” to different luxury brand stores in Florence,(Gucci, Prada, Armani, etc) and got to walk around and learn all about the brands and their different marketing strategies. In addition to taking classes abroad, she got the opportunity to visit different countries such as Barcelona, Spain, and U.K. in her final weeks. This experience taught Jordin to step outside of her comfort zone and to be independent. She got to meet so many people that she would have never met had she not studied abroad! Her experiences studying abroad will assist her as a Pearce Center intern because it allowed Jordin to become more creative and look at the world through a different len! She hopes this will help her see different perspectives when writing articles.

Thomas Gilbert

This summer Thomas Gilbert was a Desk Supervisor for Housing Summer Programs on campus at Clemson University. He spent his days checking kids into dorms for the various sports and academic summer camps going on at Clemson, such as Emerging Scholars, Summer Scholars, football and baseball camps, and giving them their room keys. Thomas also attended A.Bevy’s (an organization at Clemson that aims to help students find their “passion, path, and purpose”) annual Impress Yourself scholarship mixer in Columbia, SC at the Columbia Museum of Art. Outside of work, Thomas spent time with friends and family.

During Thomas’ time as a desk supervisor, he had to think quickly on his feet to answer parents’ and students’ questions about navigating Clemson’s campus. He also had to communicate with Housing Supervisors and collaborate with other Desk Supervisors and Summer Assistants to complete key audits, room checks, and other organized activities to ensure that the summer camps ran smoothly. The communicative and collaborative nature of this job has prepared him for the fast-paced environment of the Pearce Center Internship Program, which depends on open communication and collaboration among the student workers to accomplish tasks related to its various projects.

Thomas’ favorite thing that he did this summer was traveling to the beach in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, with his family, where he ate at a lot of nice restaurants and walked around site-seeing. Fun fact: Thomas has been to The Bahamas twice.

Melissa Rau

Melissa had the enormous blessing of serving as a Wish Granting Intern for Make-A-Wish Metro New York! This chapter of the phenomenal nonprofit organization serves New York City’s five boroughs and Long Island. Melissa worked directly under five different women that each held a different position in the Wish Granting Department. This gave her task variety that made walking into the office exciting! A handful of tasks she took on included calling Disney to book Dining Reservations, writing summaries of celebrity wishes, booking flights and limos, calling families to talk about their children’s wish, publishing volunteer opportunities for kids to determine their wish, communicating with 16 other Make-A-Wish Chapters, decorating folders for the wish kids, and developing her passion for their mission of granting wishes. Melissa says will never forget this amazing experience and look forward to staying involved with the organization in the future!

Because she had five different supervisors, Melissa was constantly managing a number of projects. This strengthened her ability to multi-task and remain organized across all of her responsibilities. The Pearce Center works similarly, as each of us are assigned multiple projects to contribute to across the semester. So this will have been a tremendous benefit! Additionally, it was necessary over the summer that she paid close attention to detail, maintained professionalism, worked with others in the office, and used creative skills. Melissa is thankful that her time at Make-A-Wish provided great preparation for work at the Pearce Center this semester!


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