Summer 2025 Internship Reflection

Me recording a social media video.

For over a year, I have had the pleasure of continuing my work as a communications intern at Jefferson Lab. As a student studying media studies, this internship has been nothing short of great! One area that Jefferson Lab has been excelling in is giving me a strong support system that mentors me and highly encourages learning and creativity. Every week, my supervisor has a 1:1 session with me, which is not only a time for her to give me new assignments but is also used as an opportunity to teach me new things and allow me to share any creative ideas. As a person who primarily creates content for the Jefferson Lab social media pages, learning about metrics and other challenging topics with her was very beneficial to my career.

This internship has confirmed to me that I want to pursue a career in social media. Integrating science topics into social media in a way that people can understand is no easy task; however, this job has shown me the importance of social media in all fields, including science, and how it can be very impactful to a company. It has also allowed me to work with other similar career fields, such as photographers and graphic designers, which has shown me how each of these industries ties into my future career in social media. My coursework has also been helpful in this. Being a Media Studies major in this internship has allowed me to apply my knowledge of media audiences to an actual company, which is something I have not had the opportunity to do in the past.

Photo of a systems chiller for an article currently in progress.

The skills that I have developed in this internship have been very valuable to my career. The biggest skill that is the most valuable is content creation and everything that falls under it, from video editing to photography, graphic design, and social media strategy. This internship has allowed me to practice software that ties into these skills, such as Premiere Pro and Photoshop, which are industry standards. Understanding analytics is another important skill that is valuable to my career. This skill can be complex to understand. My supervisor ensures that I understand it and practice using it.

Interns group photo

While this job allows me to continue being an intern until I graduate, I plan to begin searching for full time jobs in the social media industry. Ideally I would like to work in the sports or entertainment industry but ultimately will choose anywhere that allows me to use my developed skills and grow professionally.

Interning can be difficult as you are trying to learn everything, including whether you are in a field you enjoy. But I think the most important thing for students to do is not be afraid to ask questions. Questions are how you learn, and supervisors are there to help you and ensure you leave with far more knowledge than you began with.