One Last Semester...!

I can’t believe the whole summer has passed without an update to my blog! Scratch that…I can’t believe the entire has gone by, period. An update is definitely in order!

From May through the second week of August, I worked as a public relations/marketing intern in the Marketing Department at Shanty Creek Resorts. I had an amazing time getting to know the co-workers in my building and the industry itself. I got to work on some pretty amazing projects too. I was responsible for the daily monitoring and updating of their social media, updated and organized an extensive media contact list, wrote and distributed numerous press releases (including all the releases to be used in the Winter 2010 Media Kit), assembled media kits and delivered them to visiting writers, arranged accommodations for media visits, and collaborated on the copy for a new all-season brochure, plus a lot of other things. To say it was a learning experience would be an understatement.

As of right now I am back in Mount Pleasant finishing up my last semester as a college student! I’m taking my senior PR seminar class where I am helping to organize an internship fair, completing a 40-hour internship in the Advertizing Department of CM Life, and am responsible for creating a detailed communications plan. I am also taking a PR Case Studies course where my group and I have to research and write an extensive study on Delta Airlines. I’m taking two other courses as well to fulfill my hours requirement to graduate.

On top of all of this, I am an active member of CMU’s PRSSA chapter and serve as Treasurer and an Assistant Account Executive of CMU’s student-run, full service public relations firm PR Central. The client I am working with this semester is the Humane Animal Treatment Society where we are helping to plan their annual meeting and execute a new brand identity that was created for them last year.

It’s going to be a busy couple of months, but the light at the end of the tunnel (a.k.a. graduation) is quickly approaching. My Dad is also taking my sister, nephew and I to Florida for Thanksgiving, so that will be a nice treat to break up the chaos.

Obviously I am now actively searching for post-graduation employment in the public relations field. Ideally I would like to relocate out west (Colorado, Arizona and California are all places I’m looking into), but quite honestly I am open to relocating anywhere I can find work. If you know of any public relations employment or hear of anything, shoot me an e-mail and let me know. Any help I can get to get my foot in the door is greatly appreciated.

If you want to check out some of the work I did this summer at my internship, visit my personal webpage/portfolio at http://www.wix.com/melissalee2/Webpage and I promise I am going to really try and do better at updating this blog as the semester proceeds!

Thanks for checking in and following my progress!